#i dont think ive ever used that tag before

[bitegore]

I was reminded that i've written like, almost an essay about Motormaster Characterization in the comments of a fic i wrote in class one time and now i'm gonna transfer them to a post so you can all see them.

Obligatory reminder at the start that a) this gets long, and b) this is my own personal take. If it conflicts with yours, great, two cakes, I like reading fics with different interpretations than my own. However, if you vibe with it, buffet rules apply, take whatever you want and however much you want and leave whatever you don't :D free headcanons to a good home or whatever, lol

In regards to Motormaster's approach to authorities, subordinates and equals:

Motormaster literally doesn't know what an "equal" is. If he were anyone else, Scrapper would be approaching him as an equal, but Motormaster has no idea what to make of equals. He has subordinates and he has authorities who must be obeyed, and if one isn't an authority one MUST be a subordinate somehow, or at least treated like one in his head. It's not really his fault that he has no social skills whatsoever, but either he needs to learn them or he needs to get out of the way, pretty much. Scrapper just kind of goes "okay, fuck it, i am your superior by rule of seniority" instead of trying to make friends as equals. Onslaught doesn't have the leave to throw his weight around the same way, so instead Motormaster acts like a dick until some other authority (here, Scrapper) gets in his way about it, but Onslaught is perfectly capable of retaliating as long as Motormaster starts it.

In regards to Motormaster having been "built for leadership" vs having the actual qualities of leadership:

I like the idea that Motormaster may have been "built for leadership" (he is probably the best leader of the bunch just by process of elimination, unfortunately) but he does not have enough emotional maturity or problem-solving skills to actually lead. This guy solves all his problems by hitting them until they go away. You cannot be a leader like that, it does not work, your team will either fracture underneath you and stop working or they will fracture underneath you and decide to get rid of you, no two ways about it.

...Motormaster is so headstrong that he refuses to listen to any ideas he can't pretend are his own or otherwise line up along what he already thinks. Scrapper can threaten him into being polite, but unless he makes politeness into a game to be won that is a prelude to fists and swords and guns (it can be done, but probably not by Scrapper) he cannot convince Motormaster of the value of being polite. He can tell Motormaster that he needs to treat his team better or he'll be ousted, but he can't convince Motormaster of the same unless he can frame it as not only not treason (he Will defend the other Stunticons' honor, after all) but the correct Decepticon response, and something that Megatron would approve of, AND that treating his team with kindness and evenhandedness is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, AND!!!! that Mtoromaster will come over stronger not only to his team but also the rest of the faction if he jumps to violence less and trades on words rather than actions. All of which will require a really deft hand, and one Scrapper doesn't feel like wielding at the moment. ... I think that's one lesson Motormaster will have to learn from experience, actually. I can't see anyone meeting him at his level and also being someone he'd deign to listen to in the first place, so instead he'll have to suffer the consequences of his actions in some way or another to decide that he needs a new first response to conflict outside "roll over and seethe internally" and "literally start beating people"

What it really comes down to is that Motormaster lacks almost every tool in a good leader's arsenal. He is a poor communicator, he is recalcitrant, he is stubborn, he takes his failures out on his team, he claims responsibility for his teammates' successes, he is absolutely ignorant of his own flaws, he has no emotional management skills and even worse emotional mediation skills, he does not work with his subordinates but against them, and he sees nothing wrong with this. He's not entirely to blame because he is new, untested and untried and without any of the experience he would need to actually succeed at this, but he's also got no interest in changing, because he thinks he has this shit in the bag and it's only because he was saddled with a defective team full of idiots who don't know how to listen to him that anything ever goes wrong. And, of course, not only does everyone outside the Sunticons know this, but most of the Stunticons do, too :( Motormaster is the only one who thinks he's doing a decent job. The other Stunticons just also don't know how to do anything different either, since none of them have those skills either, and they've never been led by a team leader who does.

Irt the "age" of the Stunticons, something difficult to quantify because they're adult robots who were built very recently and given 0 guidance on how to be functional people:

The stunticons in general are fascinating to me because they have the like, physical and social standing and skills of a young adult (i'd place them around mid-twenties, given they're new to the Decepticons and could be likened to recent college grads) but absolutely zero life experience whatsoever, and the emotional self-management skills of an older child at best. It makes for a really interesting contradiction because they are like. SO ill suited for basically any task that isn't "go in, shoot autobots, get out" and even then they struggle with that because they don't get along well. Given a little bit of time and patience- and probably some external lessons on "being nice", "using your words", and "communicating issues and then solving them together" like the average person irl gets from the ages of 2-15 lmfao- I think they'd all be able to mature into genuinely effective fighters and a genuinely functional team, but first they like. have to not kill each other or get shot for insubordination lmao

