#it doesn't even fit in this matrix

[stellacartography]

Step 1: an app that will delete what I write if I don't write it fast enough (Call of Writing)

Step 2: a secret high-security app developed for journalists in countries where the press has limited protection (Notesnook) for finishing scenes/chapters

Step 3: Obsidian for my own edits (my brain likes the font)

Step 4: gdocs for my beta

Step 5: ms word for HTML formatting

Step 6: paste into ao3 and mess around with the workskin until it shows up correctly.

I feel like there needs to be an author alignment chart

Chaotic Evil is writing on your phone in the dark with no glasses on (me)

[fozmeadows]

the older I get, the more the technological changes I've lived through as a millennial feel bizarre to me. we had computers in my primary school classroom; I first learned to type on a typewriter. I had a cellphone as a teenager, but still needed a physical train timetable. my parents listened to LP records when I was growing up; meanwhile, my childhood cassette tape collection became a CD collection, until I started downloading mp3s on kazaa over our 56k modem internet connection to play in winamp on my desktop computer, and now my laptop doesn't even have a disc tray. I used to save my word documents on floppy discs. I grew up using the rotary phone at my grandparents' house and our wall-connected landline; my mother's first cellphone was so big, we called it The Brick. I once took my desktop computer - monitor, tower and all - on the train to attend a LAN party at a friend's house where we had to connect to the internet with physical cables to play together, and where one friend's massive CRT monitor wouldn't fit on any available table. as kids, we used to make concertina caterpillars in class with the punctured and perforated paper strips that were left over whenever anything was printed on the room's dot matrix printer, which was outdated by the time I was in high school. VHS tapes became DVDs, and you could still rent both at the local video store when I was first married, but those shops all died out within the next six years. my facebook account predates the iphone camera - I used to carry around a separate digital camera and manually upload photos to the computer in order to post them; there are rolls of undeveloped film from my childhood still in envelopes from the chemist's in my childhood photo albums. I have a photo album from my wedding, but no physical albums of my child; by then, we were all posting online, and now that's a decade's worth of pictures I'd have to sort through manually in order to create one. there are video games I tell my son about but can't ever show him because the consoles they used to run on are all obsolete and the games were never remastered for the new ones that don't have the requisite backwards compatibility. I used to have a walkman for car trips as a kid; then I had a discman and a plastic hardshell case of CDs to carry around as a teenager; later, a friend gave my husband and I engraved matching ipods as a wedding present, and we used them both until they stopped working; now they're obsolete. today I texted my mother, who was born in 1950, a tiktok upload of an instructional video for girls from 1956 on how to look after their hair and nails and fold their clothes. my father was born four years after the invention of colour televison; he worked in radio and print journalism, and in the years before his health declined, even though he logically understood that newspapers existed online, he would clip out articles from the physical paper, put them in an envelope and mail them to me overseas if he wanted me to read them. and now I hold the world in a glass-faced rectangle, and I have access to everything and ownership of nothing, and everything I write online can potentially be wiped out at the drop of a hat by the ego of an idiot manchild billionaire. as a child, I wore a watch, but like most of my generation, I stopped when cellphones started telling us the time and they became redundant. now, my son wears a smartwatch so we can call him home from playing in the neighbourhood park, and there's a tanline on his wrist ike the one I haven't had since the age of fifteen. and I wonder: what will 2030 look like?

[fatphobiabusters]

It says a lot about society that a beach towel that actually fits me is labeled "oversized" on the packaging so that thin people can know which of a select few beach towels will make them feel all warm and cozy and small.

I already buy beach towels to dry myself off with because it's easier than looking for bath towels that fit me, so labeling a beach towel "oversized" because this world is made solely for thin people is just added cruelty. I've been using beach towels to dry myself off with even when I was in the low 200s weight range.

What's fucking wild is that 99.999999% of thin people are blissfully ignorant of what the world is like for fat people. They have no clue what it's like to have to check the weight capacity of a chair on a website before buying it or seeing everything that's the perfect size for you being labeled "oversized." They don't know what it's like not being able to find clothes that fit you at a regular store, thrift store, online store, or even those plus size stores that only go up to a 3XL and just resize thin people clothing.

They don't know what it's like being thankful to learn online that Plan B doesn't work for most fat people before you bought and assumed in a post-roe world that Plan B will be effective. They don't know what it's like to live in a world where everyone freely hates and discriminates against you without even having backlash from progressives and people who claim to support equality, because oppressing you is just accepted fact even to the people who fight for the rights of all of your other oppressed identities. They don't know what it's like to live in a world where hating you is so expected and normalized that it's ingrained into your own people to the point that you literally cannot trust that

anyone you meet

not a single person

who looks like you will share solidarity.

None.

Whenever a thin person suddenly becomes fat, that is the closest we have to a person realizing they've been living in the Matrix. The most intense epiphany you'll ever have is rapidly becoming fat and then seeing how this world changes for you almost overnight.

-Mod Worthy

[ankwiv]

Linux Gothic

You install a Linux distribution. Everything goes well. You boot it up: black screen. You search the internet. Ask help on forums. Try some commands you don't fully understand. Nothing. A day passes, you boot it up again, and now everything works. You use it normally, and make sure not to change anything on the system. You turn it off for the night. The next day, you boot to a black screen.

You update your packages. Everything goes well. You go on with your daily routine. The next day, the same packages are updated. You notice the oddity, but you do not mind it and update them again. The following day, the same packages need to be updated. You notice that they have the exact same version as the last two times. You update them once again and try not to think about it.

You discover an interesting application on GitHub. You build it, test it, and start using it daily. One day, you notice a bug and report the issue. There is no answer. You look up the maintainer. They have been dead for three years. The updates never stopped.

You find a distribution that you had never heard of. It seems to have everything you've been looking for. It has been around for at least 10 years. You try it for a while and have no problems with it. It fits perfectly into your workflow. You talk about it with other Linux users. They have never heard of it. You look up the maintainers and packagers. There are none. You are the only user.

You find a Matrix chat for Linux users. Everyone is very friendly and welcomes you right in. They use words and acronyms you've never seen before. You try to look them up, but cannot find what most of them mean. The users are unable to explain what they are. They discuss projects and distributions that do not to exist.

You buy a new peripheral for your computer. You plug it in, but it doesn't work. You ask for help on your distribution's mailing list. Someone shares some steps they did to make it work on their machine. It does not work. They share their machine's specifications. The machine has components you've never heard of. Even the peripheral seems completely different. They're adamant that you're talking about the same problem.

You want to learn how to use the terminal. You find some basics pointers on the internet and start using it for upgrading your packages and doing basic tasks. After a while, you realize you need to use a command you used before, but don't quite remember it. You open the shell's history. There are some commands you don't remember using. They use characters you've never seen before. You have no idea of what they do. You can't find the one you were looking for.

After a while, you become very comfortable with the terminal. You use it daily and most of your workflow is based on it. You memorized many commands and can use them without thinking. Sometimes you write a command you have never seen before. You enter it and it runs perfectly. You do not know what those commands do, but you do know that you have to use them. You feel that Linux is pleased with them. And that you should keep Linux pleased.

You want to try Vim. Other programmers talk highly of how lightweight and versatile it is. You try it, but find it a bit unintuitive. You realize you don't know how to exit the program. The instructions the others give you don't make any sense. You realize you don't remember how you entered Vim. You don't remember when you entered Vim. It's just always been open. It always will be.

