#chromedome and rewind also here

[wiihtigo]

what if it was called shrimpatico did you ever think of that

[charlie-artlie]

Thinking abt This on this fine and rainy Saturday. This dynamic .... so twisted, so completely fucked. At first, it's cute, almost redeeming, how much Kaon loves his turbofox, but then come to find out this beloved pet is a double agent they've lobotomized and domesticated. It's fucked because they literally could have just killed him but instead do... this. Like. Listen. Regardless of how they currently treat The Pet, they all knew he used to be a person, a person who betrayed them, but Kaon still dotes on it, clearly loves it, but loves it as a pet...

It rly begs the question of what his relationship was like with Dominus before the lobotomy... like... one could almost come to the conclusion that someone convinced Tarn not to kill Dominus when he was found out, but instead, let him keep him, even in a changed state............. Dom what did you do to maintain your cover (Dom did you fuck that chair)

And on top of all that, like, that's not even getting into current Vos... to replace Dominus with someone who looks similar and gets the same codename... and Kaon is BLIND. I. I cant even begin to unpack that rn.

Something else that's interesting is dominus's disguise here, the thing on his back looks like the barrel of a gun... did he also turn into a sniper rifle? I'm sure this is explicitly stated somewhere. Also also wondering,,,, I think it's stated that the DJD knew he had a turbofox alt mode pre-discovery, but I cant say for certain? if so, was this disguise an outershell? Could the outershell incorporate into the alt mode?? These are the questions I have.....

[in1-nutshell]

I would like to request Fearless getting a trip to earth, finally being able to meet up with their crush.  Only for the lost light to be completely obvious in their spying.  The two of them are out at a cafe, the same sports car has driven by several times, two ‘grandmas’ are at another nearby table, who happen to have exactly the same wigs and comically cartoon looking nightdresses because that's what grandmothers wear right?  Someone is watching the two of them from over a newspaper.  That baby has a fake mustache.  There's a pair of binoculars popping out of a bush.  The crush is completely oblivious to this while Fearless is feeling fear for the first time.  And finally, Whirl appears in his holoform.  “Fearless, is this a friend of yours?”  “He’s my… sister.”  Who knows where Megs is or how hes actually handling this.

Now some Fearless fluff to balance yesterday's angst.

Hope you enjoy!

Fearless meeting their crush in person

SFW, Platonic, Hinted romance, Familial, Human reader

MTMTE

Fearless’s superiors had called in and had scheduled them to come to Earth for a couple of days.

They were lucky that the Lost Light managed to travel close to Earth on time.

There was a good number of bots excitedly talking about sight seeing and talking about old stories about their time stationed on Earth.

Fearless was just happy to be on Earth for a bit.

It certainly would be a good change of scenery.

Upon landing in the base, Fearless was already walking down the platform with an away bag.

Rodimus looking at the bag. Rodimus: “What’s with the bag?” Fearless: “I’m staying at a friends place for the time being.” Several bots look at Fearless in surprise. Tailgate: “Does that mean you won’t be coming back to the ship?” Fearless: “It’s not like I’m never getting back on the ship Tailgate. My friend just offered to let me stay for the few days we’re going to be here, nothing more.” Chromedome: “Who’s your friend?” Fearless: “Just a friend.” Rewind: “That still didn’t answer the question.” Megatron: “But you will be on base at the end of the day?” Fearless: “Megs my friend has nothing to do with my job.” Megatron: “You still didn’t answer the question.” Fearless: “I’m not staying on base Megatron. I’ll still be coming back for work, but—” BEEP! BEEP! A smile appears on Fearless’s face as they race to the sound. Fearless: “Bye guys! Be good! And tell Whirl to stay away from the electrical lines!”

The bots just watched their little human run to the direction of the car honk.

Out of pure curiosity, some tried to go see who was picking them up.

Put the hangar door had closed before they had the chance to see.

The next few days ended up in a pattern of sorts.

Fearless would come in for the morning, stay for the meetings, make sure the bots were doing okay before spending the rest of the day out.

Many bots tried justifying their behavior.

They had been gone from Earth for a while and just wanted to get in as much of their planet before they had to leave it.

It seemed to do well with most of the bots…

And then there were the outliers of that group.

Fearless was in a coffee shop waiting for their crush to return with the orders. They looked around and for a split second thought they saw a familiar-looking orange vest. Brushing it off as soon as their crush sat down in front of them. ‘Crush’: “Here you go.” The crush gives them their cup. Their fingers brush. Their crush looks behind them a bit confused. Fearless: “What it is?” ‘Crush’: “There’s this lady doing some Victorian era cosplay near the napkins. Fearless stops mid sip. ‘Crush’: “And she also has a little kid with a fake mustache.” The crush laughs a bit. ‘Crush’: “I should go ask what convention they are heading to.” Fearless quickly grabs his hand before he starts to get up. They quickly scan the room. Sure enough, the lady in purple and the baby with the fake mustache where by the napkins. A table away was another familiar pair. Two blonde men with grandma hats. One of them with a large camera and the other had a familiar looking tie. Fearless grabs their crush’s hand and their drink and starts heading out the door. ‘Crush’: “Hey you, okay?” Fearless suddenly makes eye contact with a woman with purple top and Autobot insignia on her belt. Fearless slightly sweating: “Peachy. Let’s just go!”

Fearless was now hyperaware of their friends holoforms around.

And actively following them!

They swore they even saw Magnus’s holoform in an alley.

They were not ready to have their crush meet them yet!

What if they ran away?

What if—wait they weren’t even dating yet! Why were they so worried?

Fearless knew exactly why.

It was hard enough to find someone outside work to hang out with.

Much less someone who made them feel good.

They were not going to risk it, at least not yet anyways.

Thankfully their crush didn’t seem to be bothered about suddenly moving from place to place without a clear direction.

Eventually Fearless managed to lose the group near a park.

They sighed in relief before noticing that they were still holding their crush’s hand.

Fearless quickly let go spouting out apologies, but quickly stopped when he grabbed their hand and carefully laced his fingers in their hand.

He gave them a sheepish smile and quietly stated he liked their hand in his.

Fearless swore they melted a bit inside.

Fearless’s crush pointed to a swing set. ‘Crush’: “You want me to push you?” Fearless smirking playfully. Fearless: “As long as I return the favor.” Their crush gently pushes their shoulder. The pair reaches the swings when they notice a girl sitting on them. A girl with teal hair… in pigtails… and was that an eye patch? Fearless starts sweating more when the ‘girl’ turned to their direction… and started walking to them! Whirl: “Hey Fearless, missed you today at the meeting.” ‘Crush’: “Uh, you know her?” Fearless: “I… babysat her a couple times. A chaotic little fiend, aren’t you?” Whirl just puffs her chest a bit. Whirl: “Only doing my best.” Fearless: “Hey do you mind waiting a second? I need to remind this young lady that her new babysitters are looking for her now.” Whirl: “No they—OW! Fearless!” Fearless grabbed Whirl by the ear and walked a few feet away before whispering harshly. Fearless: “Whirl?! Are you kidding me?! What are you and nearly half the ship doing here?! I think I saw Magnus in an alley way!” Whirl: “Sightseeing… Magnus took a wrong turn.” Fearless: “You gave him those direction, didn’t you?” Whirl: “Maybe…” Fearless: “Back on topic, why, oh so conveniently, are you all ‘sightseeing’ in places specifically I go to? I don’t think that a coincidence.” Whirl: “You’re a smart Fleshy you figure it out.” Fearless: “Primus, Megs is going to have a field day when he hears about this.” Whirl just gives them a cheeky look. Fearless pauses and looks at Whirl mischievous smile more closely. Fearless: “Whirl… where’s Megs?” Whirl: “As much as I’d love to tell all about our plan—” Fearless: “Whirl…” Whirl: “I might be worried about your little boyfriend over there.” Fearless: “He is not my—wait what?”

Whirl just points behind them.

Fearless feels all the blood from their face drain.

Their crush was talking to MEGATRON!

Fearless never sprinted so fast in their entire life.

They were red in the face, they didn’t know if it was from anger, embarrassment or from being flustered.

When they got back to the ship, they were going to be EVERYONE’S problem.

Their crush waves at them. ‘Crush’: “I didn’t know your dad was cool.” Fearless: “I’m so sor—did you say cool?” ‘Crush’: “Yeah, we were talking about human poetry and what writing styles we liked.” Fearless gives Megatron a look. Fearless: “Was that all… Dad?” Megatron: “Besides an introduction to your male companion.” Fearless looks at their crush who just smiles and nods in agreement. They look down at their phone and notice the time. Fearless: “Well, we got to go now. Gotta get dad his pills on time.” Megatron: “I don’t—” Fearless giving him a side glare. Megatron sighs and begins to walk away. Fearless: “…Was that really all you talked about? There was no threatening or anything?” ‘Crush’: “Nope, nothing weird.” Fearless looks down a bit. Fearless: “Sorry that our last day was all…this.” Their crush gently takes their hands in his. Fearless is fighting a blush best they can. ‘Crush’: “We can’t plan everything right? I’m just glad I got to spend it with you.” They get pulled into a tight hug. It lasts a minute before they both let go. ‘Crush’: “Give space a taste of Earth Fearless!” Fearless waves back and starts jogging to catch up with Megatron. They don’t see their crush’s image sigh, flicker and disappear.

Fearless on the inside with their crush.

[earthstellar]

I finally realised why this panel sticks out to me. 

