#morphcore

[ghostlytidalwavephantom]

You know, I'm just saying, I'M JUST SAYING, lots of things in nature will spontaneously turn female for the sake of continuing the species, in case there are too many males in the environment.

I think prince -> princess forcefem is the best way for me to do my specific forcefemming fantasies cause prince is the closest approximation to masculinity I can get without getting dysphoric and it's still a big enough change I can get off to it

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,

Knowing as we do that the DJD exists to root out cowardice and treason in the Decepticon ranks, has any version of that group been tasked with eliminating the most treasonous coward of the all, Air Commander Starscream? What's their track record in the task, multiversally speaking?

Dear Slippery Seeker,

Surely by now you know that Starscream is hard to catch, harder to implicate, and most difficult to kill (well, for any substantial length of time)! As a result, the summary judgements you imagine aren't as common as you might think—but I will recount to you one instance where Starscream tangled with Megatron’s enforcers.

When they came for him, he didn’t even try to deny the allegations, having himself long lost track of his various misdeeds. Instead, he offered to pay Tarn off. Of course, no amount of money could buy mercy from Tarn—so instead, Starscream promised to supply the leader of the D.J.D. with enough morphcores to feed his addiction indefinitely, even producing one on the spot for him. Tarn was tempted, and appeared to seriously consider the offer… but when he sampled the morphcore, he immediately deduced that it was counterfeit, quickly 3D-printed by Swindle for this ruse of Starscream’s.

Tarn aimed his fusion cannons at Starscream’s head, but the Seeker just laughed. This cheap spare-part scam was itself only part of a subtler gambit: Starscream had recorded everything, and was prepared to transmit the footage across all Decepticon channels. That one moment of hesitation… it would have been enough to show everyone that the incipient D.J.D. were ordinary mechs, with ordinary vices, who could be bargained with. Perhaps they could have corrected that impression, with time and creativity… but Tarn knew how Megatron would react, knowing that he had given even the slightest thought to exonerating Starscream over such a trifle.

Of course, so long as the D.J.D. kept Starscream on the List, and so long as Starscream had the recording, neither could tolerate the other’s continued existence—so they agreed to delete both files, and to never again acknowledge one another going forward. But much later, the collector Agonizer came across a remaining copy of this version of the List… which leads one to wonder, if perhaps there still survives a copy of that video as well…

[maximuswolf]

Ice Cube x KoRn - Fuck Dyin [Nu Metal / Hip Hop]

Ice Cube x KoRn - Fuck Dyin [Nu Metal / Hip Hop] https://youtu.be/fC0IeZ8qS0k?si=q1EmPVfH06qELTq1 Submitted December 30, 2024 at 02:19AM by morphcore https://ift.tt/jIQZzha via /r/Music

[thenamesblurrito]

The search function says I didn’t ask this before, but while mutacons don’t have a technical altmode, they can still alter their shape a bit, right? What are the limits? Camouflage? Climbing aids? Shields and crude weapons/tools? Barely functional wings that don’t allow flight Or gliding, but can prevent deaths from falling?

either tumblr's search function is failing as usual, or i genuinely hadn't posted this bit on Mutacons yet!

Makeshift is a Mutacon, which means they are basically half a person in the eyes of functionism. Their t-cog is mutated and their protoform extra flexible, which may have made them a triple-changer if conditions were right, but instead they emerged from their hotspot as a newspark and never developed an alt mode. Their kibble has no coherency, so if they try to transform, it only ends in painful spasms and a nonfunctional, random alt mode that they can’t stay in for very long. However, they do have an inbuilt function that no other Cybertronians have: the ability to trans-scan. For a short amount of time, they can take on the alt mode of another minibot after scanning them. Thanks to the fluidity of their protoform, they can even shapeshift their features to a small degree, which makes it easy to conceal or even steal an identity for as long as the scan lasts. For Mutacons of larger size classes, they can compress themselves down, depending on their strength and durability, and an extremely talented one may be able to go from size 5 to an unnaturally dense and heavy minibot. Mass cannot increase, however, so Makeshift will never scan larger than a minibot. The lack of an alt mode doesn’t actually impact their health very much, but it makes them seem functionless, and thus worthless. To another Cybertronian, their kibble makes it very obvious that they’re a Mutacon, which earns a lot of instant dislike or distaste from the general populace. Despite the fact that Mutacons are incredibly rare and perhaps one in a thousand commit identity theft, they’ve been branded as untrustworthy freaks. Makeshift is honestly lucky to have a home, instead of being thrown out to live on the streets like many mecha who were forged with a disability.