Irt Motormaster trying to start a fight with Scrapper, a large part of the fic, but also regarding his approach to interpersonal dynamics in general, just applied narrowly:

Motormaster doesn't have any emotional processing skills, just like the rest of his team. None of them have any life skills at all. Scrapper is just impossible to rile unless he wants to be riled, and since MM has no way to escalate the situation that wouldn't put him objectively in the wrong (he cannot start hitting people here! they're of the same rank as him and both have seniority, though onslaught's position is significantly more tenuous than Scrapper's, so it's against the rules) so instead he just has to chill the fuck out or leave, which would be retreating, which would be losing. So he can't do that either. Someone help this poor truck, he can't start a fight without getting in trouble :(( his life is so hard :((((

and, finally, in the eternal and hilarious words of my friend @megatronismegagone who summed this all up better than i ever could (because I have to write whole fics to say what others can manage in a few sentences, of course)

his self awareness is at negative 1000 and his dicks bigger than his brain. hes such a fucking dude. oh my god. onslaught needs to kick the shit out of him a few times. actually no he needs someone to dunk him in the ocean and shake him dry every time he does or says some bullshit. his socialization is lower than his self awareness somehow

[tawnysoup]

Sifloop sketchpage commission for @minhmynchi featuring their human Loop design 💖💞💖💞💖 I had a lot of fun with this one, puzzle piecing together their cute little interactions! Yay yay yippee!!!

[mipexch]

been thinking about something wicked a little too much lately. no harm in romanticizing the ominous dreadful unstoppable force

[randomminty]

Yeahlow

[orphiclovers]

I bet Yoo Joonghyuk's love language is eye contact

SOOO TRUE ANON. i'm a huge fan of YJH canonically sending intense love eyes at the objects of his affection. Unfortunately they’re too intense and people mistake the love vibes for murder vibes. (KDJ…)

take a shot everytime YJH soulfully gazes at KDJ (if you want to die of alcohol poisoning) and also 41 at SP- where 41 has the handicap of only appearing in a couple of scenes, he makes up in the sheer frequency of his yearning looks.

there's also a way to make this angsty joongdok i feel. something YJH constantly feeling the gaze of his sponsor, something DKOS watching over him his entire life during the 0th round, something the world exists because the oldest dream is looking at the world… hmmm

[littlehatmouse]

i finished this in the last 20 minutes of lesbian visibility week after not drawing at all LETS GO

[ar-mage-ddon]

happy birthday to my favorite keykid!!! yesterday!!! i'm a little late!!!

[braincloggedwithcats]

Please know that if I, an aromantic hyperplatonic person, ever criticize unspecified love, it DOES include non-romantic love. Yes that includes platonic love. All love has the ability to corrupt and hurt, all love can be weaponized and all love is worthy of criticism and scepticism. And also "love" doesn't refer to romantic love by default thank you for asking

[tribbles-the-lesbian]

For you ✨❤️pookie❤️✨another work in progressssss~

⬇️original sketch below⬇️

[piningpercussionist]

Saw a comment somewhere and if I wasnt so tired my blood would be boiling but we are at a low simmer, so here I am to Bitch

I'm sorry but if your argument for (likely canon) bisexual Kim having a preference for men is her FORMER relationship with Scott I am going to beat you to death with my bat

At LEAST say it's the hopeless pining she does for him currently. Or maybe mention that she's dated 3 guys that we know of! (Which I will counter w her being gay as hell for/with 3 women, which levels out- though that's besides the point-) But if you're going to hinge it entirely on a relationship she had that started and ended in highschool I'm going to break your legs and make you sit through a deep dive of the series with me. All media. Just to reeeeeally draw it out. Painfully.

[puppyeared]

i feel shy talking here when i dont have anything worth sharing but i cant help feeling like ive said things in the tags that could be brought up in court

[magurosnacks]

Hey so I discovered your page and I noticed you got a knack for art which really impresses me and so I wanted to ask you for a sort of favor. It's a fusion between two of my favorite characters Jill from va11halla and Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls I thought it would be a fun fusion and I love both characters! But I understand if you don't want to,stay safe!

she just really needs to pay that rent yknow? you gotta do what you gotta do

[dump-troy-marry-me]

man. s6 did so much for the jeffbritta and jeffdean friendships but it destroyed the jeffabed friendship : ( why cant he be nice to all of his friends all at once

[toytulini]

i made an oc thats at least nicknamed "Stupid" and im constantly thinking about what a power move that is tbh

[friend-frog]

:)

[foxcassius]

wait also my tags on that post were about people i knew in freshman and sophomore year of college specifically. i mean some of them i knew after that and most of them i knew from high school but damn some people really made everything about themselves when i was being emotionally manipulated in my freshman year