For context: Everyone just arrived in the nightmare Functionist Universe, they’ve ended up somewhere they aren’t supposed to be, and the little drone is basically a cop who wants to search everyone. 

And this scene sticks out to me, this panel in particular, because Ratchet is the only one who challenges the cop-drone. 

Which is pretty significant, actually. 

How to Deal With Space Cops: Fucking Don’t! Unless You Can Get Away With It. 

Rodimus, Drift, Megatron, and Terminus all come from backgrounds where they were all harassed by authority figures on at least a fairly regular basis; They’re far more familiar with being pushed around by cops than Ratchet would be. 

Granted, Ratchet worked in the Dead End and undoubtedly got some degree of shit for it, but he still had the social class/caste status to dodge the more severe questioning, and had friends who were active duty cops himself. He got bothered by some authority figures, but for the most part, he could talk back without fear of suffering any of the more severe repercussions that most of the others here would be facing if they did anything similar. 

Authorities Aren’t That Scared of Authorities 

Chromedome, Rewind, Roller, and Minimus have all worked for or alongside bodies of authority themselves, and therefore likely aren’t as immediately resistant; They want to get through this without incident if they can, and in their minds, that means hearing out the cop-bot before they do anything. Their reactions are on hold. They’re listening, not talking-- Because most of them have been the person questioning others before. 

Gutter Mechs Know The Unspoken Reality of Things 

But check out the looks on Rodimus and Terminus’ faces. They’re just like, alright, this shit again. They’re not letting their faces show anything that a cop-drone might interpret as resistance or aggression, or they know they’re fucked. 

Drift and Megatron actively look put off, because they’re taking more of a defensive approach. They’ve both been treated severely and with suspicion by authority figures before, especially representatives of law enforcement, so they’re not saying anything--But their expressions show that they’re already calling bullshit on whatever this little cop-drone wants with them. “What does this thing want with us, now?” And rightfully, they don’t say shit. They know better. 

It’s a brilliant little bit of visual storytelling. Their reactions--or lack thereof--in their faces is a nice touch. The group of bots present consists of a mix of people with very different experiences of dealing with (or working with) oppressive authorities in their pasts, and Ratchet is the only bot here who wasn’t either a gutter mech or low class/caste, and also wasn’t an authority figure himself (his authority is entirely within the role of CMO, which is still a position of authority within a medical context, but not beyond that). 

Ratchet Had a Cop Friend, So Now His Ingrained Perspective on Authority is Somewhat Fucked

So of course, Ratchet, who has been relatively protected from the worst outcomes of dealing with cops in the past, is the only one to speak up here and risk challenging the cop-drone with a question-- Because why wouldn’t he push back? He’s never suffered at the hands of cops and was never a cop himself. He had cop friends. Surely the cop-drone has to provide a reason for a stop and search? And surely he knows that isn’t necessarily the case in reality, but he still asks, like he’s surprised or caught off guard to at least some degree. (Oh, Ratchet. I like to think that Drift talked to him about this shit afterwards...) 

Ratchet never worked for or alongside a police department before. He doesn’t grasp how fucked he is, if that little cop-drone decides he’s a non-person on a whim. He might understand that there’s risk in this interaction on an intellectual level, but on a personal risk level, he’s never really been at that much risk of being trashed by the cops. 

Even when working in the Dead End, his cop friend(s) clearly knew about it and never arrested him for it. Shit, we know at least one of his cop friends actively helped him out by dropping off potential patients at his clinic. 

So everyone else present has some level of experience, good or bad, with dealing with actual cop bullshit. But the majority of Ratchet’s personal experience with cops has been entirely through the lens of being a respected mid or high class/caste bot with a profession that benefits pretty much everyone, including the cops. He’s largely been “safe”, even when doing unsafe/illegal shit like running his Dead End clinic.  

So of course, his immediate reaction to being stopped and searched is essentially total bewilderment. 

Privilege: Legacy of Cybertron’s Past  

It’s entirely possible that Ratchet, even when working in the Dead End, has never really been all that bothered by cops/authorities before, despite the risks involved in running his clinic there. 

This might be the first time that he’s being stopped and searched like this. He’s never really been profiled or viewed by authorities in this way before, at least not so directly. He’s now dealing with a cop-drone that is treating him the way they treat most people, not the way they treat Ratchet the Medic and Trusted Friend of a Police Captain Equivalent, because the authorities in this universe are ones that he has no personal connection or familiarity with. 

His profile isn’t automatically popping up with all his credentials next to his name. He’s just some bot, with a bunch of other bots, and he’s now suspect. And that seems to have caught him off guard, a little bit. 

Nobody else is saying shit, because they understand this situation more personally. They’ve either been treated like shit by cops before, or they’ve BEEN cops before. 

But Ratchet is the odd one out, and he’s the only one with the particular social status of being a medical doctor, and so he pushes back, because what, exactly, did this little cop-drone say to him? And he feels secure enough to actually ask the drone for clarification. The authority figure bots know to stay quiet and let the cop-drone lead, and the gutter mechs/low class bots know that whatever they say, they’re about to get arrested anyway. 

Nobody but Ratchet is surprised, and it really feels like Ratchet is showing some of his pre-war social privilege here, totally by accident. It’s not his fault, it’s just how he experienced pre-war life compared to the others. Cybertron was a shitty place, and Ratchet was only aware of how shitty it was because of his personal drive to engage with those of lower classes/castes in order to try to assist them; If he hadn’t actively desired to open his own clinic in the Dead End, he would have stayed in Iacon, surrounded by other mid or high class bots. The same people he had spent most of his time interacting with, up until that point. 

We see how he handles Drift in the flashback to when they had first met; His advice comes from good intentions and genuine desire to help Drift, but the advice is ultimately hollow and impossible for Drift to commit to. Ratchet is shown as not really grasping how dire things are, that it’s not possible for Drift or other bots like him to simply walk into a job centre and pick up a paying gig. It took some time for Ratchet to understand this, because it wasn’t his lived experience; As a medic top of his class, he’s always been in high demand. But that isn’t the reality for Drift. 

It’s a realistic approach to exploring class/caste differences, and I really appreciate it. 

This panel is a genius quick and subtle way to emphasise the class/caste differences between all of the characters here, and highlight how vastly differently these bots would all be treated-- Both in their actual past, and in this alternate Functionist universe. 

Anyway it’s 3 AM so I’m going to bed now, just wanted to write this out before I forgot about it LMAO <3 

I can’t recall the exact issue this panel is from at the moment, but when I remember or get the time to look it up again, I’ll edit this to let y’all know! :) 

[wifetomegatron]

You said it was more convenient to post requests here, so here it is again:

I loved the "meeting the family" storyline very much. Can we get a First Contact fic of you trying to hide your relationship from your family (since theyre robo/phobic or youre embarrassed) but one day your family spots you getting out of a car they don't recognize and you have to explain that your bf wasn't in the car... he WAS the car.

Either with Rodimus, Chromedome (and Rewind), or... IDK, your choice really

sorry for the long wait, dear ! this made me think out of the box and experiment a little so I hope you enjoy it <3 thank you for being my first official request !

rodimus meets your uptight parents. first contact au. sfw (only few suggestive themes -ish).

" I commanded a ship. I went on a quest — well, that was before Earth. But, I mean, that's impressive, right? "

" Babe."

" I killed a sparkeater. I have Drift to testify, and Magnus, and two hundred others —"

" Roddy."

" I also carried the Matrix !"

" Rodimus, please !" You huffed, placing a hand flat against the dashboard: the metal underneath was stiff with tension. Your lover slowed down for the red light, rubber crunching against the pavement. Outside, the weather was clear — sunny without a cloud, and people poured out into the streets, crossing the zebra and laughing in the distance. It made you even more miserable. Sensing this, Rodimus took it upon himself to give the seatbelt across your body a small, reassuring squeeze.

He cleared his intake, static over the radio.

" I'm only nervous because you're nervous. And you're never this nervous."

" Sorry, “ You felt guilty already, “ I didn't mean to interrupt your little crisis but I’m sure you'll talk yourself to death before the anxiety can kill you ."

" Do you blame me for being nervous?"

A cold, heavy feeling dropped into the pit of your stomach. And the silence was back again, an unusual and uwelcomed guest in the home you and Rodimus have built. The reason that you were out today was that your parents had called — rousing you from what could have been the perfect start to a lazy Sunday, courtesy of Rodimus and his very, very talented mouth — to remind you about the brunch appointment you were supposed to attend an hour ago.

Panicked and already out of your boyfriend's arms, Rodimus couldn't quite understand how this was scary enough to make you spring out of his embrace and into a pair of pants — he emphasized how disappointed he was at how you were already dressed this early in the morning, on a weekend, no less.

Until you looked at him dead in the optics and whispered, “ They want to meet you too.”

That was enough to make him run for the garage.

You had warned him about your parents earlier in your relationship — at least, attempted.

" It's my parents," You had explained then, albeit the memory was fuzzy due to alcohol. All you remembered was that it was hard to stop Rodimus from doing anything when he was tipsy and flirty and running his servos all over your body.

“I’m sure they’ll like me,” He had smirked, pushing the topic aside and already sinking on his knees, “ Everyone likes me.”

That felt like ages ago. You’ve been delaying the subject, and today it has come back to finally bite you in the ass. Now, thanks to traffic and terrible skills at reading the GPS, you were two hours late to meet your parents and might as well be on death row.

“It won’t be so bad, right?”

You winced.