here's a quick n dirty example to show what they can make out of their kibble-

their normal shape is the one that their frame reverts to naturally and can stay in without strain, their "default" body. usually, playing around with their shape has no particular purpose, and thus doesn't have any more of a theme or coherent form than usual, as on the right. they don't often mess around with their shape for fun, though, as this can get paranoid bigots accusing them of trying to steal identity or pass themselves off as another frametype. on the left is what they look like when actually trying to do just that and pretend for awhile that they aren't a Mutacon. it takes practice to shape kibble in a way that successfully imitates a vehicle in a way that looks natural and transformable instead of just bolted on. it might not be super obvious to us, but Cybertronians naturally have an eye for kibble and alt modes, so actually passing as another frametype isn't easy.

holding a shape other than their natural frame for very long takes effort and a degree of concentration, and doing it too long can hurt. they also can't change their colors or optics. Makeshift's personal range of shifting ability gets pretty well broadened by the bleedover of Sixshot's powers. Transmutate is also a Mutacon, in fact from the same group home as Makeshift is, and she messes with her kibble to stim sometimes

this is all manual shifting, without trans-scanning. what trans-scanning does is give the t-cog a template to work off of, which then patterns the entire frame's kibble accordingly, although colors and optics are again left unchanged, small details are often just a bit off, and the voice and mannerisms would have to be deliberately imitated. trans-scanning is a bit invasive though, sort of like if someone were to use "x-ray vision" to peer under clothing and inspect organs. it's part of an inbuilt neurological sensory suite which Mutacons are forged with, a mutation in the processor's morphcore that they have to deliberately trigger, scan a single target, and shift their frame to match (some Mutacons are forged without the ability to trans-scan, making them effectively doubly disabled). this is a more drastic change than scanless shifting, which means it's a greater strain and will take more energy to hold on to, not to mention the social backlash and stigma against it. most Mutacons rarely if ever trans-scan anyone because of this ingrained fear culture has built around them. some people claim Mutacons should be classified as modal frames, but since functionism is founded upon assigning value by function, and they have no alt mode to function with, it's much easier to shove them to the very corners of society instead of acknowledging that they're simply forged differently than most.

so! to answer your question finally, it depends on the individual Mutacon's flexibility and staying power, but most of the things you listed are at least plausible! you might could say they're the only ones with real inbuilt weaponry anymore, because if necessary they could turn their kibble into a facsimile of a sword. the greatest downside to a Mutacon using their abilities to the fullest would not be the physical ramifications or limitations, but rather the social stigma. in fact, if Mutacons were encouraged to practice and push their limits instead of shunned and watched, they might have a much greater range of shifting ability than they do now.

[blueberry-bastard-boy]

Rossum’s Trinity - T-Cog /Transformation Cogwheel

This post will go over one part of Rossum’s Trinity the T-Cog lesser know as the Transformation Cogwheel

Overview

The T-Cog is one of the main important organs a transformer has, this allows them to do something as big as completely change from one shape to another to something as simple as transforming out weapons and tools that they have gotten built into them. Withought the T-Cog cybertronians wouldn’t be able to transform.

Deeper Dive

T-Cogs though important only play half of the role of transforming, the other half comes from the Brain Module. The Brain Module stores the blueprint of any alt modes and added tools while the T-Cog is connected to the cybertronians transforming bits, mapping them out, making sure the cybertronian could make the desired alt mode before proceeding by releasing commands to transform while making sure no parts collide unnecessarily or lock up with each other. The T-Cog isn’t always able to prevent these lock ups, lock ups only usually happen when a newspark is first trying to transform into their alt mode, A cybertronian switches alt modes (though this only happen under half the time depending what you are switching to and from), if they have something medically wrong weather it be a condition or injury, or if a Cybertronian attempts to transform into something that would be impossible to transform into withought modification being done to their bodies.

Alt Modes

Transformers with multiple Alt modes don’t have some sort of “special” T-Cog counter to popular belief though their T-Cogs might be some sort of stronger because they are put under more stress it is actually the Brain Module that causes this. Triple Changers for example have a Brain Module that can store two alt modes withought putting any extra strain on themselves and Combiners can also store two alt modes but the second one isn’t an individual alt mode rather one the sort of unlock when they find a group they bond with. Bots with more than two alt modes exist too though there bots including Combiners and Triple Changers get more and more rare the more alt modes there with the exception being Six Changers who are less common as Triple Changers but more common than other types and going as high as Shifters which have seemingly infinite alternate modes.

T-Cog From G1

T-Cog from Transformers Prime

Other names include: Transforming Cog, Transitioning Cog, Conversion Cog, and the Morphcore.

[thanksjro]

Last Stand of the Wreckers PsyOps records- Can we PLEASE Hire Some More Mental Health Specialists?