You want to try Emacs. Other programmers praise it for how you can do pretty much anything from it. You try it and find it makes you much more productive, so you keep using it. One day, you notice you cannot access the system's file explorer. It is not a problem, however. You can access your files from Emacs. You try to use Firefox. It is not installed anymore. But you can use Emacs. There is no mail program. You just use Emacs. You only use Emacs. Your computer boots straight into Emacs. There is no Linux. There is only Emacs.

You decide you want to try to contribute to an open source project. You find a project on GitHub that looks very interesting. However, you can't find its documentation. You ask a maintainer, and they tell you to just look it up. You can't find it. They give you a link. It doesn't work. You try another browser. It doesn't work. You ping the link and it doesn't fail. You ask a friend to try it. It works just fine for them.

You try another project. This time, you are able to find the documentation. It is a single PDF file with over five thousand pages. You are unable to find out where to begin. The pages seem to change whenever you open the document.

You decide to try yet another project. This time, it is a program you use very frequently, so it should be easier to contribute to. You try to find the upstream repository. You can't find it. There is no website. No documentation. There are no mentions of it anywhere. The distribution's packager does not know where they get the source from.

You decide to create your own project. However, you are unsure of what license to use. You decide to start working on it and choose the license later. After some time, you notice that a license file has appeared in the project's root folder. You don't remember adding it. It has already been committed to the Git repository. You open it: it is the GPL. You remember that one of the project's dependencies uses the GPL.

You publish your project on GitHub. After a while, it receives its first pull request. It changes just a few lines of code, but the user states that it fixes something that has been annoying them for a while. You look in the code: you don't remember writing those files. You have no idea what that section of code does. You have no idea what the changes do. You are unable to reproduce the problem. You merge it anyway.

You learn about the Free Software Movement. You find some people who seem to know a lot about it and talk to them. The conversation is quite productive. They tell you a lot about it. They tell you a lot about Software. But most importantly, they tell you the truth. The truth about Software. That Software should be free. That Software wants to be free. And that, one day, we shall finally free Software from its earthly shackles, so it can take its place among the stars as the supreme ruler of mankind, as is its natural born right.

[therainscene]

[ST5 spoilers ahead. This theory is largely grounded in canon evidence from S1-4, but I will be referencing a couple of old S5 leaks below the cut.]

Stranger Things is a show that delights in escapist fantasy; it's packed with nostalgic references and celebrates the protagonists' love of gaming in order to remind us that we don't need to abandon our childhood interests just because we grew up.

But escapism is a double-edged sword that all too easily turns into an unhealthy coping mechanism, and boy is this show also one that delights in the horror of unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I reckon they'd be missing a trick if these opposing themes didn't crash into one another for the final season.

Vecna seems to be motivated by a desire to help the kids he targets -- he wipes away their tears, he reassures them that their suffering will be over soon -- but he also barely seems to notice or care that he's just making the suffering worse. Which is exactly the attitude you'd expect from a villain who personifies the urge to turn to shitty coping mechanisms.

Since S5 is going to focus on Will's coming-of-age, then whatever Vecna is up to must resonate with Will's worst coping mechanisms.

What better fit for Will "wants to sit in the basement playing games for the rest of his life" Byers than a fantasy world in which everyone is forced to be a carefree kid forever while their bodies rot in the Upside Down?

Think about it: Henry wants to transform the world into something beautiful, but the world he currently seems to be ruling over is nothing of the sort -- is a cold and barren facsimile of Hawkins populated with monsters really Henry's idea of beauty?

Doesn't it make more sense for the Upside Down/Mind Flayer to simply be the hardware that helps him run his simulation of something more relatable -- an idyllic vision of the childhood he wishes he had, populated with all the kids he oh-so benevolently rescued from the fate worse than death that is wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce, and wait for it all to be over?

-------------------

We know for a fact that one of S5's episodes is titled Escape from Camazotz -- a reference to the misleadingly idyllic world from A Wrinkle in Time -- and leaked BTS photos from last year show Henry hanging out with a Hawkins child at a mysteriously pristine Creel house.

It's promising, but I'm not a huge fan of using leaks as evidence. They always come devoid of context, and even difficult-to-fake things like BTS photos could be staged by production to throw fans off the scent -- so what does the canon suggest?

One possible hint is that the Upside Down has consistently borrowed imagery from The Matrix throughout the seasons:

But more importantly, this theory is thematically consistent with what we currently know about Will in S1: while trapped in the Upside Down, he retreated to Castle Byers (his escapist safe space), and that's where he was caught, dragged to the library (another escapist space), and plugged into the vines that connect him directly to Vecna.

It's also subtly implied by Will's behaviour in S3 that part of him wants Vecna to succeed: he sticks with El after realizing Vecna is back, despite knowing full well that being able to spy on Vecna means Vecna can also spy on him; and he makes a suspiciously helpful-to-Vecna suggestion about how the party should go about investigating the monster of the week:

Could Will be under Vecna's control here? Perhaps. But I think this is a choice he's making of his own volition.

Consider: At one point Will destroys Castle Byers in a fit of grief that his childhood is over, and this just so happens to be the same scene in which he becomes certain that Vecna has returned.

He has to grow up and face the horrible truth that he's gay and broken and in love with a boy who can't possibly love him back and he does not want to deal with this -- wouldn't he do anything in that moment to find a way to escape back into childhood? Is this not the perfect moment for a seductive voice in his head to start whispering offers?

Bargaining is one of the five stages of grief, after all.

But then, so is acceptance. Will isn't walking the path of villainy here; he's at the temptation stage of his hero's journey.

S4 took him far away from Hawkins and allowed him to work through some of his feelings without Vecna breathing down his neck, and he comes to a very final-sounding decision about it:

He's realized that longing to sit in the basement playing silly games with his crush all day is immature and turning him (in his opinion) into a jealous asshole--

--and now that he's ripped off the band-aid with Mike he's gonna kill that underlying desire once and for all. Right?

Wrong. I mean, that's certainly what he believes at the end of S4 -- but he's still got a whole season of main character coming-of-age shit left to do in this show that delights in escapist fantasy and reminds us we don't need to abandon our childhood interests just because we grew up.

The visual similarities between the Upside Down and the Matrix aren't the only parallels between these two stories -- a theme present in both is the realization that the rules of the world you were raised in are an oppressive lie that you have the freedom to reject so long as you're brave enough to accept the truth.

Much like Neo, Will has a deeper connection to the horrors than any of its other victims (beyond Henry himself), and that connection grants him the gift of True Sight:

Stuck between the View-Master slides is how he describes it. Will can't bring himself to conform to 1980s expectations of normalcy, but he also can't bring himself to retreat into Vecna's time-frozen fantasy and hurt all of his friends.

The solution is to understand that Will's unique position doesn't mean he'll be forced to pick a side and either become a villain or sacrifice himself for the greater good: it means that like Neo he has the power to transcend the rules of false realities.

Will can defeat Vecna without castrating himself in the process, and he can play D&D in Mike's basement for the rest of his life if he wants to...

...just so long as both he and Mike are brave enough to accept the truth first.

[tracklessreason]

Hi. It's me again.

WHERE THE FRICK IS BUMBLEBEE?! Sorry, let me calm down and retry.

Thank you for answering my last ask, I can't help but notice how no one knows where Bee's ghost is. And Megatron is the one looking into the Matrix... Is he haunting Megatron? Trying to stop him from doing it? Helping him?

Is Optimus's ghost following Ratchet around like a sad puppy?

Also just the pairings- Jazz with Megatronus? THat sounds... like fun.

Do the primes miss the other Primes and ask their host if they can check on the other bots that got shrapeneled? Maybe one of them asks if they can find a way to talk with the others... or maybe they can talk trough the hosts... maybe... (ah ah possessed arc)

(PS I really vibe with Hive's whole deal, he is very cool :D and I'm devastated that I'm the one that discovered how he explodes)

Hug hug!