It took a while for you to explain to him that ‘picky’ was just an easy way of explaining to strangers that they were painfully traditional. Having been raised in a very small upper-crust bubble within an even smaller community, their obsession with keeping the family closed off was almost archaic: your father actually has a spreadsheet as a criteria board for what counts as a ‘compatible’ match. It was Eurystheus and Hercules all over again, except you wished the challenge was slaying a nine-headed hydra. It was something Rodimus could come out of alive.

Because no one has ever lived up to the insurmountable, one hundred and thirty-five-long list of requirements that would make someone worthy to be dating his only child. What was once a fun little fact you always used as an icebreaker at parties became an actual threat to the one person who's made you the happiest in a long time — and he's not even a person. He's an —

" — aliens, I’m guessing, never made it on his list, so I'm sure I'd be in the clear. Right?"

" Hold that thought, I think I see them," You peered over the driver’s seat and out the window as Rodimus pulled up to the sidewalk. It was adjacent to a terrace filled with tables, already crowded with people. Live jazz was playing behind the curtain of conversations, and you spot your father through the glass doors, checking his watch before crossing his arms. He didn’t seem too happy, leaning forward to whisper something inaudible to your mother’s ear.

Rodimus seemed to notice this.

" Uh, just go inside. I'll...catch up with my holoform."

From time to time again, you suggested that Rodimus get tinted windows. And if he had, for a second, thought about its practicality instead of calling you rude for assuming that you implied he could get them installed by the local car dealer, then maybe your father wouldn’t have spotted you.

“He’s coming this way,” You squeaked, combing your hair and quickly trying to make yourself look decent.

“Oh. Frag.”

A cluster of lights formed next to you, pixelating themselves to create a holographic image of what your boyfriend claims to be his persona if he were human. You weren't sure how to tell him that your father would immediately recognize Michael J Fox from Back to the Future. So you placed a firm hand across the dashboard to make him stop, shaking your head and confirming: this was it.

This was the moment you finally decided to fight for the person — not a person, he'd correct you — that made you feel alive. Feel loved. And you have to fight for that, even if it comes in the form of standing up to your up-tight, silver spoon, helicopter parents in the middle of the sidewalk and attracting the attention of over twenty people and a handful of Instagram influencers trying to peacefully take a picture of their bed of smoked salmon and caviar, then so be it.

" You better have a good explanation for this."

You sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep your chin up in defiance as you duel your father in a stare-down.

" It's time for me...to make my own decisions. And that includes who I decide to love. And be with. And date."

" Does he come with the tardiness?" He bit back.

" Oh, give them a chance to speak !" Coming at your defense was your mother, wringing her hands with worry and yet already peaking to admire the vehicle behind you, " Does he… come with the car, perhaps?"

You swallowed, the metal beneath your arm humming in distress,"You can say that."

Your father almost looked impressed. Almost. Suddenly you can't even hear the background music anymore, as if even the musicians had placed down their instruments, and are now rapt in attention at this showdown.

" What does he do?"

" He was a captain," The car roughly inched forward, “Is still, a captain. He’s just not on duty…at the moment.”

There was a murmur of appreciation from the nosy spectators.

"Where is he from ?"

" He's from... far away."

" Oh, lovey. I do love to travel," Your mother smiled, stiff and on the edge of exploding like a poorly timed confetti canon.

" Yes, but I don't think it's...that beautiful at this time of the year."

You lost your voice, suddenly compressed, as if you were a bottle of coke inside a sixty-second tikTok reel, ready to be crushed under the weight of an industrial metal press machine. You can tell Dad's already trying to work out what year Rodimus was manufactured in — vintage you'd joke, but it doesn't seem appropriate to condense lightyears into a punchline. Plus he wouldn't approve of the age gap.

" Let's see him. Tell the boy to step out of the car."

You steeled yourself as the sound of metal gears grinding and transforming flooded the area. The Earth lightly shook beneath you as Rodimus stood at full height, seemingly erasing any other noise from a five-mile radius like a black hole.

Someone dropped their teacup, the ceramic shattering in the distance.

“ Hi. Rodimus, here.”

It was safe to say that your mother only started to warm up to Rodimus in the waiting room of the hospital, when she had the chance to talk to the mech as you all waited for your father's discharge from Emergency — thankfully, Rodimus was quick enough to scoop him up as he fainted, so no traumatic head injury that had a one in five thousand chance of taking out the stick up his ass.

Surprisingly, your mother was already somewhat impressed: The former title of one-year Prime, his paint job, his humor.

Baby steps, you smiled to yourself and watched your mother drape an arm across Rodimus as she laughed at his joke. Baby steps.

[devilart2199-aibi]

IDW collection reading update! :^) 📖

Just finished Phase 2 volume 3! This volume included: The MTMTE 2012 Annual + issues 9-13, The RID 2012 Annual + issues 10-11, Signal to Noise and Spotlights: Thundercracker, Bumblebee and Megatron!

My thoughts will be below! ⤵️

MTMTE 2012 Annual:

Started off super wacky with Magnus 😂 Then got really interesting with Crystal City disappearing, The Metrotitan being underneath and the Galactic Council making their appearance! I liked how they tried to recruit Magnus and he said nah and smiled :)

RID 2012 Annual:

Absolutely LOVED the vintage/retro comic pages they did for the story/flashbacks of Nova's group!! Why so evil, but so cool looking?? I'm curious to see what all that with the Metrotitan and Starscream meant! 🤔

MTMTE 9-11:

Absolute banger. Probably one of my favorite stories so far!! I'm sorry but a murder mystery?? on Cybertron? in the past?? with stellar art!?! Sign me up any day.

Also it was great to finally learn more about Senator Shockwave and the rest of the Characters! Like Drift, Chromedome and Whirly! The back and forth with all the banter and the layers of fronts and corruption ahhh *chefs kisses*

Also I thought this ⬆️ was so cute bc it's a fact right out of Prowls characters bio/info sheet/page.

MTMTE 12:

This is the Surprise! Give you a mini heart attack issue lol Bc of my own silliness I was stressed the whole time reading it 😂 but it was really good!! We got to learn a bunch about Rewind. And that him and Chromedome are Conjunx' !! 🥺💞

MTMTE 13:

This was a super fun issue! I'm absolutely loving all this Magnus character time!!

The Holomatter Avatars were pretty funny 😂 Whirl was too adorable and I thought it was really sweet that Magnus chose to look like Verity 🥺 Uncle Magnus misses his kid.

I felt bad for Swerve ;_; also I'm excited to see more from Cyclonus and Tailgate!! This ship is full of liars lol 😂

RID 10-11:

10 was an issue where Orion (previously Optimus) is currently hunting down Jihaxus to get answers for stuff and things. There is quite a bit of time jumping back and forth which always gets me confused 😂 it was interesting tho!

Issues 11 Starscream takes action against his Deceptibros (Just Shockwave, Soundwave and their posse really) and I really look forward to his team up with Prowl, if it goes anywhere from here! Also Arcee killing more people rip Ravage, Frenzy and those other guys 🫡 and a wild Megatron makes a reappearance?!?!

Signal to Noise:

It was a little Lost Light interlude! It was from Rung's perspective. I feel like I haven't seen much from him specifically so it was pretty cool and interesting :> Like everything, I'm curious to see where it goes!

Spotlights:

Thundercrackers was enjoyable! It just reinforced that he was good leaning, or at least not one for senseless violence. I really like him and hope he makes a reappearance! I'm curious what he's up to on earth

Bumblebee's was fine. Him struggling to be the leader and feeling like he has to prove himself, but getting the job done!

Megatron's was a banger. I absolutely love his monologs. What he thinks of his Decepticons and the 'Pep talk' he gave Starscream to get him back to his usual self.

----

Final random thoughts:

Of all the storylines, MTMTE is still my favorite to read rn. I must admit, Rodimus tho is stressing me out as the leader 😂 I was gonna say my fav characters rn but, there are just too many haha

I've already hopped into volume 4 so I'll be seeing you soon with more ramblings! 👋

[pestopi]

may i request Chromedome or Rewind for daily pink doodles? 👉👈

Also, question: what tf continuites do you like?

of course! They’re very dear to me, here is your sketch! Thank you for requesting! I like a lot of continuities, but I really enjoy idw and specifically mtmte! still watching a bunch of the shows and looking into more :)

(04)

[thenamesblurrito]

so it's uh been awhile. you might wanna click for clarity, especially for the kitty cat on the right. everyone here except Chromedome is a size null!

Grandus has been a champion of various martial arts since long before the Stratocracy was ever founded, with grace belied by his size null bulk. his particular specialty is a type of wrestling originating from his home planet Caminus, but he's lived on Cybertron a long time, working with Yoketron to teach and record martial arts as much as he can. under the current regime that looks down on such "violence", preserving this information is pretty important. when Yoketron decided to chip in as a benefactor for the JAAT, Grandus himself actually took a teaching position in physical education. the self-knowledge and body confidence he passes on to his students is unexpectedly engaging, almost enough to get some of them to stop gossiping about whatever relationship he may or may not have with pop star Rosanna.

whether or not his students were sports fans before, Eject is going to make sure they leave his class with a new appreciation for the glorious art of physical competition. an unmatched master of sports history and science, he can tell you the play-by-play of every Cube match in the past fifty million years without looking anything up, just as much of a terrifying information sponge as his twin, and equally terrifying on the field despite his extremely small datacube frame. given the cultural importance and how there's a sport for every function, he's actually got quite a bit of teaching material to cover even for the less active students. while he does have a Conjunx, he's not exactly in love with Chromedome like Rewind is, only married to him because of the way twin sparks work. they get along well enough, but he and Rewind have agreed that should they ever pick up an Amica, it'll be somebody Eject adores himself.

