#hi my name is robot and i think a lot about robots and robot hrt 1 [adeptus mechanicus]

[neonhellscape]

hope you dont mind me jumping in here i have too many thoughts- tbh I'm kinda of the mindset that it's less the mechadendrites will do the work and more. i mean tech priests are making themselves in their own image, effectively. they dont even have beauty standards to influence them, they only have the direction of flesh bad/metal good and then go absolutely fucking wild with it

so a human would decide okay, i need returned function as quickly as possible. achilleas gets functional, elegant prosthetics made up that do comply a lot to his personal style and more typical beauty standards within that. but fundamentally, theyre there to serve a purpose, and are blackened metal with exposed components. you can barely even see them aside from the light of the data slate [and artist intention], he could passably pretend to have gloves on, if you're in a dark room. he doesnt want them to be a focal point, even if they kinda are to a viewer not used to these things [augments being way more common in 40k that people would probably barely notice]

pasqal meanwhile has gone a different way. his prosthetic is incredibly stylised- i mean again see the fact i can't actually count any practical component there. it's not what a human would go for, realistic or subtle, or overelaborate- it looks like industrial machinery. pasqal has his in a burnished silvery-gold alloy, distinctly displays it by keeping his axe in that hand which pushes his sleeve back enough to show off the exposed wiring in his forearm- wiring that makes no sense unless its decorative. looking at this again its even in little curved waves- a repeating pattern. the rivets too are unnecessary and decorative, they Cannot hold any structural force where they are. but they do tie in to the industrial look fantastically alongside the shaped metal

when you look at the art, his other hand/wrist is pretty slim, and kinda delicate. as proven by achilleas, if he wanted to match he could. by nature of differing proportions kinda messing with the brain, him having one really bulky arm/hand and one really slim one isnt the choice most people would go for. it'd be the substandard choice to patch the gap until your custom piece came in- not a custom crafted piece

through the eyes of a man who will become and is becoming machine, it's perfect. its heavy and durable- no weakness of the flesh. it's crafted to display a level of technical skill even beyond base requirement, then maintained perfectly to further show technical skill- better than his fucking robes at least jesus christ the dust and tears on that thing [btw- something he doesnt care about. something organtic, and irrelevant to the machine- only required by him for social protocol].

the guy has heavy looking weapons gear and reels of chains around his waist- idk if you lot have handled thick metal chain like that but im pretty strong and it is fucking Heavy, and thats without the quantity he's wearing. hell thats probably again a decorative counterbalance system just to put his center of gravity lower to the floor bc so much is at his shoulders. i know i draw him different [i kinda see it as resting mode [noodle mechadendrites] vs explorator mode [diamond drill bit easy access]] but based on the art his mechadendrites look like industrial tech- it looks like someone bolted two crane arms to his back. tech wise these do look like they make more technical sense, even if they are decorative in themselves, which reinforces the extremely decorative nature of his arm. and too his respirator- that isnt standard tech priest respirator. its heavy looking, its elaborate with its tubation and wiring- again if i were to list every function of every tube going into/out of that thing i'd run out of options, and thats if i ignored the vapour/smoke coming out of the vents by his face. we also know he's kept it despite the damage- considering the staples on his face highlighting the scar on his body that matches, i'd say the lack of repair is decorative too. he Could get it repaired or replaced with absolute ease, so this is an aesthetic choice

this is so many words but [throwing my tech priest at the crowd] look at him he's getting gender affirming drill attachments and god does he have an ego, just one the average human cant really process because your kind cling to your flesh as if it will not decay and fail you one day the crude biomass that you call a temple will wither and y

i was told to post these observations i made at whatever fucking hour on how functional achilleas' prosthetic hands are vs how decorative pasqal's are despite each kinda looking the opposite way round. i hope they are interesting

[mysteriousmaninthesmoke]

Next - Latest

SOOOOO..... I have been seeing animal HRT show up on Twitter a lot in the trans community because of @ayviedoesthings little dragon comic so I thought "Hey why don't I join the fun." But there are two problems.

I'm a straight cis mostly white guy and

I AM HORRIBLE AT DRAWING ANYTHING THAT IS NOT A ROBOT!