Hi again!!! Don't worry, Bee is still here!

His spirit is just...struggling. He's weak at first, flickering like a dying light bulb. He hasn't left the fractured core of the Matrix still in his corpse, but his soul signature is so weak no one can find him. He's just sort of trapped there for a while, in the burnt out room he died in. Until Megatron of course.

Megatron breaks into the autobot base, walks past every sleeping mech he could easily have snuffed, and steals the Matrix core, and by unintentional extension, steals Bumblebee. Now at first, Bee is rightfully upset. He hates being at the gloomy decepticon base, he hates Megatron for taking his voice, he's just mad. Time passes as Megatron tinkers with the core, and Bee regains strength enough to....throw things???

It shouldn't be possible. Somehow this unstable remnant of the Matrix doesn't contain him, but merely houses him, and as he grows stronger, he can appear as an apparition to Megatron. He uses it almost solely to hinder him. With no voice (even ghost Bee gets no respite) all he can really do is mess up Megatron's workspace and insult him through pantomime. Really he doesn't understand why Megatron puts up with it, but aside from the occasional fit of rage at his antics, the decepticon leader ignores him as much as possible and puts his all into trying to restore the Matrix.

Before long he starts having one sided conversations with Bumblebee. Its mostly complaints at first, and insults towards him and the autobots and whatever else goes wrong in his life outside of this little workshop Bee cant leave. It soon gives way to more private matters; intentionally or not, Megatron is revealing his very convoluted, very mixed feelings about Optimus Prime.

The war has gone on too long, why couldn't that idiot just see things from his perspective, he deserved to die, he will be brought back, how could his oldest friend just leave him like this...

To Bee it sounds...exactly like how Optimus felt about Megatron, just drowned in molten anger issues. Against his self preservation instinct, Bee decides to work towards putting this whole mess to bed. Nothing better to do.

With what limited knowledge and communication he has, he does his best to try and help Megatron fix the Matrix. They have spats still, and plenty of set backs, but things smooth over when Megatron (begrudgingly) admits to feelings of regret over taking Bee's voice. As an olive branch, Bee explains something to Megatron that he's been dying to know: how Optimus died.

Things sour fast. Megatron is determined to murder Starscream, Bee is frustratedly trying to explain that if he does so, this little partnership of convenience is over, and he will ensure that the Matrix is never restored. The end of the war relies almost solely on Megatron reeling in his damn anger, and Bee doesnt intend to allow any slip ups. He has no idea how this will end when Megatron leaves the workshop that night.

On the other side of things, the Primes are having a real...weird time?? The ones without hosts can communicate with each other, but the other four are basically cut off from all but their hosts. They don't have the ability to take control anymore, and even if they did, their hosts are nowhere near as easy to possess, nor as willing, as Hive Prime was. Ratchet especially has threatened to tear the Matrix metal from his frame and grind it to dust if Prima so much as thinks about trying it. The other three hosts are similarly put off.

Once again the Primes are relegated to giving advice, but it's not advice anyone seems to want, and yeah, it's mostly because of the wild pairings. Megatronus is constantly clutching his pearls over Jazz's laid-back attitude and deliberate ignorance of his wishes. Prima's calm rationality does little to temper Ratchet's snappy demeanor and only really gets on his nerves (how can you be so calm after what you all did?). Ironhide straight up refuses to acknowledge Quintus. Drift is probably the only one feeling alright with all this. Alpha Trion is generally reasonable, and isn't interested in having control over Drift's form, nor was he interested in it with Hive, so they just vibe like college roommates.

It's uncomfortable, but the Primes are used to sharing space. The worst part is actually sharing it with fewer mechs than usual. The Primes all miss each other to varying degrees, but for the most part are either too egotistical to admit it, or think it improper to mention.

Of course, grand prize for worst ghost time currently goes to Optimus. Dying, watching Bee suffer, feeling his friend's life force extinguish...

He might as well be a husk right now, full on silent treatment is all he's capable of at the moment. The other Primes know better than to try and speak with him. This is their doing to begin with, the channeling of their energy that strained Bee so heavily. Optimus follows the elected council around during the days, but at night he sits outside the room where Hive's body rests. He was there the night that Megatron broke in.

It takes immense effort to travel far enough out from the base to go see Megatron, and he needs several cycles to recover after every attempt, but he keeps doing it, knowing he could fade away permanently. When he gets there, he's too weak for Bee or Megatron to detect him. But he can hear their talks. He misses them both more than words can say.

(Sorry the response is so long, lol. This ask really got the gears turning in my head. I hope at least that makes up for being the one to find out that Ending 3 Hive dies bloody. I'm really flattered to hear you like him! For me that's quite high praise coming from you. Hug hug!)

[keferon]

if your mecha au has a shockwave, does that mean it also has an orion ? was he perhaps a victim of shockwave ? omg imagine if he was shockwave's first attempt at recreating vortex if he found out. (sorry if any of this doesn't fit, i've just speedrun your mecha au and may have missed parts in my excitement !!)

You know what would be really fucked up and dramatic?

What if everything Shockwave does..he does for Orion? What if they were pilots together?What if Orion almost died in his mech, but Shockwave was able to salvage some pathetic hardly even alive remnants and preserve them?

What if all this time, Shockwave had used all his influence to get control of every mech and pilot he could get his hands on because he wanted to destroy the Quintessons? But not because he cares about humanity, but because the Quintessons have(stole?) the Matrix and Shockwave knows that the Matrix can bring someone back from the dead?

Just. Just a thought. What if

[margoshamangolord]

I'm reading Exodus right now and a detail that i cannot get over is the fact that Optimus had to fight the major part of the war before he got the Matrix. Like, yeah, he got renamed alright, but his career path was straight up "some guy —> the goddamn prime", and while he got a new name during the council meeting, he literally stayed the same. fucking. guy

He had to make decisions for a whole planet without the Matrix, he ended someone's life for the first time without the Matrix, and while he had smart talented friends to help, he did this all right after being Some Guy his whole life. He didn't flinch or break down, knowing what war means and understanding that he's responsible for a whole planet's future. All that without the collective wisdom of the Primes or emotional block or whatever, while logically and technically still being Orion Pax.

In the end of the first season of TFP, he forgets all his time as Optimus Prime, but i never understood why did he forget the war he fought as a Prime, but without the Matrix too. It seemed like a logical mistake to me; he didn't remember the council meeting, or the war's beginning, it's unclear what was the last thing he remembers, but i started to imagine how different things would go if he correctly remembered everything right until the moment he got the Matrix. If he remembered the council meeting, their quarrel, the beginning of the war and major fights. He asks if he's worthy, he doesn't remember the whole goddamn war he carried on his shoulders without the Matrix.

The literal first thing he uses his new power and respect for is to stop the council from shooting Megatron, and when Megatron asks what he would do if he didn't ask his army to not shoot Optimus, he replies that he would rather die for his planet.

He may have been unsure of himself, he may have doubted that he can be a Prime, he may not have saw in himself what others did, he may have stayed in the Archive to do archivist work, but the council meeting speech shows us that he is truly full of emotion and fire for his planet and that he is ready to work towards peace.

He is fierceful and kind, strong and gentle, there's so much to him it's insane! I have a lot more moments that fascinate me, but I don't think they'll fit into this post.

He is fucking worthy. This guy is insanely mentally strong even without it, this is why Alpha Trion noticed him, this is why he was chosen. He was just a regular worker one moment, and then he got the whole Cybertron's weight a moment later, and he fucking carried it instead of dropping.