Chromedome is honestly a little confused as to how he wound up here in the first place. before, he was a psychiatric recordkeeper and ethical inspector. then his Conjunx Rewind got it into his head that he'd be just the perfect candidate to help out that new school Jhiaxus was trying to open, and Chromedome abruptly found himself a teacher of psychiatry. it's quite the change of pace, and honestly much less depressing to talk with a bunch of bright younglings than pore over yet another case file of horrific medical malpractice. he's an average size 2 car, but that's more than tall enough to pick up both his Conjunces with ease, if the two of them ever stood still long enough to nab.

he may not be JAAT faculty, but Rewind is ever-present anyway. both to check in on his twin and Conjunx or friends like Blaster, and also to get the freshest scoop on all the juicy stories this school spawns constantly! he may be tiny, but he is The star reporter of Iacon--no, Cybertron! nothing can stand in the way of getting that snippet, that quote, that blurry video, that first hand experience broadcasted to the world, even when his support staff Raindance and Grand Slam lag behind! information, he wants information! it all goes into his own alt mode storage as a datacube, making him quite the encyclopedia. the Stratocracy has tried and utterly failed to censor him, so instead they've relegated him to the function he has always excelled at, although with the way he is "accidentally" platforming the heroes and their dangerous ideals, they may be regretting letting Rewind run wild...

Roadmaster is a familiar face to many at the JAAT already, both to old friends like Thunderclash and folks she's never met. she's the host of popular nature show Quintessential Creatures, teaching viewers all about weird and wonderful wildlife. she was forged on Caminus long enough ago that her original records have been lost, but she's traveled everywhere since then, and her animal-wrangling bravery often makes people think she must be from Carcer instead. by all appearances she's slowing down now, letting her assistant Servo take on more responsibility, and this teaching position at the Academy is just perfect. she gets to affectionately nag a gaggle of fellow teachers many millions of years her junior while surreptitiously instilling revolutionary ideals and a love of nature in dozens of impressionable young minds. her walker transforms to become the cage on her enormous transport truck alt mode, most often used to haul rehabilitated mechanimals back to their natural habitats.

Meowgatron is a rusty tabkey who came up and sat on Roadmaster's clipboard one day and has been her darling pet ever since. he is, in a word, an idiot, and yet surprisingly good at finding his new favorite person Starscream to sit on and purr, no matter where he's hiding. rusty tabkeys like himself have lava lamp radiator alt modes, and many stressed students find petting his warm, blobby body very soothing. it almost makes up for his daily yowling sessions when he gets himself stuck inside a desk somehow.

[transingthoseformers]

AU to offer:

Megatron calls the DJD before he defects and tells them they are moving on to Phase 7 (canonly Repopulation) convincing them it's a long scheme now that the population is so low and Tarn ever obedient sees Megatron join the Lost Light and shows up informing Rodimus they are joining his quest and supplies Ultra Magnus with all the specific laws for defectors, offers some of the List as payment, and, as they've prepped, has all the DJD pass the Autobot test with flying colors.

Rodimus is petty enough to invite them on to get back at Megatron who is uncomfy and he has a type.

So now Tarn has ordered the DJD to make friends and propagate, deciding that as their leader he must have someone of equivalent rank and so goes for Rodimus who is lonely and the type to make friends through sex cue rocking Tarn's world right into Tarn being the "crazy, posessive girlfriend" and Rodimus being strangely delighted that someone wants to lock him down since he's mostly a fuck buddy not lockdown mech and may be rebounding emotionally. A little.

Megatron watching from the side horrified only spurs him on.

Background plot of DJD attempting to seduce Autobots and gleeful reporting the results and a very smug Tarn accomplishing this first. With Rodimus taking impending baby trap surprisingly well and starting a competition to baby proof the LL as part of his preparation and listening to baby books as audiobooks during shifts.

Also Rewind is trying to kill them in the background while Chromedome attempts to stop his husband from pissing off the murder death squad.

(And, wow, they just found Dominus Ambus who mysteriously lost his memory of the passed several hundred years how mysterious don't look too closely at the Pet's absence. Here Rewind your husband. This is not a cleverly planned distraction/cover up of some questionable behaviors.)

Ohhhohoh

Oh this sounds fun, this right here is a whole ass crack fic

I've only read like one or two Roditarn fics ever, and this right here provides such an interesting situation with Tarn in full "oh so it's finally time for the 'facing part of the plan!!!!!!", the DJD becoming this odd mix of autobot adjacent and yet decepticon adjacent, Megatron just being damn traumatized by this turn of events, Rodimus fucking rolling with the baby trapping and going full dad mode, Chromedome absolutely seething with barely if at all controlled rage, Rewind gets a husband back meaning he either has an ally in preventing Domey from basically committing sudoku or he has two idiot conjunxes to deal with, and possible shady shit feat. Dominus Ambus.

What the hell have you done and how do I plead that we can do so much more??

[dragon-divinity]

Fourth Set of my My Little Pony Transformers AU! They are sorta scattered in a manner of they aren't in any kind of order/collective group? But there are two couples! Obligatory Golden Maven [Chromedome] and High Lights [Rewind] because of course, but Cobalt Cruise [Skids] and Mango Crush [Swerve] are here too! They run the most famous bar in Canterlot. But before I forget- in order we have: Chromedome, Rewind, Skids, Swerve, Thunderclash, and Red Alert. Technically Nautica and Velocity run the bar too and are also a part of the quadruple. I just,, Art is hard. They are literally all in love, and no, I do not take criticism. <3 Thunder Burst is a part of King Parhelion's castle as a general, and Wary Chary is a castle security guard.

[zephyrrhiesfyrian]

@tiny-tf-faces I come bearing more tiny faces. All hail our glorious leader.

Chromedome climbing up a ladder :D

a smol Rewind

Mimsy scream

Rewind's aggressive pelvic thrust.

Percy has lost his face. Bayverse got to him, I guess. 😔

Riptide!

Rodimus wants to know what those people outside are talkin' about.

Rewind is melting.

Nightbeat! :D

Domey is angy >:(

Nautica is disappointed.

Censere!!

This is also Censere, I swear.

Meow motherfucker.

A far away Hound.

Megsy really lookin' like a bucket here lmao

Roddy!

A pointy Chromedome.

Nooooo Bayverse got Skids too!!

This image is labelled "why did they put Atomizer in a closet"

oH gOD LoTTy

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 12-13

MTMTE 12

still so cute that Tailgate's happy place is movie night

damn they really just cut right to the aftermath of the battle like “oh yeah btw Rewind's injured and Swerve got his face blown off. Just to let you know. Okay back to the present”

Drift is in his element, look at that smile, you go baby, slice those dudes up

gfdjks poor First Aid is so done with Chromedome's fussing, give the guy a break he's just worried about his husband

also yeah god this is the first time we get to say explicitly that they're married, isn't it? I remember being completely fucking floored by that the first time I read it, like “wait what do you mEAN THEY'RE ACTUALLY TOGETHER??? LIKE IN THE ROMANCE WAY?!?!?” like I had picked up on the queercoding vibes but then the comic was just like “yeah coding-schmoding, they're queer” and I simply could not believe that shit lmAO

also btw Cyclonus is injured too. Just fyi

I've made fun of Tailgate for embellishing his past accomplishments but damn does he do a good job of stringing Rewind along lmAO kid's a pretty good liar under enough pressure

I love how they show us that horrifying panel of Swerve's fucked up face without context and then later the context turns out to be “yeah he just accidentally shot himself in the face.” he looked down the fuckin barrel of the thing god lmAO

I love the concept of innermost energon so much. For a race that's constantly morphing and changing to give away the one part of themselves that always stays the same no matter what, the fuckin romance of it all

I love Tailgate trying to gas up Chromedome by constantly trash-talking Dominus just on principle alone lmAO “Oh that's Rewind's ex? Fuck that guy he's got nothing on you” “Tailgate he was an incredible person” “Incredibly cringe, maybe”

sorry I am now distracted by the idea of Tailgate using the word “cringe,” that wasn't nearly as much of a thing when this comic was coming out but he absolutely would, holy shit

ooohhhgdjhfs Drift recruiting Chromedome for The Overlord Thing while he's at his lowest and Rewind's incapacitated is so slimy, he really does have to do all the dirty work for this project huh

Cyclonus immediately goes back to help Tailgate clean up, he's making progress, we're getting thereeeeeeeee

I think this is the first time (of many) that Cyclonus looks at Chromedome and Rewind's relationship and is like “...........huh.” Like, he definitely uses them as a framework for his own relationship with Tailgate and wants what they have, even if he doesn't quite realize it at this point

Ah, right, I forgot that Whirl helps Rewind jump his spark out of guilt for nearly killing him alongside Cyclonus lmAO

And Cyclonus protected Rewind.... nnnnNNGFHSDFNgsdf *points at Cyclonus* HAHA YOU HAVE FEELINGS... YOU CARE........