Rung gets a lot of play in the Last Stand of the Wreckers bonus materials. He was still more of a play-on-words as opposed to an actual character at the time, so I suppose it makes sense.

Rotorstorm walked into his appointment with Rung and immediately started hyping himself up. That’s very telling. When Rung asked about his time at Simanzi, he sort of shut down and wasn’t able to hide behind his defense mechanism of being the funniest, coolest, bravest, all-around-bestest guy in the room.

Rotorstorm was basically born, then thrown into the Aerial Program, where all that awful stuff with Jetstream happened. Dude was beating up an infant.

Motherfucker’s got some trauma, obviously, but apparently that’s not enough to disqualify him from Wrecker duty. Wrecker duty that he didn’t even want, I should add.

You gotta sign up for the Wrecker roster; he’d been on it before, but had dropped out to teach instead. Either someone set this poor guy up to die, or Jetstream was wrong this whole time and he really just is that good. Not that it mattered much- the damage is done. Rotorstorm has crippling self-doubt, and is also dead.

Pyro suffers from a programming disorder known as primus apotheosis, identified by the sufferer’s need to emulate the great Optimus Prime. Many Autobots are afflicted with this disorder, and even a few Decepticons have been known to have it. The fact that Pyro had primus apotheosis makes panels like this:

-all the more sad. This is a guy who’s had his own personality overwritten- by his own hero worship- in an attempt to be greater than himself. Pyro is by no means a slouch when it comes to saving the day- he saved an entire platoon of Autobots as a member of the Resistance.

Then Simanzi happened.

There isn’t a ton known about the Simanzi Massacre, only that it was so bad, the Cybertronian population was halved by the time it was over. Pyro would have been just another statistic, had it not been for Optimus Prime’s intervention. Does survivor’s guilt have some part in his disorder? It’s certainly possible. All that can be said for sure is that nobody got out of Simanzi unscathed.

Pyro was approved for the Wreckers with reservations, seeing as primus apotheosis sufferers can and will sacrifice themselves for others if given any wiggle room in which to do so. The Wreckers were just lucky that Pyro wanted to go out in style. It didn’t really work for him, but points for trying.

Guzzle isn’t his legal name. Much like Chromedome, he’s called what he’s called due to meddling with the war. Originally Pneumatix, and a forklift of all things- the name being a play on the word “Pneumatic”, because forklifts work by using compressed air to lift things- he entered the Body Augmentation Program. This turned him into something called a ruination tank. That’s why his turret accounts for nearly half of his height- they basically turned a Mini Cooper into a weapon of mass destruction. Because he’s meant to be actually very tiny, his body compensates for the added stress by being so insanely fuel-inefficient, he has to constantly eat. Thus the nickname.

Guzzle didn’t exactly impress Rung at his appointment, coming across as a rather cold, distant individual when it came to his own emotions, describing his own near-death experience at the hands of the Decepticons in terms of what weaponry was used to try to kill him. Still, he was approved for the Garrus-9 mission.

It’s at this point that you have to wonder just how many people are actually on the waiting list for this group.

First Aid about had a panic attack when he thought Springer was inviting him to join the Wreckers, so it’s obviously a known thing that members don’t last terribly long, or at least, it’s something that can be inferred through reading about them.

Looking at past members, it’s rather telling what sort of person is attracted to the Wrecker lifestyle; Whirl is an emotional powder keg that’s constantly trying to light his own fuse, Impactor defied wartime sanctions to murder the his rivals, Roadbuster is a hardcore drug abuser who ripped someone’s spine out, and Kup can only function in polite society if he’s smoking medicinal marijuana at all times. These are not stable individuals. Springer is the odd exception, and I’m counting Perceptor as a borderline case, because he went through a massive personality shift that led him to where he was within the group. He may appear “normal” when compared to the others, but that guy’s for sure got some issues that he keeps close to his chest.

Given all of this, it’s not really much of a leap to say that Rotorstorm got thrown back on the list because they didn’t have anyone else who wanted in on this madness. It’s also not much of a leap to say that the only reason any of these guys got approved to join was because there weren’t any other options. The psych-screenings were probably just done as a professional obligation at that point. Rung, for all his faults, was likely working with what he’d been given.

I’m not exactly sure where these profiles were meant to reside within Last Stand’s timeline, given that Rotorstorm and Pyro are classified as being probably alive, whereas Ironfist is not.

Ironfist spends a good portion of his appointment with Rung fanboying over the Wreckers, as he is wont to do. When he actually gets around to talking about himself, he’s not nearly as eloquent or organized. Rung did not approve Ironfist for the mission, based solely on his lack of experience in the field of busting heads. He only got on the team due to Prowl’s interference, as has been established before.