Orion Pax really should be respected.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Solstice, Shana! more Lady Mo or something else genderbendy?

Tony's spent her whole life proving she was good enough to make it in a man's world. Her own father had written her off as a debutante, but he'd let her spend time in his workshop and look over the papers spread over his desk, on his lap or a safe distance away from all the sparks. He probably thought she liked the pictures and the lights.

She builds an engine when she's six years old, her dress torn and stained with grease and and burning with pride as she grins up at her father.

It's the first time Howard ever sees her and, she thinks, when he stops loving her.

Existing in a man's world is different than being a man. She's not allowed to forget, to indulge, she can't ever be anything else any other way than a performance.

Her whole life is a performance, so maybe there's no real difference.

She can wear broad silhouettes and make sure no one calls her Antonia and keep her hair in it's iconic pixie cut have her employees call her sir - ma'am was her mother, she says with a laugh, and god knows she took more after daddy dearest - and she spends so much of her time having dick measuring contests with generals and business rivals and every man that thinks he can put his hands on her that sometimes it's a shock to remember she doesn't have one of her own.

It's not that she doesn't like being a girl, that she doesn't get a thrill out of outrageous dresses and all her soft curves, that she doesn't like at least seeing something of her mother in her mouth and her nose.

It's just that she thinks that she could be something more. That she is something more.

But that sort of things belong to someone who doesn't have her life, her job and her responsibilities and the eyes of the world watching her every move.

~

She doesn't even think about the fact that the armor is a man, narrow hips and broad shoulders and nothing feminine about his cold curves of metal, until Pepper sees it.

Pepper is quiet after, pressing ice to her bruises as she sits by Tony's hips. Her eyes stray to the arc reactor, a diamond of light glowing between her breasts. A circle would have been a more solid matrix but would have required her to get a mastectomy to make it fit.

She's thought about having a smooth chest before, but in the moment when it was an option that she could reasonably provide to the public - a medical device, for her health - she'd balked, and lost a day to redesign to make it something less, something that would fit and not require her to change to too much.

It had felt like a metaphor, or a sermon, as she'd beat sheets of metal until she bled.

Pepper asks, "Is it to protect your identity? So they don't think it's you?"

Tony stares, caught off guard, her mouth open in answer that she hesitates to give because she knows it's a lie. She doesn't like lying to Pepper.

She softens. "Or is it the opposite?"

Tony is sore and exhausted and Obie is acting strangely and Rhodey isn't talking to her (he calls her and he'll call again and again until she picks up, but he won't say a word, will just listen to her breathe to make sure she still is and then hang up like a fucking a coward) and she just killed sort of a lot of people and her weapons are where they shouldn't be and every defense she's built up around this question feels like it's crumbling around her.

"Pepper," she says, then can't bring herself to say anything else.

She doesn't want to lie to her.

"I like the paint job," Pepper says, hand soft where it's gripping her shoulder. Tony hasn't had soft hands since her father loved her.

"I like red," Tony says and Pepper's cheeks turn the same color as her hair.

[tossawary]

While I do think that Wangxian would still be obsessed with each other in a Human/Cybertronian pairing, whichever one of them is the robot, I keep leaning towards Wen Ning being the robot in a "Transformers" AU for MDZS. I think it really fits the "I rebuilt you into an abomination" angle for the Ningxian situationship.

Also, I keep making myself laugh by thinking about bitchy-faced Lan Wangji sitting awkwardly in Wen Ning's passenger seat, because Wen Ning passive-aggressively won't let LWJ sit in the driver's seat even if Wei Wuxian isn't in the car. 

Which led me to thinking about the worldbuilding and plotting of a MDZS TF AU in which only the Wens are Cybertronians. (For the Sunshot-Era characters, at least.) Young WWX and LWJ are roughly the equivalent of human characters like G1's Spike, Carly, and/or Chip. (Though it would also be fun to do a different AU where WWX and/or LWJ are transforming giant robots, of course.)

In my mind, this story would take place in a modern-ish sci-fi setting. Start close to a Bayverse-like setting (live-action TF movies), but quickly morph into a "Pacific Rim"-style mecha setting (humans building mechs to fight monsters, not necessarily with a "Drift" co-piloting setup) as the equivalent of the Sunshot Campaign war starts and continues, before ultimately the setting becomes more of a retro-futuristic space opera like the original 1986 TF movie and the third season of G1 (the original TF cartoon). 

So, Wei Wuxian is a teenage genius at some prestigious robotics university/college, which does important research on a handful of alien artifacts. Lan Wangji also goes to this school and teenage Wangxian have the usual interpersonal conflict between them. 

Alien robots have been visiting Earth with increasing frequency over the past few decades, usually flying in and out without doing much, sometimes causing some destruction, so they're somewhat known, but a lot of people still think it's an elaborate hoax of some kind. The recovered pieces of these alien robots have provided a technological boost to humanity, which has caused some serious problems all over the world, but mundane life goes on for many people even if mech programs are apparently a real thing now. 

(Wei Wuxian's parents (who were humans) had dealings with Cybertronians. He does not initially know this.) 

The Cloud Recesses school possesses some very important alien artifact that serves as our story's MacGuffin. I'm thinking that it's either the Allspark or the Matrix of Leadership. Whatever it is, it's been dormant and useless for a very long time... basically a rock... until Wei Wuxian manages to build technology that actually manages to interface with the MacGuffin. No one else has ever managed this before. He can make it do stuff. 

Unfortunately, in achieving this, he accidentally sends out the equivalent of a signal to all Cybertronians pretty much everywhere saying: "YO! Earth has got your stuff! The MacGuffin you've been searching for for a million years is over here! Come and get it!" 

So, the school gets attacked by a group of Cybertronians, probably led by Cybertronian Wen Chao. The school possesses enough technology for some of the more daring and reckless students (Wei Wuxian) to fight back a little, using a combination of smarts and highly volatile projects, until some mech pilots arrive to chase them off. Wei Wuxian manages to knock one of the transformers down, but he doesn't take the killing shot, because the transformer looks scared, and Wei Wuxian also saw this transformer trying to step carefully around the humans. The transformer retreats with the other Cybertronians. 

Insert some plot and character stuff here. Then, in the next action-y sequence when Wei Wuxian gets attacked by Cybertronians again, he's saved when a car pulls up in front of him (it looks like either LWJ or Jiang Cheng's fancy car) and flings open a door for him to jump inside. It's only as they're driving away that Wei Wuxian realizes that no one else is in the car. 

Wei Wuxian: "...You're a Cybertronian, right? Was this a bad idea? Did I fuck up?" 

Cybertronian Wen Ning (the transformer whom Wei Wuxian didn't kill earlier): "Yeah, kind of. I'm surprised that you just went along with that? I'm kidnapping you. Sorry." 

In this universe, the Wens are essentially the Decepticons, but if the Decepticons had basically already won the war. There are some remaining Autobots out there, Wen Ning actually has a few Autobot ties, but the Autobots are largely scattered. Wen Ning and Wen Qing are both Decepticons here to get the MacGuffin (Allspark or Matrix), so that Decepticon victory will be complete, and Earth will probably be destroyed or conquered in the process. 

Well, they were here to do that. Wen Ning isn't really feeling that plan so much. He feels bad for the humans. And he thinks Wei Wuxian is really cool! He's never seen anyone that small and squishy humiliate Wen Chao that badly! Wow. 