MTMTE 13

I like the implication that this isn't the first time Drift has grabbed Swerve like a football

also love Cyclonus calling Drift too young, both of you are old as dicks

I will never be able to think about the bit where Swerve asks Drift to be his roommate and Drift is like “no thanks, in my off time I prefer to be alone in a state of heightened isolation exploring the limits of solitude” without thinking about that vine that's like “sorry dude I can't go do social event, I'm busy” and then it cuts to him in his room alone, drinking a can of beer with one hand and playing jock jams on a keyboard with the other, this one, this is the vine

I fucking forgot Swerve was still here, I thought they closed the door on him lmfAO they really just had that whole conversation with the door wide open

I'm still so sad we only got the good holomatter avatar generator after Ratchet had used his old one, not to mention everyone whose avatars we never saw. Every day I wonder what Drift's avatar would've looked like

Magnus shoving his way between Swerve and Tailgate, making Tailgate scoot three entire seats over

“I think the program is struggling with human gender- Do I look like a 'Mary Sue?'” ah-HAH *slaps knee*

Aww, I forgot Magnus's avatar is Verity, that's so sweet. I didn't know who Verity was the first time I read this, but now that I do it does hit different lmAO

fuckin rip Magnus. Fhdksjkl I just noticed Rewind recording in the background, you can see the light of his camera on his silhouette

“Why do I get the impression that you can't remember your worst enemy?” nnnnnnNNNNNGGHH

drunk Magnus is cute

“Where IS Chromedome?” “Oh, he's, erm... I'm sure he told me...” NNNNNNNGGHHFFGHGHFGH

“Savor this feeling, everyone. You never know what's around the corner.” yEAH, YOU GUYS SURE DONT...

Cyclonus teaching Tailgate to sing in old Cybertronian... Tailgate said earlier in the issue that Cyclonus was the only link to his past and that was defs on purpose so that this could be Cyclonus's moment of realizing that Tailgate is much the same for him

aww Swerve, buddy... I mean to be fair I would've done the same thing in Blurr's position, Swerve comes on a little strong, but oh man. Swerve's not a bad guy, he's just unbearably lonely but Blurr never could've known that

oh right this is the first little written blurb we get hell yeah

Rung quietly marveling at the miracle of Cybertronian physiology like. That's YOU!!! That's more you than you could ever know!!!!! He doesn't even know that he's the originator of all that!!!!!!!!

it is still so funny that Rung regained the ability to move by getting so sick of Swerve's shit that he subconsciously mustered the power to move his arm so he could shush him

mmmmphphgndfm one of the only things Rung remembers during his recovery period was the smile Skids gave him when he corrected the mispronunciation of his name... SKIDS IS REAL SWEET........

gfdjk the gang watching Cyclonus browse a gift shop like they're ethologists and Cyclonus is a species of animal they've never seen before

godjdfska Magnus trying to make a joke and failing harder than anyone ever could is still so funny.. HE'S TRYING OKAY........ Also, absolutely hysterical joke to be telling to Rung specifically

God Rodimus is such an ass lmAO “What is wrong with people” he asks the therapist, genuinely. Simply solve mental illness, why don't you

ooh, get him, Rung, stick to your guns, attaboy

God. Watching Rodimus lie through his teeth about investigating the voice Rung and Red Alert heard... I mean, it was never going to work out, bringing Overlord onto the ship, it was a doomed endeavor from the start, but seeing all these moments of Drift and Rodimus trying to keep it under wraps is just so bitter lmAO They did their best, their awful, awful best

[in1-nutshell]

Shenanigans happen, Fearless gets hit with magical plot ray and temporarily turns cybertronian.  Good news, they’re now alot more durable and no longer under threat of squishidge.  Bad news, their shenanigans have doubled now that they're durable.

YES! Fearless has returned and back with a new body!

Hope you enjoy!

Fearless turns Cybertronain

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Human/Cybertronain reader

MTMTE

The Lost Light had just found a new relic on one of their trips.

The science department was in charge of figuring out what it was capable of doing.

No one knows who or what had activated the relic, or why it even spontaneously combusted because everyone was too busy avoiding the energy beam that was ricocheting around the lab.

That is… until it left the lab.

Meanwhile, Fearless was hauling some metal scraps back to their room with Whirl.

Well, they were doing the work while Whirl was busy talking to them about the latest development in getting Cyclonus and Tailgate together.

None of them saw the energy beam heading towards them until it was too late.

The impact sent them both flying back.

Whirl tried to get back onto his pedes, but a giant weight suddenly flung on top of him.

Whirl tries moving the enormous weight off of him.

That fails miserably.

“Get off of me you little—”--Whirl

“Whirl?! Whirl where are you!”--Fearless

The weight suddenly gets off of Whirl’s chassis as the smoke clears.

In front of him was a large bot on their knees staring shakingly at their servos.

The bot looks at him.

“Whirl?”--Fearless

“Primus! Fearless is that you?!”--Whirl

They nod looking back at their shaking servos.

Whirl takes their servos into his claws.

The shaking lessens a bit.

“C’mon let’s get you up.”--Whirl

Whirl stands up and attempts to help Fearless up.

Whirl is immediately dwarfed by Fearless’s shadow once they stand up straight.

Fearless blinks their new optics at Whirl before cracking a smile.

“Wow, the view really is nice up here.”--Fearless

Then their smile drops.

“What? What’s with the face?”--Whirl

They break out into a giant smile.

“I can finally do this now!”--Fearless

“Do wh-AAAHH!”--Whirl

Fearless scoops Whirl into their arms and hugs him tightly, slightly swaying back and forth.

They let him go while testing their pedes.

Thankfully they had retained their ability to move around just fine.

“I CAN HUG EVERYONE NOW!”--Fearless

Fearless turned around and immediately started heading to Swerve’s.

Whirl stood there for a second trying to comprehend what had just happened.

“…This is what I get for staying on this ship. FEARLESS GET BACK HERE!”--Whirl

Meanwhile on the bridge…

“Fearless’s signature just disappeared!”

To see a bot burst through the doors of the bar wasn’t a sight too uncommon to Swerve’s.

But to have the bot smiling and immediately start hugging bots, that was new.

Even more when Whirl came in venting heavily and slightly cursing under the vents.

Chromedome was the first to try and confront the bot.

He was also one of the bots victims.

Chromedome was not expecting the bot to be so happy to see him and throw their arms around him.

Rewind tried to come to his rescue, but the mystery bot had also scooped him up into the hug.

“I’m-- its nice to meet you too but—”--Chromedome

The bot releases him to fully hug Rewind.

“Hey that’s my—”--Chromedome

“FEARLESS! I SWEAR TO PRIMUS—STOP HUGGING BOTS UNTIL THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE!”--Whirl

Silence.

“Welp, that happened.”--Whirl

All optics are on Fearless, who is completely unphased and still hugging Rewind.

“Fearless?”--Rewind

Fearless finally releases Rewind and proudly puffs their chassis.

“Nice body am I right!”--Fearless

“But how!? Why?!”--Skids

Fearless and Whirl shrug.

“Energy beam.”—Fearless and Whirl

“An energy beam? That’s it?”--Cyclonus

Fearless nods before scanning the crowd.

Target locked.

Fearless lunges out and wraps their arms around Rung, hugging him close.

“Fearless, dear, how long have you had this… new frame of yours?”--Rung

“Don’t know. Less than 5 minutes though.”--Fearless

“And you haven’t thought about visiting the med bay to see if there are any complications?”--Rung

Fearless pauses for a second before releasing Rung.

“Hmm, haven’t thought about that. Honestly, my first thoughts were hugging everyone on board, telling Megs—PRIMUS MEGS DOESN’T KNOW!”--Fearless

SLAM!

Rodimus, Megatron, Drift, and Ultra Magnus appear at the door.

“Listen up! Fearless has gone missing. We need to—”--Rodimus

“Fearless is right here.”--Whirl

Whirl points over at the larger bot inside the bar.

“What?”--Megatron

“Yeah, some crazy energy beam thing came in and zapped me… And well…”--Fearless

Fearless runs up to Megatron and wraps their arms the best they could around him.

Megatron’s own arms flail around a bit before awkwardly hugging them back.

CLICK!

“Whirl!”--Magnus

“Shut it, you’re ruining the moment.”—Whirl

“Where did you even get a camera?”—Drift

“Shhh.”—Whirl

“Where—“—Drift

“Shh!”--Whirl

It didn’t take long to find where the cause of the energy beam came from.

But the relic was almost completely obliterated.

It would take some time to figure it out.

Fearless was checked in with Ratchet as soon as they could.

Thankfully they came out of the med bay with a clean bill of health.

It did take a while to get used to.

Especially being taller than most of the bots on board.

In fact, they are sure that they were even taller than Megatron by a couple of inches.

Megatron denies this.

… but Brainstorm checked, they were taller than him.

The minibots have found a new jungle gym to climb on.

Also, no one was except from Fearless’s merciless reign of pranks and hugs filled with words of affirmation and love.

Speaking of which, Megatron was never far from them.

A shadow per say.

But it came at a cost.

“Fearless… I need you to release me.”--Megatron

Fearless has locked their arms and pedes around him like a koala.

“No.”--Fearless

“Fearless…”--Megatron

“You said you could count the number of times someone hugged you on one servo. I am just getting you caught up.”—Fearless

They hug a bit tighter causing the ex-warlord to grumble but made not effort to get them off of him.

Fearless the moment they realized the ship would be subjected to their pranks and hugs.

[ikkosu]

Hellooo Ikko, how are you ? I've been trying to come up with appropriate questions to get to know your robot husbands for a while now but I feel like an idiot every time I write one down because I can't tell if it's elementary knowledge or not sooo can you give me a very basic primer on how things work around here ? For reference, I don't even know what a valveplug is, have no clue about conjux endurae and I only know Pharma and Prowl (your husband) so I think we have a lot to cover here. Love your new pfp btw!