Fisitron is revealed to have been a writer of many talents, publishing articles for all ages and reading levels. He was an author you could grow up on.

Impactor’s profile was written at the time of his probationary hearing, and it seems to imply that Rung may be a bit of an idiot. He had dismissed the guard who was present, in an attempt to get Impactor to be more open with him. This went about as well as that sort of thing usually goes for the only mental health specialist on all of Cybertron.

Looks like someone’s got a fear of mnemosurgery. With this little event in his past, it’s very surprising that Rung tried to offer it to Fortress Maximus in MTMTE #6.

Maybe Rung accidentally stuck a really big magnet to the side of his head at some point, thus erasing his memory files, because I know that I sure wouldn’t be offering that sort of thing if this was the average reaction to it.

After Impactor had had his moment, he shared some of his war stories with Rung- apparently his lack of a right hand was inspired by meeting Death’s Head.

Though Death’s Head isn’t directly named, it’s pretty obvious that’s who it’s intended to be, given that he’s mentioned as “ricocheting from universe to universe after leaping through an exploding time portal.” This is in reference to the events that took place in the Marvel UK storyline “The Legacy of Unicron!” This is also what happened to him prior to the events of Eugenesis.

Rung is aware of these events due to having read Wreckers: Declassified. I’m not sure how I feel about Wreckers: Declassified being a valid resource for Rung to pull from, considering Fisitron self-described with the word “dramatist” in “Bullets”.

The session had to be ended when Rung tried to psychoanalyze Impactor in a way he wasn’t ready for, as the man threatened to crush his brain like a grape between his fingers.

Lot of Eugenesis vibes in this entry.

We don’t get any history on Impactor, as it’s been scrubbed from the record at someone’s request. Is it related to his relationship with Megatron? The events that would eventually be revealed in Sins of the Wreckers? Maybe it’s just left like that to create intrigue for the eventual sequel series, Sins of the Wreckers. Who knows? I certainly don’t.

That’s the end of Rung’s reports, but we still have a couple more characters to get through.

Rotorstorm, Snare, and Swindle must go to the same body shop, because they’re the only guys who have eyes/visors that aren’t a primary color. It’s an interesting little character design choice, and I can’t help but wonder if there was some sort of reason for it.

…I genuinely wasn’t expecting an answer for that. Neat!

Snare’s kind of a loner, which works out pretty well for him, since he’s usually on surveillance duty. He’s also a sadist, having developed some nasty ways to keep prisoners in line. “Morphcore stimulation” is mentioned, and it’s less fun than it sounds, not that it sounds terribly fun in the first place. The fact that even Snare thought Overlord was a bit much is very telling.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “morphcore”, don’t feel bad about it, because it’s only ever been used in one piece of media up until this point. Morphcores were a small bundle of nerves at the base of the Cybertronian brain that controlled transformation, as explained in Eugenesis. This term would quickly be switched out for the more well-known “transformation cog” for brand cohesion. The really funny thing is that that this section is attributed to Nick Roche. It would seem that TMUK is a hard state of mind to shake off.

This won’t be the only time Roche and Roberts team-up to completely miss the mark on how the IDW continuity functions- the Dire Wraith in The Revolution oneshot they wrote together was running off of the Marvel UK iteration of the species.

Overlord doesn’t have a profile, per se, but rather a transcript of a correspondence between Megatron and a guy named Gorelock.

Gorelock apologizes for not getting in contact sooner, explaining that the reason he’s been radio silent is because Overlord fucking showed up out of nowhere, after cutting and running from the Decepticause years prior. Whether Megatron had actually heard Overlord’s message or just figured it out from context clues isn’t clarified.

Gorelock super-duper promises that he and his guys didn’t just stand there pissing themselves in fear as Overlord strolled through their ranks, and they super-duper totally fought him until Gorelock decided to hear the guy out. For sure. Absolutely.

It turns out, Overlord was never actually dismissed from the rank of the Decepticons, which means that he outranks Gorelock, and Gorelock was therefore compelled to grant him a favor.

The favor is wrecking an entire empire’s shop. Gorelock complies with this request, purely due to being outranked. Absolutely. For sure.

Once the contract was completed in full, Overlord fucked off into space.

You know, not enjoying your hobbies anymore can be a sign of depression.

And that’s why Gorelock hasn’t kept in touch! I’m sure Megtron will be very understanding about this whole thing.

Or not!

[radicalposture]

I refuse to look up what morphcore actually means and I'm going to assume it's a genre of cybertronian music

[zombiemusica]

Contagiemonos con la nueva música de Morphcored – Beyond The Kings (2018)

[askvectorprime]

If, in some continuities, Cybertronians have hardly ever encountered water before Earth, how did they wash themselves?