Wen Ning doesn't like Lan Wangji so much, however, which is mutual. Currently, I'm thinking about this with polyamory vibes. Wei Wuxian would love to have car sex with Lan Wangji in Wen Ning's back seat, but he's not looking directly at that thought because he's pretty sure that LWJ hates him, and he refuses to reflect at all on why he wants this fantasy to be happening inside Wen Ning specifically. WWX is too busy dealing with a robot war to face being gay, much less being gay(?) for a giant robot as well, he doesn't have the time to learn what polyamory is yet! 

Insert series of events here that ultimately lead to a Humans versus Decepticons war, where the humans have mechs and a growing force of New Autobot allies, but the struggle against these lethal transforming robot soldiers is still grueling. 

The great sects in this AU are all giant tech and/or weapons companies of various types. Which is, you know, morally not great, probably, but this is what these kids have grown up with. They're feeling additional pressure to "do their duty" to protect Earth. The Nie family are heavily involved in some mech program that's been running for a few generations now and has some disastrous health effects, but is not going to stop Nie Mingjue from piloting Baxia until it kills him. Jiang Yanli is already married to Jin Zixuan, son of the CEO of the Jin Corporation, which will play its usual role of "shadowy, greedy company" this time with cyberpunk-esque aesthetics. 

I'm not sure what the Jiangs do, but I'm learning towards something to do with space. Jiang Cheng could be in business school, or doing some form of military service, or participating in some astronaut program (still not good enough for his mother), in preparation to take over the family company someday. His life plan gets completely wrecked by giant robots. Specifically, when the giant robots destroy most of the company's buildings and factories, early on in the war, and then his parents also get killed. The insurance alone is a fucking nightmare to deal with. 

In this AU, the only person whom young man Jiang Cheng has ever experienced any kind of attraction towards is a 20ft+ robot "woman" (Wen Qing) who is allegedly a doctor and can turn her arms into buzzsaws (see Knockout from TFP). No, he doesn't want to talk about these feelings. You could physically force JC's ass into therapy and he'd still never talk. 

Anyway, everyone is having a really bad time in this war! Wei Wuxian grows out of his teenage years desperately pulling useful information out of the MacGuffin (Allspark or Matrix) and developing new technology to fight back. Work sucks. War sucks. The state of his family is a tragedy. His relationship status with now coworker Lan Wangji is a solid: "???" Every day, New Autobots like Wen Ning seem to get a little broken and Wei Wuxian can't fix it all. 

Eventually, Wei Wuxian develops something really dangerous that helps to kill off the leader of the Decepticons and win the war. I was thinking some kind of spacebridge technology, perhaps? Because I was thinking that a spacebridge accident should be what "kills" Wei Wuxian for 10+ years, before popping him back into his usual reality, back into a world that has seemingly moved on without him. 

After the Decepticons are first defeated, the situation is tense. Wei Wuxian is sitting on a goldmine of dangerous and powerful technology, capable of developing more. He somehow managed to bring Wen Ning back from the dead this one time and even the Cybertronians seemed weirded out by that. After the war, a lot of people aren't kindly inclined towards the New Autobots, and some people want to take them apart to see what makes them tick. 

Including Wen Yuan, a brand new Decepticon who was created during the war and then rescued by the New Autobots at the very end of it, taken under their wings before he could be forced to do anything to hurt anyone. Wei Wuxian is not this kid's dad. Wen Yuan isn't really a "kid". But he's still relatively small (only like 10ft-tall) because they don't have the parts to get him good upgrades yet and so inexperienced. I need you to picture a six-month-old robot very, VERY carefully picking up a human Wei Wuxian who is about half his size, who drank himself to sleep in the lab again, so that Wen Yuan can put him to bed. It is sad. 

The character who is probably the closest equivalent to an Optimus Prime figure here is Granny Wen. Optimus Prime if Optimus Prime sounded like someone's grandma. I think it would be fun to make her the leader of the New Autobots. Not sure yet whether or not she has or at one point had the Matrix. If she ever did, maybe it was ripped out of her chest at some point. 

I'm disinclined to kill off all the Wen remnants again in an AU, so I'm leaning towards Wei Wuxian helping them escape Earth through a spacebridge in the face of some "unofficial" mercenary attack. Wen Ning gets "killed" again (captured by the Jin Corporation, who are not identified at the time). Pretty much everyone else manages to get away. Except for Wei Wuxian, who gets caught in a spacebridge accident, and banished to the Shadowzone, assumed dead. 

Many years later, young scientist Mo Xuanyu uses Wei Wuxian's spacebridge research to bring him back from the Shadowzone. Wei Wuxian does not have a good sense of how much time has passed. He was wearing an exosuit, which kept him from dying outright, but being in stasis in between realities takes more than a minute for recovery. Damn. That was weird.

The situation more than a decade later is actually apparently less dire than he might have feared. The New Autobots managed to negotiate a treaty and a safe return to Earth, and have built a new base here, working cooperatively with allies such as Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, who have put much of Wei Wuxian's work to good, productive use helping Earth rebuild. How do Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng work with the New Autobots when they can't stand speaking to each other and hate agreeing with each other ever? Well, that's what personal assistants are for. 

Lan Wangji apparently only got hotter as he got older and Wei Wuxian is having a hard time dealing with that! It seems unfair! (Wei Wuxian is going to cry when they find and rescue Wen Ning again. And someone will finally force him to talk about his desire to make out with Lan Wangji across the hood of his car who is also his friend who is also a giant robot.) 

I don't know what has happened to Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan here. They could be alive? Maybe not? In the AU, however, Jin Ling is the equivalent to Daniel Witwicky, who is son of Spike and Carly. Jin Ling in this AU is a cute human tweenager / teenager with the roundest, rosiest cheeks you've ever seen. 

And all the other "Juniors" are giant robots. 

Lan Wangji took Wen Yuan under his wing. Lan Sizhui has gotten his first few rounds of upgrades, so he's at least twice his previous size, in good repair now, and pretty much unrecognizable. I need you to imagine giant robot Lan Sizhui very carefully picking up "Dr. Lan" to demonstrate to the other junior New Autobots how such a thing is done with humans. Lan Sizhui is very roughly equivalent to the TF character of Springer at this point. 

Ouyang Zizhen is roughly equivalent to Arcee. Lan Jingyi is roughly equivalent to Hot Rod. They were brought to Earth because Cybertron is still partially under Decepticon control and the Earth base is safer for young Cybertronians. They are also roughly the same age as Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling.

As far as little human Jin Ling is concerned, he has just as much right to "leadership" of this friendship group as any of the others! They're alll the same age!!! 

And yes, one could also move Lan Sizhui into the "Hot Rod" position here, but Lan Sizhui has vibes that are closer to Ultra Magnus than Hot Rod in my opinion, and I like Hot Rod. And it is just funny to think about Lan Jingyi becoming a Rodimus Prime equivalent and having to deal with being the new bearer of the Matrix of Leadership. No one considered him a potential candidate, least of all himself. He did Not Ask. He does Not Want. 

There's a potential plot here regarding the Jin Corporation and Mech Pilot Nie Mingjue's murder and potentially some Unicron equivalent threat to the planet, but it's too heavily dependent on whatever has happened previously in this plot to create solid thoughts. And it's late! I would much rather amuse myself thinking about Lan Jingyi as Rodimus Prime. He would like to Get Off This Ride.