Glad you love it!! It took me a while to muster up the courage to swap. I still miss the old one though.

Also it's okay if it's complicated at first 😭 trust me, getting into his fandom requires knowledge of the canon and the fanon too lmaoo. And the fanon isn't so little either 😭, it's as complicated as the cabon with the terminologies which is why I always adore reading original fanon works. It's almost always better than the original ones.

and a writer of the mtme comics (an idw tf comics series) used to write transformers fanfiction, can you believe that? If you're curious, it's called Eugenesis and I don't know what to say about it yet since Im only on the first chapter 💀 and it's certainly interesting...

Anyways, things get complicated so I'll only explain some surface level stuff. Me just jotting down stuff from the top of my head dhjsiwks.

So, basically in fanon stuff because in canon there's no way hasbro is giving them actual dicks, cybertronians have an interface panel. their version of a built in panty that just slides open and close for use. It's located around the crotch, the rectangular shaped thing and when it opens it reveals two interface array/ port (genitals) : a valve (vagina) and a spike (dick).

Though, gender isn't really much a thing in their society, female Cybertronians also have a spike and a valve (in fanon, of course). And there's also other ways writers make the bots fuck. Some writers prefer ports over spike/valve, a different method of fucking that involved plugging and wireplay? I guess, I am not that knowledgeable enough to explain ( I will read more I swear)

So if you write anything explicit, nsfw in the fandoms tf writers will use the tag #valveplug to indicate it's nsfw. And maccadam (lorewise, it's an oil house, basically like a bar where Cybertronians go to drink energon and chat etc. I heard it's used because everytime tf pops up it's just Megan fox because of the movie 😭 and people wanted fandom centric things and not that)

Going into Cybertronian culture is not my forte, but I do know a little. it's a given they interact differently when it's comes to love and relationships. They take these things seriously. Amica endurae : best friend, and Conjux is basically your wife/husband and they'll have to undergo a ritual. And it's canon! :D examples of relationships are Chromedome/Rewind, Ratchet/Drift are just a few . There's many more but I forgor

Cybertronians express emotions through emp field since they don't have a heart but a spark. A spark is kind like a soul? So it's like a magnetic field. when they 'feel' things, other mechs can also feel it as well. they can pull it close to them when they're uncomfortable or expand it to assert domination — just some of the things they do.

Relationships in Transformers gets complicated when there's Sparkbonding involved. I do not know much about that djidskfhkwn so dshsjsja

Some terms, Servo : hand, helm : head, pedes : feet, breem : hour, joor : months, klik : seconds.

There's also many robot husbands!!! Optimus, (iconic dad) Soundwave, Megatron, Ultra Magnus and more :DD

Also, you've just given me the signal I need to learn more about Cybertronian culture LMAOAOA

[mtmte-bracket]

[ROUND THREE] Elegant Chaos vs Delphi

A quick summary/refresher for each storyline is under the cut including TFWiki links:

Elegant Chaos: the time travel one. The one where Brainstorm invents time travel because he had a crush on a boy, and then nearly eradicates the entire Cybertronian timeline because Chromedome is bad at coping with loss. We see the first glimpses of the Functionist Universe, and Rewind shoots a baby. And the whole thing turns out to be a closed time loop in the end anyway, going right back to Chaos Theory. (Sidenote: the Megatron flashback issue gets to be here too.) TFWiki link.

Delphi: First Aid sneaks a message out from Delphi, where his boss Pharma is being very normal and definitely has not killed anyone. Introduces us to the threat of the DJD, and also the surprising about of interpersonal drama that pervades Ratchet’s life. Drift is also here and having a Very Bad Day. TFWiki link.

[popculturebuffet]

More Than Meets the Eye Retrospective: Shadowplay (Issues 9 through 11) (Patreon review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy autobots and welcome back to my look at more than meets the eye, long delayed due to a lot of scheduling delays, a draining move, and general shenanigans. But it's finally time for us to take a look at Shadowplay.

Shadowplay is easily one of the most important arcs of MTMTE, not only seting up a lot of character backstory, but also fully establishing Roberts vision of Cybertron past that he dabbled with back in Chaos Theory, a place where the senate is corrupt, the Decepticons are slowly planning a coup that will sadly turn from righteous rebellion into nightmarish dictatorship not unlike what they replaced, and functionism lingers in the background. And at the first time I read this arc..

While I liked it well enough, being a tense story that characterized Optimus well and gave him spotlight at a time when he wasn't in any of the comics on a regular basis, it still felt a bit like a neat side tangent.

I've come around since then for a number of reasons: The first is, especially on re-read this arc is REALLY good and in a continuity where Optimus didn't get to shine that often, it's another character piece that makes me sad he never joined the lost light. He got to lead but this really gets to who he is as a character and shows him at his best. It also has plenty of nice depths for the autobots featured, and seeing who they were pre-war really adds some layers and shows just what the war did to each and every one. The other is simple: I was reading the story for the first time. And sometimes something extraneous at the time ends up being important. In this case both how cybertron used to be is vital to the future of those who left it behind. So with that's lets do a little shadowplay and see how the past will ultimately nearly destroy the future...

Content Warning: Self Harm and Suicide Is Discussed

We open in pre war cybertron, some time after the last time we saw it in chaos theory. The Decpticon movement in in full swing, and two bots are discussing the recent clampdown, basically a bunch of curfews and othe rnonsense to try and fight back against them. But one of these bots, Nightbeat isn't remotely convinced this will work while his buddy Quark

Sadly not that one, is paranoid about it and assumes they'll force Alt Mode Changes when they get in power. While they'll do much worse, remember this idea. It'll be important next season. As will Nightbeat.

For now though Quark's casually day drinking is interupted by some blood.. from a corpse hung above

Cut to present day at Swerves where Ratchet joins a group consisting of Rewind, Chromedome, Tailgate, Whirl, Skids, Drift and of course the man himself. Swerve. As for why.... well as put in the page image THEIR GONNA FIX RUNGS BRAIN. After everyone gets a chance to react in shock and disgust and this stupid stupid joke , (Minus swerve who isn't shown reacting and likely helped Rewind set him up), we find out it's not AS obnoxious as it sounds: Swerve is still comotose and Rewind brought them all here to try and fix that on Chromedome's advice. See Domey's figured out why our Psychatrist pal's still in his coma: His body is starting to function but he can't fully heal till his mind does. Hence this exercise: The group gathered here isn't random as it seems: most were involved in a story in cybertron's past, the same one from the cold open, each crossing paths with a certain future robot space jesus. Rewind himself wasn't, but has both archival footage and has talked to some involved, so he can fill in the gaps. As for Tailgate and Swerve.. well Tailgate is just a nice guy and was likely let along so he can learn more autobot history, and Swerve owns the only place they could do this session nice and quiet, only needing a closed sign. (The bar has been reopened it turns out. ). And frankly it's swerve: you think he'd miss anything where he'd have a chance to talk and crack jokes?

So here's where we are: Nominus Prime, one of the senators, was nearly assainated and has vanished since while the corrupt senate we saw last time is only getting more and more strained as the citizens, paticuarlly the aformentioned decipticons, are pushing back more and more.

It's here the first of our familiar faces enters: Chromedome. Dome was working in Mechaforensics, even had a diffrent name but for clarity's sake Rewind is having him use his current one. He's working with Prowl

Who while not as awful as present, still has a rod wedged up someplace uncomfortable, possibly a cybertronian voltzwagon. The plan has all the hallmarks of a decipticon: i'ts pointed straight at the functionist council building, their graffiti is on the back. It's bad. we then get a nice diversion as Skids wants to know Prowl more, as he's going to be a recurring character and all and we get Swerve naturally hurling a ton of insults at the asshole and as for Rewind..

I love how Roberts not only embraced Prowl's tantrum becoming a meme, but decided to just make it a character trait. I also like how both of them can recognize the exact sound he makes It's then time for Drift's story.. which is good because Rodimus is getting antsy. At the time Drift was a drug addict, plugging boosters into his head. Ratchet makes sure to emphasis WINNERS DON'T USE DRUGS.. mostly because Tailgate's present. At any rate he gets hassled by two random dipshits... and stopped by Optimus, aka orion pax at the time, who then procedes to badassily take them both out in seconds. With Drift, known as roller then, comotose Optimus takes him to Ratchet... .. and then procedes to play with him by having the known atheist say adaptus be praised. The two wrestle a bit and Chromedome sidesteps this foreplay by pointing out this dosen't make sense: Apparently Ratchet was already cheif physician> Turns out though Ratchet was also unfufilled, so when Optimus, being optimus, suggested a secret center for addicts since the council , like most goverments, cares not one iota off a shit if people with a serious addiction die horribly, he gladly took it up. It also fits well with his character: Ratchet is older so of course he's already even further into his career, he likes helping and he likes a challenge.

Once he saves the future Drift, he encourages him to make something of his life.. while Drift plans to simply go to a refurbishment clinic and donate his body instead. The present day drift then has to go before Hot Rod tries to rebuke his amnesty.. and that's only half a joke as Drift geninely isn't sure if he can do that and isn't keane to find out. As for what the clinics were, Rewind helpfully explains for Tailgate, who nicely serves as an audience surrogate here. He even has a helpful ad

I also love the repacaging of something most older transformers fans like Roberts would be familiar with and fond of, the g1 manuals, into something fucked up, i.e. an add for cheap and nasty body tourisim. We don't know where it lead but we'll find out later. For now though once Drift leaves... Ratchet finds out there's bigger worries to deal with. Pax gestures to the news, something Ratchet dosen't like already for being state propoganda.. but likes even less finding out Nominus has offically been declared dead. More disturbingly Ratchet realizes their cause of death.. has to be wrong. It's said to be a rusted fuel pump, and the rust spreading to his spark casing.. but his fuel pump was pristine when Ratchet examined him post attack.. and with Optimus already theorizing to ratchet in a past conversation that the attack was a false flag attack from the senate itself Ratchet concludes not only is the senate behind this.. but they now have the matrix of leadership, all thanks to sentinel prime who no matter the reality is apparently just the biggest dick in existance.