SO I DECIDED! ah to hell with it I never cared about my masculinity, I am a being of ADHD, autism, OCD, AND CHAOS! FATE GAVE ME A MALE FORM TO EXIST IN!! I WOULDN'T GIVE A FLYING FLIP IF TOMORROW IT GAVE ME A FEMALE ONE!!! and also I'll just do it in a written story. but I am not doing someone going through the whole HRT process. 1. because I would probably be very grim describing it and 2. my brain won't stop thinking about what would happen if the military had access to a drug that would turn their soldiers into animal soldiers. SO HERE IS

PROJECT CHIMERA

Part 1

General Samuel grumbled as he rode the elevator down. If it was up to him he would have never approved this project. If it was up to him he would have never tested this on former soldiers. If it was up to him he would have gone with the doctor with the German-sounding name instead of putting the cryptic scientist who somehow knew about the project and contacted the government about being in charge. And if it was up to him he would have never would have never put himself as the one to be reviewing this project. As the elevator stopped and the doors opened Sam saw a man in a lab coat waiting for him. "Ah, General. So nice of you to visit us." said the man. Sam assumed this was the scientist. Doctor Thánatos. "Come in, Come in. I got something big I want to show you." The scientist turned around and quickly walked down the hallway. As Sam walked down the hall with the scientist, he noticed big cells to his sides with humanoid beasts in them with the names of the occupants by the cell, one of whom he recognized. Sergeant Thorn, one of the best hand-to-hand fighters he knew, before she lost her legs and an arm in an explosion. But now it looks like she was more than a fighter, she was a beast. Not only were her legs and her arm back, but she now sported green scales and a long tail. She resembled a female version of the villain the lizard. Suddenly Thorn jumped towards him, causing him to step back. her claws struck the reinforced glass wall that divided them. She let out a guttural laugh. "Ah, it's nice to see a familiar tasty face." She said licking her teeth "What's wrong soldier. Don't you know time changes people?" Sam was shocked. This was not the Thorn he knew he knew. She was tough, but she would always rather make friends than start a fight. "What's wrong captain. Not happy to see old friends captain." Said a voice behind him. Sam quickly turned around and saw in front of him a creature with dark black feathers covering its body, razor-sharp claws for feet and hands, and giant black-as-night wings sprouting from its back. "Oh sorry is it General now?" It said from a sharp-beaked mouth. Sam turned to look at the nameplate. Pilot O'hares. Sam knew him. One of his old drink buddies. He had heard that he quit the Air Force when he crashed his favorite jet, one he had gone on so many missions with, saying he would never fly again. "Ah, Ignore them. They aren't important right now." Sam turned to the scientist who was at the end of the hall by a big metal door. He was about to question what he did to his old friends when he noticed something. Three empty cells, one of them having more dust than the other. Doctor Harris, Private Gorgonzola, and Private Tompson. "I got some questions for you egg head. Why the hell are these people in cells, Why the hell are three of them empty, AND WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THEM!" The General yelled angrily "I was told they would look more human like this far into the project and not like animals. They also shouldn't be acting like ones too." The scientist only let out a laugh. "Oh I will answer the first and third questions but I will only answer the second once you see what's behind these doors. Now the cells are for ours and also for their safety. The normal drug that excuse of a doctor is selling is quite too slow, so with some modifications, I was able to speed it up, though it does seem to increase a person's animalistic instincts. Still, I see that as an improvement. My version is much more suited for the battlefield." The scientist pressed some buttons on a keypad and the metal door opened. "Now let me show you my personal project."

This is part 1 and part 2 will be out soon

[paradoxmimzy]

Shapeshifter HRT

Day -394

I go in to the doctor. Doctor T.H. Arian. The name is a little suspicious but his treatment of my wife has been favorable.

"I thought about this for a long time doctor. I want to be a shapeshifter."

His face gets serious. "Do you know how many people that come in here and ask for that? What do you really want to be? We do offer polytherian treatments if you just can't decide between a few."

So I list them. Every single one. Cat, dog, fox, mouse, snake, bird, hermit crab, angel, devil, elf, vampire, unicorn, hamster, ferret… and others… forms that don't have names but I describe their anatomy in great, sickening, detail.

"If I tried to go through all of them one at a time it would be too complicated. Too much for me to keep track of and what happens if I want to change into something I haven't listed yet? Please doc, if I had to be one thing it would be a shapeshifter."

He removes his glasses and sighs.

"There is a treatment for it." He says.

I can't contain my squeaks of excitement.

"But." He cuts me off. "The substance I'm using is a lot more controlled. I can guarantee the things that it will do to your body will be worse than what your wife went through."

"I still want it… If you got anything that basically makes me like Venom that would be ideal."

"Will you be changing into anything mechanical or robotic?"

"Probably not."

"Okay. I will put in the request now, but do not hold your breath. A government agent will eventually contact you and mail you the paperwork that you need to fill out."

- Day -96

6:21 in the morning. My phone was ringing and with my wife still asleep I answered it.

"Hello this is Officer Mitchell. I am here with Agent Duress. We're here to ask you some questions about this… medication you are requesting?"

My local sheriff, with some guy from the government. Great.

"Yeah I made a request sometime last year and hadn't heard anything."

"Yes, well. There had been some policy changes 150 days ago about the substance you're requesting. Everyone who filed a report had to do so again."

"And I'm just hearing about this now??"