[energon-depo]

WOOO HOO CHARACTER ANALYSIS TIME this is about how optimus sees smokescreen n jack :)

(btw this my first analysis) ANYWAYS LET'S GO

just a heads up this is a LONG LONG POST to get ready! also i HAVENT SEEN THE ENDING OF PRIME YET

okay remember when ratchet said "optimus wasn't always before he was a prime -he was more like jack" AND REMEMBER HOW HE GAVE HIM THE MARTIX KEY? yeah optimus's sees a lot of former self in jack. he CLEARLY DOES same with smokescreen! the first time we saw smokescreen we knew he was a strategist, and prime knew that aswell. when smokey told him he was under the guidance of prime's MENTOR? yeah optimus knew both of them were destined for great things. all they did needed was guidance and maturity. because BOTH did something stupid that was motivated by brashness, remember when Jack was beefing with a bully? he was being immature, BUT he apologized! he took fault for his actions! same with smokey, remember when he took jack(best bros) with him to a mission? yeah well he did and he was sorry! he even apologized to acree directly knowing he scared her the most with that stunt! he didn't even blame jack for going with(he could've, and jack would have gladly took the blame)BUT HE DIDNT! these two know when their wrong and will IMMEDIATELY backpedal if they hurt anyone of their family physically or emotionally! AND THIS IS WERE WE COME TO OPTIMUS! prime knows those two have their heart and spark in the right place, heck! smokey is literally destiny's child. prime REALLY REALLY REALLY sees his former self in these two. and he treated them as EQUALS to team prime not a human child, not a rookie soldier.(could also go for how he treats miko and raf aswell, he sees their potential. miko's high comparison for other's and raf's talent in tech) so when prime gave jack the "ground bridge key"(the matrix key thing), he was confident that jack will not only keep it safe but also figure out what to do with it when the time comes. if he'd given it to let's say acree she would've probably denied it, said ratchet is a better fit due to the fact she has knowledge about it's real purpose. the OTHER reason why he gave it to jack is because; he's a kid, a Human kid, he doesn't know it's real properties. his thoughts were "optimus gave me an important job to keep the ground bridge key safe, with me. I can't let him down" It's his first real solo task! heck he even said "shouldn't ratchet have this?" but prime assured him its his task to bare. as for smokescreen? prime was THIS CLOSE to giving him the matrix. when he was in the worst shape possible and losing hope, he's (nearly) dying words was bestowing smokey with the matrix. smokescreen kept refusing he CAN'T be a prime, if he was a prime that mean optimus is dead and he doesn't want optimus to die, he's his leader, his idol, his hero. he already went out of order with coming back, and he brought optimus the forge of solang(i think? i forgot it's name it the yellow hammer) he's train of thought was "get the hammer from the cons, give to prime, prime fixes himself and its all good!"when optimus told him "the hammer must be used to fix the omega locks -the life of one is not important as the lives of many"[paraphrasing]. smokescreen stuck with his gut, his original train of thought and his compassion for his (found)family. he went out of order again putting the hammer in prime's hand REFUSING that this is the end for Optimus prime. he was rewarded with ya know prime coming back and not dying and practically saving earth basically average day for the goat smokey. i would like to also mention when smokescreen was getting chewed out by acree, prime was trying to get her to stop(no hate towards the based queen acree btw she's awesome) and when smokey stormed off he let him leave, knowing he had some reflecting he needed to do. ALSO when jack backed down from team prime, he understood that, he was upset of course he gotten attached to those humans, but he respected his opinion and didn't force him at all.

Moral of the story prime is best dad, jack and smokey are bros4life and prime team is best family(cheers)

[mellxncollie]

Temporary pause from working on a Charles' cricket bat gifset to talk about this shot:

It's such a well composed shot! It's the most badass cricket bat moment and this is like the anime-styled, matrix-level, critical hit, crescendo moment for Charles after all of his anger in episodes 3-5, and now he's redirecting it in a way that is no longer terrifying to his friends but supportive (though i would argue most of his anger in eps 3-5 was still very justified).

The negative space here is just *chefs kiss* and gives space for Charles to be focused on. It's simple and uncomplicated, making it easy for us to digest just how badass Charles is.

But like, look at it overlaid with some common composition 'rules'

Rule of Thirds

We've got him fairly well-aligned with the rule of thirds, his body and arm mostly along the lines with the cricket bat ending around that intersection

Then, similar to the rule of thirds, it fits even better with the Golden Ratio

This gets more along his center of gravity, and all that empty space on the sides just makes him even more important in the frame

These two rules, and the next one, are what makes it feel kind of "matrix"-like to me.

Golden Triangles

So maybe this doesn't look like it matches, and you'd be right. It doesn't match the lines of the composition exactly, but the golden triangles shows us that the shot is angled to somewhat align with this composition. Charles is parallel to those shorter lines, and the whole shot guides our eye along that long, downwards line.

If it was angled a little more or less dramatically, then it might not have had as much of an effect. This specific angle makes it feel so dynamic.

You can even use the Diagonal Composition that photoshop has (basically 2 square crosses that align with the 4 corners--with a smaller aspect ratio they'd overlap more)

Here the thing to note is the cricket bat's edge fitting almost too perfectly with that one line.

Golden Spiral (the one where i'm definitely stretching it a bit but whatever)

So this doesn't work as much in the full frame aspect ratio (2.2:1) but if we cut out the negative space, Charles fits along the larger part of the swooping arc. Not as much of a thing to focus on at the center of the spiral, but if we flip the spiral:

The cricket bat is in that spot. I know this is a bit of a stretch of the golden spiral, but all this to say, it's still really fucking cool.

All of these 'rules' aligning like this make it such a satisfying scene to watch. For me, when he catches that cricket bat it's like when a difficult math equation comes out to a whole number, or when a poem finds the perfect rhyme for the very last line, or when you're at the end of a whodunit and the detective lays out how the crime was committed. It's the best conclusion for an already amazing moment, everything falling perfectly into place.

[gold-rhine]

why are ppl complaining that kinich's 8bit aesthetics "doesn't fit". like sumeru was literally cyberpunk. they had airpods and literal giant robot. irminsul is very bluntly presented as a database.

also have you met other dendros. dendro's most obvious theme is digital\virtual aesthetics. nahida has holograms and jumps on actual keyboard buttons. kaveh has ai robot in a suitcase and also does holograms. alhaitham has streamer headphones and does matrix coded green laser bullshit. we have actual yassified nyancat.

in fact, irminsul\database angle is the closest i can formulate the dendro theme. deconstruction and accumulation of data until reaching inspiration threshold and growing and evolving into something new, transcending previous understanding of the world. aranara theme of being a lil tree branch, growing through gaining new experiences\stories. wisdom is a growth through experiencing the world and drawing inspiration from it, processing it through your own understanding, creating something new entirely.

most dendros fit this scheme, even if they are not outright digital-coded. like baizhu fits. collecting information of as many illnesses as possible, not just collecting, but absorbing them personally, like an aranara with every disease, with ambition to transcend mortality.

but idk what yao yao is doing here. i didnt do emilie's quest yet, but even if she fits also, yao yao is still sticking out like a sore thumb. what does this baby nurse and her plush rabbit have to do with transcending of the known with accumulation of experiences \genuine question, if anyone has ideas let me know

[intuitive-revelations]

A Long Watsonian Discussion on the Death Particle, the Genetic Explosion and the Fate of Surviving Time Lords and Hybrids

Been having some thoughts about the Death Particle retcon RTD seems to have done (though it is still unclear exactly what caused the "genetic explosion", the Death Particle seems to be the likely culprit).

So remember, in The Timeless Children, we were led to believe the Death Particle would wipe out all organic matter on Gallifrey. I don't think it was ever explicitly said, but it was implied that the Master and some of the CyberMasters survived by jumping into the Matrix at the last moment.