Dear Hygienic Hero,

Ah, of course. I periodically must remind myself that you humans are something like a water-based life form and thus some of you have trouble conceiving of cleanliness without water. Even in the case where we do have access to water on Earth, due to mixtures of carbon dioxide in your air, we tend to find it slightly acidic and somewhat irritating. And this is not to mention the havoc water can wreak on our internal components!

For heavy-duty cleaning, we tend to have dry-ice blast baths. These are not relaxing, I should say—more akin to a dental cleaning. For lighter cleanings we will go on "mist walks". A mist walk is a leisurely stroll we take through a lightly ionized gaseous mist. Walking through the mist ionizes grimy buildup and electrically repels it. Afterwards you may feel refreshed, and if you bring a special somebot, it could even be romantic.

Sometimes we'll do what's referred to as a "T-cog shudder". This is when we spin our morphcores so quickly that we vibrate a bit, as if we were shivering, or perhaps like a dog shaking off water. It is somewhat undignified, and so you won't see it in public often.

I suppose the question of how one goes about washing is mostly a matter of personal preference. For malodorous Decepticons like Blot, Horri-Bull, or Snapdragon, the answer is “rarely, if ever!”

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Part One, Scene Four: A Motherfrickin’ Interlude

I know, I’m disappointed too.

The plot takes a backseat for a second, as we reflect on the history of Cybertron. We’re more or less told that all the other races in the galaxy are sick of the Transformers’ shit, and nobody gave two fucks when their entire planet just straight up disappeared.

This isn’t even a Roberts-sprung idea. We’re still dealing with information that was given to us via the Marvel comics; "biomorphic reproduction” is just the fancy way to say budding. I’m beginning to think that all the mechpreg accusations are somewhat misplaced. Watch this book prove me wrong, I’m halfway expecting it.

The Cybertronian population has been cut down to mere thousands as a result of Unicron’s very brief resurrection and subsequent destruction by way of Optimus Prime, and the Autobots are now the Resistance, hiding underground, as they were established to be in both the notes and Liars, A-to-D.

It’s here, in this damp underground that we meet up with Rodimus, who’s busy not listening to his second in command, Thunderclash.

Thunderclash is mentioned to be an ex-Decepticon here. Interesting take, one that I can’t seem to find any basis for in any media he was involved in prior to this novel’s publication. Still, it’s a neat bit of info, seeing as years later, Rodimus would take on another subordinate ex-‘Con in MTMTE, by way of Drift, and then later Megatron himself.

Anyway, what’s Thunderclash so worked up about? He’s not sure that holding a faction-wide assembly aboveground is such a hot idea. Which, fair; they aren’t exactly camped out in the bowels of the planet for shits and giggles. Rodimus points out that it would be good for morale to actually interact with the men under his command, which Thunderclash interprets as him basically wanting to throw a barbecue. Thunderclash is literally the only person who has a problem with this event- everyone else has either approved it, made it possible, or just thought it was a good idea.

He goes on to air his other grievances, including that the Thunder Raider- Ratchet’s ship- was supposed to be moving supplies from Delphi instead of what it’s currently doing. There’s just no pleasing Thunderclash.

Rodimus brings up the Helex report, if only to get his SOC to shut up for a second. The incident, covered in Liars, A-to-D, involved Mirage and a couple other Autobots facing off against Sixshot, a ‘Con who Galvatron really likes, purely for his bloodlust. As it turns out, Sixshot didn’t die when he was crushed by the space debris, and Mirage had the chance to take him out, but hesitated. Something’s on his mind, and Rodimus made the call to send him off with Ratchet to get his head clear. That’s probably why he was acting funny when they landed on Earth.

Thunderclash doesn’t understand why Rodimus doesn’t stop stringing Ultra Magnus along and just go ahead and shut Autobot City down, since they both agree it’s a waste of resources. Rodimus tries to get the final word in as he leaves, but ends up just sounding bitter, left standing alone as his chest flares up with pain, like the mechanical version of a tuberculosis cough.

Meanwhile, Nightbeat’s unpacking in his new room, having been transferred from the Sonic Canyons, the other Autobot/Resistance outpost. He overhears Rodimus and Thunderclash’s “discussion”. Nightbeat’s not too thrilled about his new digs, especially the lighting situation.

I can’t even begin to tell you what the fuck that could possibly mean. I looked up the phrase and got makeup ads. Guess his color match was off.

Nightbeat isn’t even sure why he’s in Iacon. All he knows is the High Command wanted him, so here he is. He thinks that maybe he should try talking to someone- maybe Chromedome, he knows him- but remembers that he’s too cool and aloof for that, and instead decides to wax poetic like a total edgelord.