"Your doctor had been informed about it two weeks ago and resubmitted all files that needed to be submitted. He requested we handle this urgently so that is what we're doing, ma'am."

"I'm not a ma'am. Please use Sir if you can."

"With all due respect, ma'am. You take this medicine it's going to turn you into something that I don't even want to think about. Gender ain't gonna mean much to a freak like you."

"I can still use whatever damn pronouns I want."

"Okay, okay. No need to be so sensitive about it. I just gotta sign this thing that says I'll keep an extra eye out for you if you decide to start doing crimes."

"Oh my god."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to be everything all these stupid fucking things. Ferret, angel, hermit crab? Really? If any crimes are done from species in any of these lists you're gonna be on the suspect board by default."

"Fine. I'll consent to it."

"Alright, good. Next is understanding the exact risk of this substance. Has your next of kin been notified?"

"My wife is fully aware yes."

"Your parents, darling. I'm asking about your parents."

"Dad died 3 years ago and mom's never had custody of me. I am nearly 30 fucking years old, why are you asking about my fucking parents?"

"Standard procedure. Normally we have underage people asking for this stuff. So what age would you say you were dysphoric as a… 'Mono-formic being.'" He sounded out each word bitterly.

And so the questions went on and on and on and on and on. Until finally a voice different from the sheriff's came in.

"Thank you for your time. It will be under consideration."

And then it hung up.

"Ugggghhhh." I groan to myself.

"If you wanna go to the diner I could search for a shirt that fits me now." My cow wife says.

"It's fine. I'll just hang out on the internet. All I can do is fucking wait after all. From email or carrier pigeon I guess!!"

"Too loud."

"Sorry. I'm just mad."

"Do you think they hire pigeon therians into the government to carry messages?" She asks,

"Derpy Hooves is definitely a pigeon therian." I reply back,

"So true OP…" She yawns and slips back into sleep.

- Day 0

It was a text message. It was ready at the pharmacy and all I needed to do was go pick it up like any other medicine.

Doctor T.H. Arian gave me information on how to apply it and what to expect for the low dose they start me on.

He was very insistent I record my emotional state through this and that he would be prepared to stop the treatment if it made me 'worse.' Though he refused to define what worse was.

The medicine itself was just a little black goo in a bottle. I had been informed that it could be applied just on my skin, but that carried a risk to my partner and her own HRT procedures. So I opted for injection instead.

[tmitransitioning]

I was wondering why half the trans community is set on passing and the other half don't wanna be mistaken for cis? Like I get that trans people may not wanna be because they're not cis but at the same time half of them are all about passing

You ever watch or read X-Men? At the core of the series is one single oppressed people, split in how they react to their oppression. The X-Men want to blend in, they want to help. They’re personal struggles (outside super villainy) are often driven by the fact that they want to be normal, to have normal lives and jobs and existences.

Facing against them are Magneto and the Brotherhood. They are not interested in assimilation. They often give up human conventions and take extreme steps to separate themselves from their oppressors. They aren’t interested in helping the people who hurt them, only maintaining their own safety and well being.

In any group of people facing oppression those two sides pop up. Some just want to keep their heads down and try to live a “normal” life, others want to fight and stand out and push back. These are both valid responses to being part of a group under siege.

(i’m not sure who started the ask above but it’s really good and i wanted to add something if that’s okay? you’re welcome to delete this when publishing. my special interest noise activated)

For a lot of trans people, this is complicated too by whether or not we can pass. Some trans people don’t ever have the option of meeting social norms that would allow us to pass; maybe we can’t access name changes, or surgeries, or gender marker changes, or HRT. Some of us don’t have anything to pass as; a lot of nonbinary people get misgendered either way, and being identified by, say, strangers on the street, isn’t us passing as cis.

There’s also the question of what “level” of passing we can attain. There will always be a way to out us—that’s not being defeatist, that’s an unfortunate fact. We can be identifiable by surgical limitations, or medical history, or karyotyping. A lot of ways to out us, though, are only really seen by people who are very close to us or very involved in our medical history.

X-Men tries to handle this distinction a lot, with varying levels of success. (X3 is not a successful attempt.) Think about Nightcrawler, Angel, Rogue, and Mystique. Nightcrawler can’t pass as human because of the whole blue, furry, tail, and three fingers thing. Angel can pass as human for short periods, but it causes him pain to bind his wings down, and they’re obvious if you take his shirt off. Rogue can usually pass for human, but if you get close to her then she can’t, and an accidental bump into someone in public could out her. Mystique’s whole power is passing, but she actively chooses not to.

And every single one of them would be identified as a mutant by a Sentinel capable of scanning their genetic code.

There aren’t giant robots that want to kill us for being trans in the real world, but different people still have different levels of passing that they can and will accept for themselves. Those decisions are informed by safety, in a lot of cases. In others it’s reclamatory. It depends on the person. - Wolf