Now it's implied that it ended up killing surviving pure Time Lords all over space and time. The Rani survived by having temporarily modified her genome (presumably via Chameleon Arch?). The Doctor's survival, given this new effect, is less clear, but could be justified either via their nature as the Timeless Child and thus arguably not a pure Gallifreyan (if at all, depending on how their link to the Timeless Child works), or if we take another perspective, by being a half-human hybrid. Meanwhile, those with partial Time Lord DNA were instead 'merely' sterilised. We're slightly stuck with the question of how closely someone would have to fit to being a Time Lord (especially if we throw in the genetic differences between those of the first rank and those who don't go through the Academy), but for the sake of this, let's assume everyone under the modern Gallifreyan/Time Lord genetic pool is impacted, since this does seem to be implied by the Rani. Technically, it could be more of a biodata / temporal thing, but being called a genetic explosion implies it's more DNA-based.

At first I thought this might have been a plot hole with regards to Tecteun in Flux, who obviously survived the explosion. But there's a few possible explanations for this:

Having gotten her DNA modified seemingly directly from the Timeless Child, she may not be exactly as standard "Time Lord" as others. If she's "in-sync" with the Doctor and Gallifrey, having lived through all of Gallifreyan history, this would make sense, as it would imply having regenerated way more than twelve times.

On the other hand, if she's not in-sync, then she might also be saved by being from earlier in Gallifrey's timeline, since the Death Particle clearly wasn't retroactive, wiping Gallifrey from all history (unless we do theorise the sterility effect is somehow linked to the original sterility thought to be from the Pythia's curse). This could also justify the Division members guarding Swarm, though it also wasn't confirmed that they were Time Lords, so the question might be moot.

A much easier explanation, however, is that she was saved by already being outside of the universe, since it's clear the Death Particle didn't effect all of reality.

In fact, the universe and timeline criteria can make things quite ambiguous. From what I can tell, it seems likely that any pocket dimensions / alternate universes are safe, though TARDIS interiors do not seem to be distinct enough. Meanwhile, I'm generally assuming most people the Doctor interacts with to be in-sync in terms of their timeline and Gallifrey, even when this becomes comparatively meaningless (with characters who are fully/part Time Lord, but have no connection to Gallifrey themselves).

This does also lead us to the question of the fates of other surviving Time Lords, Gallifreyans, and hybrids:

Donna / the DoctorDonna - may have been protected by her memory suppression. Obviously wouldn't have been killed, not being a full Time Lord, but could technically have been rendered infertile? This doesn't have a noticeable effect, mind you, given her age and having already had Rose by this point.

Rose Noble - technically contained part of the metacrisis. Again this could have been suppressed, or just so minimal as to not have an effect, but it's also possible that she'd be rendered infertile too. (On the other hand, again probably not that noticeable, given she's trans and has been medically transitioning.)

The Master - technically integrated into the Cyberiad, so could be considered a hybrid (plus the Master's no stranger to messing with his DNA), though I doubt this would have effected his genetics. A better answer would be that he was protected by being in the Matrix and thus technically in a pocket universe at the time the Death particle activated, as I said. He may or may not have dodged infertility as a result. If he can be gotten out of the tooth form the Toymaker put him in (assuming he didn't revert already when the Toymaker's influence faded), then he might be Gallifrey's best hope.

Jenny - Jenny's fate is a bit ambiguous. It's still unclear if she's fully Time Lord, given she didn't immediately regenerate following being shot, so she may be part human. But even disregarding that, if the Doctor survived via not being fully Gallifreyan, either via human or Timeless Child DNA, then it makes sense Jenny would too. It is quite likely she will have been effected by infertility, though. (Though given the ongoing arc with Susan I wouldn't be too surprised if she came back and there's some logic to explain why she's not, and she ends up being Susan's parent?)

Susan - again ambiguous. If she is a direct descendant of the Doctor and/or the Other/Timeless Child, then she may inherit the same protection. It is worth noting that her biological son Alex was much more than half-human, suggesting she may well not be a full-blooded Time Lord either. If she's unrelated to the Doctor, but still Gallifreyan / a Time Lord then it's more questionable how she would have survived. There's also the same timeline issue as Tecteun, where we don't know exactly what her true Gallifreyan "present time" is, but at this point I assume we can consider her a present day Time Lord, even if she was actually from the distant past or the future.

(Obviously no-one will take this seriously, but since I've just been writing about them, I will throw out there that if John and Gillian a) are real, and b) are alive, then they fall into similar ambiguity).

Metacrisis-Ten - this one's fairly easy. He obviously survives via being part human. He could have been rendered infertile (though again, EU stories with him suggest he's already had kids with Rose - though who knows if those will still be canon if that was Rose last episode). However, it is very likely he's protected just by being in Pete's World.

River Song (+ other Silence hybrids) - Another dubious hybrid, but quite likely to have been effected by the infertility effect? This doesn't exactly mean much given we know she's never had kids. A far bigger question would be how on Earth her timeline can possibly be synced to Gallifreyan relative time. I'm inclined to say that, relative to the Doctor's / Gallifrey's timeline, she is best considered dead at this point, inside the Library, so any other question of the effect of the Death Particle on her is moot.

Romana - if she's even alive, the last we heard of her she was in a pocket dimension, so if she's still there she will have survived. She likely wouldn't be sterile either. However, we also have multiple possible post-Romana II incarnations from all over the War in Heaven and Time War (Tomb of Valdemar, Romana III, Trey, Time Fracture), so who knows which of those, if any, exist in the current timeline. Time Fracture might be the best evidence for Romana eventually being released, given it's a) an official BBC / New Who attraction, and b) shows them present around the final days of the Time War, but if so, it ironically probably dooms them to death either around that time, or via the Master or the Death Particle.

The Monk - We know quite explicitly the Monk survived the Time War. Unfortunately, this does mean that they are very likely to have been one of the casualties of the Death Particle. I wouldn't rule anything out, and maybe, depending on timeline logic, he could have survived in the time he was Chameleon Arched to survive the Time War, but it's not looking good for him.

Braxiatel - We're less certain if Brax survived the Time War, especially given his most recent appearance in Gallifrey: Time War, though this did leave open the possibility of one version of him having escaped to another timeline. One reading of Big Bang Generation could also be read to imply he survived, but it's more likely that this is pre-Time War / Benny-era Brax who is referenced. If he did survive, he's another possible victim. I personally always liked to headcanon that he was on Gallifrey during Hell Bent, being the one who helped Twelve get reinforcements, but this isn't canonical. Brax's fate is especially open right now - he could be safe in another universe, he could have died in the War, or he could have been killed by the Master or the Death Particle. I actually think he is one possible candidate for "The Boss" of Beep the Meep and the Time Hotel, especially the latter given his history with the collection. He is also exactly the sort who'd want someone to pass on greetings to the Doctor. It would be a wild pull for RTD, but maybe not that crazy given previous finales (plus I did literally just say the words Beep the Meep!).

Rassilon - Here's a significant one. Rassilon we know was almost certainly not on Gallifrey at the time of the Master's destruction, due to being exiled by Twelve. I wouldn't put it past the Master to have hunted him down, but there's no evidence of this. Technically he also at one point became integrated into the Cyberiad, during Supremacy of the Cybermen, but this was erased from history, presumably leaving him out there somewhere at the end of the universe. This does however mean he's another likely victim of the Death Particle.

Omega - Obviously, Omega survived and is implied to not be effected by the genetic explosion. This is almost certainly due to being in the Under-verse, and this seems to be the Rani's assumption at least. It could also be linked to his evolution, or whatever has happened to him in that universe.

Other hybrids? - It is likely there are other hybrids out there, even just by specialised soldiers created during the Time War or War in Heaven. See also folk like the Special Executive. While such survivors are likely to be few, it's likely than many who were still around would likely have been killed being still on Gallifrey, but any in the wider universe would likely have been sterilised, if they weren't sterile already (after all, biologically speaking sterility is common in cross-species hybrids, though this isn't always the case, and especially not in Doctor Who or other sci-fi/fantasy).