Nightbeat doesn’t like the fact that most Cybertronians reach for immortality through replacement of parts. He’s decided that instead, he’s going to eventually weaken and die, having never replaced a moment of his past. This might be considered noble, if it wasn’t completely insane. In a fit of poetry, he busts the lights in his room, then pulls out what I think is his spark(?) and stares into it like the eyes of a lover- it’s referred to as a glass orb, so I’m not totally sure what’s going on here- reminded that it’s too late to start over, and to think otherwise might as well be a betrayal.

Nightbeat is fucking weird.

After reading this section, I decided to hit up the wiki, because I don’t understand this character in the slightest. It, unfortunately, wasn’t of much help. I learned that Nightbeat was a Headmaster, with a binary bond to a Nebulan named Muzzle, and that he’s been brought back from the dead at least once, but nothing to really explain just what’s going on with his train of thought here.

And then I had to stop myself and remember that this- Eugenesis, as a novel- is allowed to have self-contained character arcs and conundrums. I was so wrapped up in knowing the answer, I forgot that I only had a vague approximation of the question. The journey’s only just begun, after all. We’re on page 16.

Back in Autobot City, Wheeljack has to punch a door to get it to open. He, Ratchet, and Mirage enter Blaster’s domain, the Coms Level, where they meet back up with Ultra Magnus. We learn what Rewind found back a couple posts ago- three life signs, located in the now-abandoned Decepticon Fortress, labelled as being comatose.

They pull together a search-and-retrieve team, consisting of Ratchet, Mirage, Hound, Trailbreaker, and Bluestreak, and get ready to pull some Rescue Bots shenanigans. Magnus tells everyone to be careful, which pretty much guarantees that some grade-A bullshit is about to go down.

The narrative is ping-ponging a bit, but bear with me. Nightbeat’s dealing with a crisis of his own back on Cybertron: Longtooth’s gone missing. Nightbeat’s been on the scene for roughly five minutes at this point, but I suppose it’s nice to be needed.

Back on Earth, the team touches down in front of the fortress and makes its way inside. They find a busted throne, some lasered graffiti, and not much else. Mirage is in a mood, and they continue on, deeper into the guts of the fort.

So, what have we learned in this section? For starters, Thunderclash is kind of a dick. Sure, Rodimus isn’t the easiest to work with- he has the literal embodiment of evil trapped inside his body, after all- but still. Thunders needs to chillax.

We get some biological terminology for the Transformers as a race: morphcore, which is an outdated term for the transformation cog, lifespark, which nowadays is just the spark, and the brain module, which remains the same today.

We also got to prove that Roberts may not be the source of the mechpreg, but he sure as hell perpetuates it.

Examples A and B, your Honor. This is called theming, and it’s all on the writer, not the source materials. Can’t defend Roberts on this one.

…James.

This one doesn’t even make sense. The sentence this snippet comes from describes Mirage feeling the wall of the fortress for weaknesses, not giving it a pap-smear. Sometimes the writing feels a little “smack the manuscript around with a thesaurus until it looks good.”

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis Part Three, Scene One: Well On Our Way To A Minibot Kebab

GOING BACK TO THE PAST SAMURAI JACK

The year is 1986: Chernobyl’s exploded, the Challenger shuttle’s exploded, and Bumblebee’s going to go out in the same way if he doesn’t book it out of this botched spy mission. Soundwave’s sending Laserbeak after him, and Skywarp does his thing. Thundercracker stays behind in a cave- they were trying to lure someone a bit more important than Bee to their location, and he really isn’t feeling up for a chase. Frenzy comes back dragging a blue robot- what’s supposed to allegedly be an ultimate Autobot. Not exactly impressive, despite what the name suggests.

MEANWHILE, IN THE PRESENT: Kup is about to throw hands with a medical professional for doing his job. Kup needs to take a nap.

We get it, you’re old.

First Aid is taking all the redundant medical equipment off of Rodimus, seeing as he’s slipped so deep into a coma all they really need to do is make sure he’s being fed. Not sure that’s how comas work, but then I’m not a robot doctor, so what do I know?

Prowl walks in to check on Rodimus.

Prowl continues to be a paragon of empathy. He notes that Kup wasn’t at the meeting for High Council, and Kup effectively tells him to shove it up his ass.

He knows you have Rodimus’ Uggs, Prowl.

Prowl leaves very quickly, seeing that he’s in no way welcome, and goes to check in on Red Alert. He says ‘hi, get well soon because you have a job to do’, and then leaves the AMC1 entirely. Prowl is very bad at people. Maybe he should take a public speaking class or something.