Optimus reassures Ratchet he's not crazy or paranoid: they did clearly do this.. and he has a friend he wants him to meet

On that note we're back to Chromedome and Prowl. And we get another lovely toy based sight gag

Before the results tell prowl their going to Transluctna Heights next, the cybertronian beverley hills. Silciate Palm Trees and energon pools.

We then cut to Ratchet and Optimus who are meeting with the Senator, the same one from the end of Chaos Theory. This still works even if you had'nt read that story, as to me reading this comic the first time I assumed he and optimus had met previously and simply had a history.. and they do as seen with Chaos Theory he's the one who was convinced our hero could one day be a prime. Ratchet is mostly here to throw off suspiscion, since the senator already used most of his captial saving optimus from certain death at the end of chaos theory. That added context will be important in a bit but for now the Senator confirms that yup they killed Nominus for having a fake matrix. The only reason the senator isn't doing anything is because he's smarter than that and knows having a seat is way more useful than wringing Sentinels scrawny tickish neck. Speaking of which, The Senator is genuinely scared of what's going on. Also if you were curious where Megatron was during all of this he is alive, they simply have him on an asteroid mining as killing him would make him a martyr. His mining assignment is, once again, naturally important for later.. just not this storyline.

For this one we close the main story with Chromedome and Prowl investigating the swanky, richest of the rich only district of cybertron.. only to get a body thrown at them.

While we close the issue starting our b-plot for this three pater as we find out WHY Rodimus was so antsy for drift to get there NOW.

Yup... and honestly... this is the rare case where I genuinely DON'T know what happened here. We'll get an explination shortly and I THINK that's what indeed happened.. but I can't be sure for a number of reasons I don't want to spoil. The point is Red Alert's dead and Hot Rod thinks Cyclonus did it.

We see a lot of blurbs and what not on the news. The most important two are Senator Sherma, whose trying to pass a decipticon regestration act.. and if you've ever read x-men you'll know that's a pretty terrible idea and prejudice to boot, while we also get a hint against ratioisim, which I THINK is supposed to be some form of functionisim. For those wondering , Functionisim is basically determining your worth based on your alt mode and what purpose it serves. And if that idea sounds shady, racist and classist, you can see why the decipticons exist.

I also really like Roberts adding these shades to the decpticons existnace: Their still bad people mostly, but I love the idea they sprouted from a genuinely good place. From an opressed working class lorded over by a corrupt senate. It's an exploration of the idea a movement can easily be corrputed. YOu only have to look at say communisim: It's not a horrible idea on it's surface and modled right it can be done well.. and when molded wrong under someone like stalin it becomes an opressive facist state, just as democracy can be molded into one just the same when , as seen with the cybertronian senate, a few powerful folks wield said power regardless of the people's actions. As we've seen with Optimus , Nightbeat and Ratchet there are PLENTY of autobots who fully agree with their message.. they just won't agree with what that message becomes. It's one thing when the message is "take down the corrupt police state we all hate", it's another when the message becomes "Peace through tyranny"... a message really not that diffrent from the senate. The only diffrence.. is Megatron just comes out and admits he's going to rule over you as a dictator while the senate lies and says things are fair while constantly stacking the deck however they like. It makes me really wish Roberts had gotten to full on write the reboot when it happened, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Back with the cop plot, Chromedome is chasing around one of the perps on a flying bike. I wonder if you can play card games on it? For now the chase dosen't take much effort as the idiot he's chasing goes into a narrow garage.. that turns out ot be a no fly zone, complete with the cybertronian equilveant of saftey glass.. and being cybertronian that means anything speeding blows up real good. Prowl is already doing what he does best: casing the room and being mildly dimissive. Being an authortarian cockballon comes a little later but joining the police is a good start. That said we see how diffrent he was.. as he ACTUALLY APOLOGIZES

Yes when he finds out about the glass he genuinely apologizes and hopes Chromedome is okay. In the apartment they find both red alert and a decepticon manfesto and shrine. The senator was a secret deciptcion.. and given what else we know it's obvious the senate is trying to clean house of anyone that would oppose them.

Back in the present, Rodimus has turned Perciptor's lab into a makeshift inergation room. And it turns out.. he's taken in Cyclonus for no other reason than he's Decipticon adjacent. That's it. This is pure profling.. and it also provides a really intresting role reversal. Usually when these two talk Magnus is a stick in the mud doomsayer who follows regulations as his one true religion, while Rodimus, hot mess he may be, tends to give people chances and think outside the box. It's essentially a wackier version of Kirk and Spock.

Here though that same adherence to order and regulation that often makes Magnus the butt of the joke.. makes him the reasonable one for a change.

He does.. but only because Drift is unlawfly interogating him. Rodimus is just rashly assuming because decipticon, while Magnus rightly sees he's bungled this whole investigation by unlawfully arresting someone who did nothing wrong, they have no reason to bring in. Drift isn't much better as we see a nastier side to him. While he's a former decpitcon himself he treats Cyclonus hostile and subtly threatens him.. and gets driven into the table in response. While Magnus DOES hold Cyclonus back... if you look at the panel bellow he's not hurting him or anything. He's only holding him to prevent a fight that would only make this more of a farce. And Cyclonus speech makes it VERY clear how much of a farce this is and is honestly CHILLING with the recknoning in police we've been going through as what Rodders did.. is really what MOST police did and many still do

It's a damming speech and shows what Roberts has masterfully done so far and will continue to do: Show that the Autobots, while the good guys.. aren't flawless. We've seen it in how human they are and how goofy they can be... but we wee here the less endearing sides of their humanity, the judgmental side and tencndy to fly off the handle. Cyclonus also makes a valid point: they think winning the war makes them absolute victors.. but Cyclonus, while not impartial, is a mostly outside observer: he AGREES with the decipticon cause, but really isn't one. He can see the self righteousness and tendency to see themselves as absolute right the autobots are devleoping, something festering even worse back home, and he sees the same system that required the decipticons in the first place slowly reforming. And we've seen this cycle: the senate replaces a corrupt mad man, they become corrupt authorarians. MEgatron replaces them, he becomes a power mad dictator. While the autobots have a leg up on booth..there's no guarantee they can't fall just as hard or fast , and this book will more than prove that.

At anyr ate Cyclonus is absolved as First Aid thinks he has it.

Back at the crime scene, Chromedome and Prowl are backed against the wall. Prowl hasn't fought yet so he's scared shitless, Chromedome is enjoying that but it's not really helping the situation.. but someone arrives who does

If you ever find yourself wondering why optimus is in charge.. well it's mostly on the heart and sense of conviction, but if your wondering how he stayed in charge and stayed alive.. this is why.

Prowl then.. yells at Optimus, not only assuming he's a citzen but just being a dick. Optimus then flashes his badge and is disapointed what he heard about Prowl was exagerated. Yes even OPTIMUS FRIKKIN PRIME, PRE PRIME CANNOT STAND PROWL SOMETIMES. Optimus casualy says that Prowls report on all this will just get lost, and Prowl hopes "i'll never be as cynical as you orion pax"... bud.. your already.. so much worse.

Prime plans to follow up but he's wanted ON THE MOON... and I love a job where I get to say that. He's wanted at prison, as it's time for whirl to enter the story. Whirl also gets defnsive when ratchet rightly points out why he's arrested when he tries to blame optimus: He tried to murder a prisoner in his cell. The fact Megatron is evil later.. dosen't really justify it at all, as we saw. The senate were using him as a pawn to get away with worse stuff.

But the fact is by this point Whirl has realized the senate used him, and took away his hands, with a really crushing panel of him admitting why he's brought optimus here beyond REVENGE

They took everything he was from him and he can't do anything to them, as i'm sure many like him can't either. But he can tell optimus there's a plan for a large bombing, a false flag attack.. and to catch the Senator in the crossfire. We also see IMpactor getting introduced as Whirl's cellmate. Naturally for the wreckers there first meeting.. is impactor beating his head in.

One of my faviorite lines in the comic.

Anyways we get back to Prowl and Chromedome , and we get a really intresting bit: Chromedome can tell SOMETHING'S going to give and wonders if they'll survivie it, and while prowl denies it at first.. it turns out as much as he likes to bury his head in the sand at this point in his life, he hasn't buried it straight up his ass like his present day self.