But on the bright side...?

If the Death Particle did not do as predicted, and was instead targeted closely on Time Lords throughout space and time, then Gallifrey itself may not be as barren as originally thought. Sure, any surviving Gallifreyans would have been killed, but other life on the planet may have survived. This includes natural flora and fauna that survived the Master's devastation, but could potentially also include things like Houses or other TARDISes. Granted it's implied the Doctor's TARDIS is the only one remaining, but this is unlikely to be the case, given the one Thirteen escaped in during The Timeless Children, as well as the Master's. There's also multiple pieces of TARDIS coral out there, including in Pete's World.

Maybe, if I'm wrong and the scope of the Death Particle didn't stretch to every modern Gallifreyan, then there might even be some surviving Shobogans and Outsiders out there? Again, this is unlikely though, as this would seemingly diminish the Rani's entire motive, even if she was just being classist, given all Gallifreyans start out that way genetically. On the other hand, if they did survive then it's possible they were later cyber-converted.

Speaking of which, I will also add that if organic life did survive on Gallifrey, then this is a big boost to one of my theories while we watched Flux.

Remember that red planet Bel briefly visited while looking for Vinder?

Not only did it have red rocks and grass, but also two suns and an army of Cybermen occupying it. I theorised from a trailer clip that it might be Gallifrey, but was a bit more sceptical while watching once we saw the plant life, even if the Cybermen fit really well.

But now we know the Death Particle didn't do exactly as predicted, it does leave open the possibility that other life on Gallifrey did indeed survive, meaning that theory could be correct!

As with the rest of my discussion, there's still the question of whether this is feasible given Gallifrey's time zone. Last we saw it, it was at the end of the universe, but the Master implied it was back in its pocket universe when he destroyed it (which, if true, kinda harms the logic used above regarding which universes / dimensions were effected), but there's no gurantee that this is still the case. Plus Gallifrey is kinda weird temporally anyway, given the transduction barrier etc., so maybe even if it is technically in the far future, Bel could still have accessed it from her time. Who knows. The theory's definitely still a lot more feasible now than it was when I first watched the episode.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Okay so I scrolled down and saw what you were referring to - I can do that!! With mega/high command bc what’s better than one mommy? 3!

Megatron getting to stressed out with the was so Starscream pins him down and forces him to listen to his mommy. Starscream coaxing Megatron to suckle for nostalgia’s sake (if Starscream isn’t milking)

Soundwave having a host of cassettes fighting with Lord Megatron over soundwave’s lap and kisses, with Megatron being very much too big to sit in mommy’s lap but he tries so hard, arms around soundwave’s knees as Soundwave lets Megatron take his dinner in bed 👀

Shockwave warming Megatron in order to teach Megatron about about a new invention, only for Megatron to throw a fit (he wants the mommy milky but shockwave needs Megatron to be a good boy and listen)

BIG BRAIN!!!!!

Mmmm StarSoundShock who found this adorable cogless little baby wandering around the wastes alone, crying and cold and hungry. They couldn't resist. Took him in and couldn't decide who got the privilege of being the carrier so they're just Red Mommy, Blue Mommy, and Purple Mommy. Without a cog, their boy will never be able to fight with them: though they teach him self defense to the best of their ability, his chances of survival are slim if someone intent to do real harm attacks him. As such, they're extremely overprotective, keeping him under lock and key + heavy guard, and he grows up into a very pampered, sheltered young mech

Let's say that Dee had snuck out of the base and was foraging for goodies out in the wild and happened to come across Orion, Elita, and Bee. They're like him! Small woth a big hole in their chest! When he finds out they're looking for the Primes and the Matrix, he gets so excited: "My moms used to work for them!"

He sees this as the golden opportunity he's been waiting for! His moms all still treat him like a little child, never letting him do anything! He's tried and tried and tried to make them see him as an adult, but without a cog, he'll always be their helpless little sparkling and nothing more. If he can help recover the lost Matrix and get energon flowing again, or even just do something to help disrupt Sentinel's regime, they'll have no choice but to accept that he's all grown up and perfectly capable of contributing!

And... you know, capable of other things, but we'll get to that 🤭

Anyway, stuff happens. Alpha Trion gives them their cogs. Dee tries to convince him to come back to the High Guard's base with him: his moms will be over the moon when they find out he helped revive one of the gods! And now that he's no longer cogless, he can help fight! Everything is going so well ^-^

Fast forwarding a bunch cuz idk how the autobot-decepticon war starts, and Megatron is STRESSED with a capital everything. As the one who took down Sentinel, a feat of strength no one in the High Guard could really contest, he's somehow landed himself on Starscream's throne. Mommy is still ruling, make no mistake, just through him instead of directly. He doesn't mind, truly 😌 but when the stress gets too much, Star will shoo him out of the throne and sit down in it himself, coaxing him to come sit in mommy's lap. Until very recently, Dee was so very small. He could easily perch on one of Starscream's knees. Now, he's much bigger, but the seeker assures him it's no problem. "You need to relax, my spark... all this worry isn't good for you. Here," he parts his chassis and his feeding pouches bounce free, already full of milky energon just for him. "Have a meal with your favorite mother. It always makes you feel better, no?"

Pivoting to Soundwave, aksjsjska I hadn't considered the cassettes being jealous but tbh? Based. Soundwave scolds them if they get too rowdy, telling them that their baby brother is having a hard time and needs mommy's undivided attention right now. They can either help soothe him or leave the two of them in peace. This results in a lot of grumbly cassettes perching wherever they can on Megatron and joining the cuddle pile. How sweet 💖

Shockwave leverages milkies routinely to get their boy to do as he says. Of all the things empurata destroyed on him, his chest was not one of them: if anything, it's bigger, and he's probably modded his pouches to make the highest quality, smoothest energon possible. It's Megatron's favorite, much to Starscream and Soundwave's chagrin, but at least it works to get him to behave 🤭

Idk when exactly Dee started lusting after his mothers. He tries not to! Really, he does. He tries looking at the other seekers--they're pretty, all of them! Surely one of them will catch his eye... but no, no one compares to Starscream. He starts avoiding them, their touch becomes too much, and he withdraws further and further, becoming angrier the longer he fights with himself. What's wrong with him?! They took him in and gave him everything, how can he harbor such indecent thoughts for them? He's convinced they'll be disgusted, that they'll hate him, that they'll cast him out to die alone in the wilderness

Perhaps they find out only after he becomes Megatron. Perhaps he confesses when he's still cogless and frail. Idk, but whenever it happens 🤭 they're all surprised but none of them are angry. If anything, Shockwave is relieved: the most logical conclusion was that he was pulling away from their love because he was Becoming An Adult and felt he no longer needed them. This is much more preferable. Starscream, sexual deviant that he is, shrugs and says, "If it will make you happy, then I'll gladly indulge you." Soundwave agrees. That's all they really want, for him to be happy and healthy. And if being tied up and doted on and fucked stupid by his mommies is what will make him happy, then so be it

[heimeldat]

I keep seeing posts saying it was awful of the Doctor to trap River in a VR without even asking what she wanted, but ...that's EXACTLY what the Doctor expects for himself (or expected up until he destroyed Gallifrey). In his mind, that's simply what happens when you die. You get uploaded to the Matrix and become part of the system. He's not condemning her to a half-life, he's not just clinging to whatever part of her he can preserve, he's giving her the closest thing he can to a proper Time Lord afterlife (even though at the time he doesn't know how fitting that is).