Meanwhile, all the way back on Aquaria, Galvatron wakes up in a very compromising position- strapped to the wall by his wrists and ankles in a dark prison cell, and an inhibitor claw clapped onto his morphcore. Kinky. Turns out he didn’t time-travel after all, but has been kidnapped by the Quintessons.

Also, Longtooth’s here. He’s dead. Guess that mystery’s solved.

Thunderclash is here, too. He’s not dead, but might very well wish he was, because he’s pretty much been melted down into a pile of slag with eyes.

Galvatron decides that this is an ideal time to start screaming and hurling insults at his captors. Lord Xenon shows up almost immediately after this happens, utterly thrilled that Galvatron finally woke up. Now they can start the party.

Galvatron, because he doesn’t fear death and is completely bonkers, continues to mock his captor.

Xenon gets him to shut up though.

With that out of the way, he then reaches into Thunderclash’s brain and wakes him up, exposing him to a world composed completely of pain thanks to how melted he is. Xenon tells him to shut up too. Galvatron agrees, immediately trying to suck up to the guy who gave his face a papercut. Have a little self-respect, Galvatron, c’mon.

Xenon then leaves to check on the operating theatre. Clearly, only good things await out captive Transformers. It should be noted that at this time, Xenon is under the assumption that he’s captured both the Autobot and Decepticon faction leaders. We’re just going to let him keep thinking that. The Quintesson leader comes back and eeny-meeny-miney-mo’s which prisoner gets to go first with the surgery he’s prepared for them.

But enough of all that- what’s going on at Darkmount?

Treadshot and Bumblebee should start a support group for mechs who’ve been stabbed in the torso with ships.

He sees the Quintessential Flying Fucks shoot out of the belly of the Conquest, and chalks that sight up to bloodloss. The warship transforms, turning into a massive fortress right on top of the smoking remains of Darkmount.

Then the Tenderizers start pouring out of it. Tenderizers are like woodchippers, but for mechanical bodies, that collect the gooey leftovers in a tank strapped to the bottom of the machine. They’re similar to the Harvester units used by the Decepticons in the Marvel comics. I suppose that’s one way to get the corpses off of your lawn.

A couple of Quintessons climb out of their Tenderizer and spot Treadshot. They ask him a single question: where is the Autobot base of operations? Treadshot’s a good Decepticon, so he tells them exactly where they need to go. In thanks, the Quintessons kill him via immolation and meat grinder. Fun times.

Up on the warship, the location of the Autobots has also been triangulated. They’ll be ready to take them on as soon as they’re done rounding up the surviving ‘Cons, either to be ground up, or put into containment for something unsavory later on. 

There’s a bit of an issue though- the Quintessons are running out of Inhibitor Claws. Xenon’s supposed to be running the final tests on the successor to the Claws, and they’re meant to be ready very soon. They better be, seeing as they’re essential for the next phase of the takeover. That’s probably what’s being done to Galvatron and Thunderclash over on Aquaria. Wonder what horrors that’ll bring up.

Very gruesome start to this Part.

You know, I just remembered: Liars, A-to-D featured Star Saber, but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him in the novel proper. Where the hell has he been for the last ninety pages? Is he just not in this story, even as a background character? And if that’s the case, why was he in the prequel comic to begin with?

[thenamesblurrito]

yea! there are a few (just a few) placements for Mutacons under functionism that actually do take advantage of their abilities, mostly for things like mascot or mannequin work, manual recordkeeping, general low-effort maintenance or janitorial work, etc. but a small percentage of Mutacon jobs, especially in less strict places like Tarn or Helex, or offworld like Carcer or Devisiun, will be specifically suited for Mutacons to genuinely exercise their intelligence and abilities with expertise. these jobs are precious and rare, and usually reserved for the extremely tiny number of high caste Mutacons.

pockets, holding spaces, and similar things are usually possible, yup. Mutacons are almost universally more flexible than the average frame, but they’re also more prone to their kibble being poor exoskeletal support for their struts and motivators, which leads to easier dislocation. it isn’t a huge health issue unless things regularly dislocate and slip, at which point parts start to strip or wear down much too fast. Mutacon frames in general are sort of held in the same mildly sick fascination as watching hyperflexible or doublejointed people contort their bodies. i’d seen the actor who plays Ragdoll before, although i’ve only seen approximately one season of the Flash, and that’s a good approximation for some of the more dramatically flexible Mutacons.

nope! since trans-scanning is specifically a function of the morphcore which controls the t-cog, it’s inherently linked to transformation and can’t be independently triggered. also, it isn’t a fully conscious process in that a Mutacon can’t just inspect someone’s internals to see bits and pieces of note, rather it’s a deliberate choice to scan which creates an automatic patterning of t-cog and kibble. they’d have to open up their own frame or the other person’s to see if something’s off, otherwise the blueprint from the scan is mostly subconscious.