Yeah I kick myself in hindsight for not only not noticing Chromedome and Rewind were a thing, but that PROWL and chromedome were in the past. I"m still shocked how oblivious I was, especially since I picked this one specifically because LIndsay Ellis had mentioned the idw transformers comics had gotten queer. I've gotten better at picking up on gay subtext, intentional or otherwise, but it's still hilariously tone deaf. It's also weird to see Prowl.. actually be romantic. Roberts does the legwork the other book simply dosen't seem to care to do in making Prowl a tragic figure: Sure he's absolutely the worst and Roberts makes no real attempts to prove that. If anything he shows the potetial was there.. but this arc really hammers in that Prowl before the war.. was a far better person. He still was entirley by the book, but he opened up to Chromedome, his partner in both senses, didn't want a war, and generally had good in him. I made a cop joke before.. but Dome IS trying to be good police. He belivies way too much in a corrupt system.. but contrast that to the Prowl we saw in issue 1 and will see again when the crossover comes: an authoratian nightmare who sees his boyfriend trying to get a measure of peace.. and sees it as a waste. Who sees the end of a years long war as just a lull in combat. Who in his own book is carrying out black ops bullshit and stoking tensions between autobots and decipticons. Prowl had the potetial to be what he is now always sure, but he wasn't etched in that. Becoming an autobot made somes lives better.. but for Prowl it just caused him to double down on his worse traits and become an outright monster.

The fight is also just.. sad. Instead of talking through their issue.s. rewind just snaps. He just can't face Rewind's history with Prowl or see that there WAS good in the man whose caused his partner such pain.. but also can't healthily cope with it. Then again as we'll learn heathily coping is not something Rewind's really EVER done.

Back with the plot , Prowl finds out to his fury that Flatfoot, his superior officer despite the name, has leaked his report, proving what Optimus said. Things only get more suspcious when they meet Trepan, the head of the clinic.. and after Chromedome sense ssomething shady, the sinister needle hands are a giveaway, Domey incapcitates the guy and our unambgiously gay duo find the insittute: tons of robtos removing brain moduls, rewiring... even before he became a mnemosurgeon, Domey was already intrested in the science and thus can recognize it. Trepan escapes but our heroes take their valuable intel to Optimus, who had Ratchet and some others round up the good senator from his school for gifted autobots.

Optimus puts all the pieces together while Prowl bitches in the background: Domey and PRowl found a list at the clinic, that turns out to be a list of decipticons regestered as a polictical party. Turns out while Senator Sherma wanted it to LOOK like decipticon attack.. but not blame them right away, getting more cons to register.. then inittating ANOTHER false flag to make it look like the deciptcons betrayed them. As for how.. the how is utterly horrifying: they plan to BLOW UP nominus' corpse with a fake rigged matrix. Optimus' only recourse? They ahve to steal it We're onto the final issue and naturally Prowl thinks this is madness, wants nothing to do with it and is a right asshole as he flees, telling him not to let DOme go on the mission

Dome went to gather some of the senators pupils. I.. .wasn't remotely joking about the x-men comparison: Since the functionists obviously are baffled and apalled by beings who have extra talents beyond their alt modes, the Senator has been shielding them in his building for gifted autobots and brought a few to help: Skids himself is a super learner, able to learn anything in record time, which seems useless until you realize this means he can pick up any skill as fast as the flash and retain it unlike said flash. The others are windcharger, who has telekensis Kyle and Gltich, whose design I like a lot and who can mess up machinery. So in otherwords, Progidy, Hellion and Shadowcat. Got it.

We then break for a second as Ratchet examines rung and Swerve brings some old fashioned nightmare fuel to the party, which this being the comic that it is, is entirely real and requires gloves. When Chromedome worries about this eating up their insides, Swerve reveals this isn't rewind's FIRST session. It's not even his second. It makes sense though: this is a complex prospect and it's not unlikely every autobot here met Optimus at some point.. nor that unlikely that it'd fall apart, hence attempt 3 here. We also get an intresting fact about Rung that will be VITALLY important way down the line

We return to the story to find out this is what likely broke the two up for good, as Prowl, being prowl, just left with no explanation. They still need a full plan but skids having a mini matrix on his face, a religious thing back then the comic dosen't go into gives Optimus an idea: He spends Domey to talk to our good buddy ironfist, pre horrible tragic death. Being a massive fanboy even back then, he's more than willing ot help in exchange for getting his life sized model of Delta Magnus

So now our hero have a fake to swap for the fake. Before they leave on the heist though Ratchet and Optimus' Friend Roller Roller Da

An old friend of Optimus' on the force we just meet here but , say it with me "WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER". This arc could've easily been called "TRUST ME ALL OF THIS HAS A PAYOFF. ALL. OF. THISSSSSSSS. " And it does. One benefit of having to go over these issues with a finer tooth comb than my usual lagomorph lenth attention span allows is I catch just HOW well crafted this story is.

Anyways Roller hacked the system and finds out there's some weird stuff about the guy, a few charges, as you'd expect.. but also the fact Optimus isn't the ONLY person he's been grooming for this roll. Optimus.. dosen't care. He's not naive, he gets the senator likely has backups, and is with the guy not because he's truly buying what the man's selling on "being the next prime" and all that.. but becauase he's a good man in a broken system whose trying his damndest to fix it. A bit creepy sure, but someone he trusts enough to do this. if he didn't they woudln't of gone this far.

We get back to the present.. and it's one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the comic so far. And you KNOW that's already saying something. We find out what happened to Red Alert.. and it was suicide. Granted i'm still not sure it was entirely suicide or if the very least he wasn't pushed further by the knowledge of what was going on and the pressure of his already bad paranoia being kicked into overdrive. I won't know till he comes back. It's handled incredibly well.. including the fact that even now Rodimus makes it about him.. but in a way that just.. punches you in the heart. Rodimus takes it personally, feeling that if one of his crew is suicidal.. he shoudl've noticed. But the sad truth with mental illness is sometimes.. someone is just suffering so bad till they break. As someone who has had suicidal throughts... sometimes you just keep those to yourself till your already on the edge of it. What's worse is while they DID save him... Magnus suggests not putting him back on line just yet. He's understandibly worried given all the trauma it'll just happen again and plans to revivie him whent he misions over or at the very least when they have the time to help him. The results.. are just.. pure pain

Normally when rodimus asks this, it's clear he just wants a second opinon that will likely agree with him.. but here it's very clear from what happens next.. he just DESPERATLEY wants any othe roption, anything but this... and ultimately it's best for red to take a nap till they can help him... rodimus left utterly destroyed. Just the pannleing here is perfect.. it's clear Rodimus feels he failed... and the failures will only add up as the journey goes on. For now though we're back to the finale of our main story: So naturally for a heist the place their breaking into, the Primal Basicla, is super well guarded: any plane that tries to fly by deactivates, pressure plates along the floor to alert the guards, and said guards are trigger happy monsters with the orders to "take alive """IF POSSIBLE""""" which is code for

Thankfully thanks to said no flyzone the top is unguarded so they simply get to work: Windcharger lowers them down, Glitch shuts off the force beams, at great personal pain, and Swerve uh... uses his grappling hook to lower optimus mission impossible style. Hey at least it's a vital job. Problem is the things rigged. WOrse problems are back at base. For reasons unknown, Optimus decided to honor Prowl's wishes and Chromedome was left on sercurity with Roller Roller Da. The Senator assumes Optimus was being paranoid.. when who would it be at the door but hired goons

Who just burned down The Senator's institute for gifted autobots. Back at the heist, Optimus calls on Ratchet, whose roll now becomes clear beyond "Map guy": He was Optimus' backup plan: since he can't disarm the locks he uses reverse psychology on ratchet telling him he coudln't POSSIBLY unlock it in time. Ratchet knows he' splaying him.. but he's wrong and Ratchet does. He almost drops the matrix.. but thankfully Windcharger got bored and uses his telekensisis kyle to lift ratchet back up.

With the heist a success Windcharger starts slowly taking them back.. but Optimus, being twitchy that Roller hasn't contacted him JUMPS OFF THE FREAKING SKY THING AND INTO THE STREETS FAR BELLOW to go after him. Good thing too as he gets there before they can murder the senator. Sadly.. there's no happy ending here. Prequel and all that. The hired goons hold Roller Hostage.. and the Senator being who he is, agrees to go peacefully. The goons TRY to leave a guy for optimus to fight.. but optimus still has the bomb of leadership, hurls it and the senate covers it up the same way they covered up the academy. Gas leak. the silent killer. What's worse is while Optimus and Domey head for the instutitute.. it's already cleaned out.. and Domey also has a horrifying realization about the name: it's called that.. so people THINK there's only one. As he explains in narration, there turned out ot be one under EVERY refurbishment clinic.

So with that... it's all over. For now. There's no real happy ending... in the past. in the present though as the defcon klaxons ring... RUNG SPEAKS. This whole plan worked. Back in the past though we get one final coda as some creepy assholes plan to do the oepration on the senator, a complete personality swap.. a turn to logic.. and iwth that we find out just who this guy is.. and it's one of the most chilling, brilliant and tearjerking moments in the entire comic

Yup one of the nicest bots in transformers.. becomes a cold murder machine who will soon, or likely sometime next year for our purposes, nearly destroy all of cybertron. Someone who might of created a better future as Cybertron's greatest hero.. has become it's greatest monster. My jaw dropped when I read this and now having read dark cybertorn and knowing how the other side of this story plays out for him overal.. it's just an utter gutpunch. Even when I wasn't a fan of this story, I LOVED this ending.

As for shadowplay itself.. it's excellent. It's still not relaly one of my faviorite arcs, as it's one of the heavier ones, but the heist in the third act is great, there's some nice backstory shading and like I said that final twist is fucking phenominal. I'ts a story that only gets better as you see every piece it sets up for the rest of the comic fall into place, and on reread the red alert subplot fucking broke me. It's a great story Next Time: .. is in september, as I was SUPPOSED to take the summer off to do Beetlemania, which is now too far ahead to not do, but mtmte returns in september for an annual as Magnus takes the spotlight and a lot of stuff sure does happen. Thanks for reading.