The search function says I didn’t ask this before, but while mutacons don’t have a technical altmode, they can still alter their shape a bit, right? What are the limits? Camouflage? Climbing aids? Shields and crude weapons/tools? Barely functional wings that don’t allow flight Or gliding, but can prevent deaths from falling?

either tumblr's search function is failing as usual, or i genuinely hadn't posted this bit on Mutacons yet!

Makeshift is a Mutacon, which means they are basically half a person in the eyes of functionism. Their t-cog is mutated and their protoform extra flexible, which may have made them a triple-changer if conditions were right, but instead they emerged from their hotspot as a newspark and never developed an alt mode. Their kibble has no coherency, so if they try to transform, it only ends in painful spasms and a nonfunctional, random alt mode that they can’t stay in for very long. However, they do have an inbuilt function that no other Cybertronians have: the ability to trans-scan. For a short amount of time, they can take on the alt mode of another minibot after scanning them. Thanks to the fluidity of their protoform, they can even shapeshift their features to a small degree, which makes it easy to conceal or even steal an identity for as long as the scan lasts. For Mutacons of larger size classes, they can compress themselves down, depending on their strength and durability, and an extremely talented one may be able to go from size 5 to an unnaturally dense and heavy minibot. Mass cannot increase, however, so Makeshift will never scan larger than a minibot. The lack of an alt mode doesn’t actually impact their health very much, but it makes them seem functionless, and thus worthless. To another Cybertronian, their kibble makes it very obvious that they’re a Mutacon, which earns a lot of instant dislike or distaste from the general populace. Despite the fact that Mutacons are incredibly rare and perhaps one in a thousand commit identity theft, they’ve been branded as untrustworthy freaks. Makeshift is honestly lucky to have a home, instead of being thrown out to live on the streets like many mecha who were forged with a disability.

here's a quick n dirty example to show what they can make out of their kibble-

their normal shape is the one that their frame reverts to naturally and can stay in without strain, their "default" body. usually, playing around with their shape has no particular purpose, and thus doesn't have any more of a theme or coherent form than usual, as on the right. they don't often mess around with their shape for fun, though, as this can get paranoid bigots accusing them of trying to steal identity or pass themselves off as another frametype. on the left is what they look like when actually trying to do just that and pretend for awhile that they aren't a Mutacon. it takes practice to shape kibble in a way that successfully imitates a vehicle in a way that looks natural and transformable instead of just bolted on. it might not be super obvious to us, but Cybertronians naturally have an eye for kibble and alt modes, so actually passing as another frametype isn't easy.

holding a shape other than their natural frame for very long takes effort and a degree of concentration, and doing it too long can hurt. they also can't change their colors or optics. Makeshift's personal range of shifting ability gets pretty well broadened by the bleedover of Sixshot's powers. Transmutate is also a Mutacon, in fact from the same group home as Makeshift is, and she messes with her kibble to stim sometimes

this is all manual shifting, without trans-scanning. what trans-scanning does is give the t-cog a template to work off of, which then patterns the entire frame's kibble accordingly, although colors and optics are again left unchanged, small details are often just a bit off, and the voice and mannerisms would have to be deliberately imitated. trans-scanning is a bit invasive though, sort of like if someone were to use "x-ray vision" to peer under clothing and inspect organs. it's part of an inbuilt neurological sensory suite which Mutacons are forged with, a mutation in the processor's morphcore that they have to deliberately trigger, scan a single target, and shift their frame to match (some Mutacons are forged without the ability to trans-scan, making them effectively doubly disabled). this is a more drastic change than scanless shifting, which means it's a greater strain and will take more energy to hold on to, not to mention the social backlash and stigma against it. most Mutacons rarely if ever trans-scan anyone because of this ingrained fear culture has built around them. some people claim Mutacons should be classified as modal frames, but since functionism is founded upon assigning value by function, and they have no alt mode to function with, it's much easier to shove them to the very corners of society instead of acknowledging that they're simply forged differently than most.

so! to answer your question finally, it depends on the individual Mutacon's flexibility and staying power, but most of the things you listed are at least plausible! you might could say they're the only ones with real inbuilt weaponry anymore, because if necessary they could turn their kibble into a facsimile of a sword. the greatest downside to a Mutacon using their abilities to the fullest would not be the physical ramifications or limitations, but rather the social stigma. in fact, if Mutacons were encouraged to practice and push their limits instead of shunned and watched, they might have a much greater range of shifting ability than they do now.