#you know which guys you are

[icyrambles]

right so a friend of mine gave me a massive idea for a transformers fan continuity, so i'm gonna share it!

the headcanon is plural/system optimus prime for a fan continuity i'm working on. please note that these are just my own headcanons spawned from a friend helping me out with this fan continuity. so be nice!

orion pax emerges from the well of allsparks and is assigned as a dockworker. he is the host, the one on record. the guy everyone knows about. below the murky depths of his conscious mind, a fragment lurks. it doesn't say anything, hell it doesn't even have a name or a face or an identity to call its own but it is there

after many many vorns of work, of rough, punishing work hauling cargo and shipments from the docks of the mithril sea to the majour cities of cybertron, orion is given an upgrade. he is taken in by alpha trion, the head archivist of cybertron, who had found young orion's works on the intranet and captivated by the passion of this young worker, decided to take him on as an apprentice.

orion becomes very well researched, particularly fascinated by the many datapads regarding cybertronian mental disorders, especially the ones regarding plurality and the existence of seemingly multiple mecha within one frame. he's not really sure why exactly that sort of information intrigues him so much, but he notes it for later and continues on in his work.

many stellar cycles later, orion meets megatron; a miner from tarn who rose up to become one of the greatest fighters in kaon's great gladiator rings. they bond over poetry and their vast thirst for knowledge and slowly, they fall in love. and then.... orion is summoned by the prime himself, sentinel.

megatron urges him to take the opportunity, to potentially request that the prime try to dismantle many of the oppressive systems that now shackle people like megatron and to some extent, orion (who remember worked as a labourer for a good chunk of his existence before being taken in by alpha trion)

so orion travels to meet the prime and that's when everything goes wrong. he arrives in iacon, the great shining beacon of cybertron and he is immediately ushered into a private room with sentinel. and the prime is not happy, ranting almost nonsensically about "a successor" and "it's not my time to step down, it's mine"

when orion tries to get a word in edgewise, tries to tell his prime about all the torment and suffering that mecha like megatron and so many more suffer under, how their planet is being bled of resources, sentinel dismisses him. he tells orion that the system is working exactly as intended and that mechs like megatron are but dirt beneath his and orion's pedes.

orion is confused and very angry because megatron is his lover. he knows that the system shouldn't work this way and he tells sentinel as such. sentinel opens his chest to reveal the matrix and snaps at orion that "the system is working just as intended, otherwise this would tell me otherwise. primus chose me and clearly he is more than satified with the way i've been running things"

orion leaves iacon, defeated and angry and filled with a sense of rage that feels so unlike him. megatron tells him its not his fault and the two of them agree that something has to be done.

so they visit the well of allsparks, probably the most religious location on all of cybetron. something calls orion to the well, something deep inside him. its similar to that rage he felt earlier, like its someone else in control.

my version of the matrix is unlike other continuities. it is a religious artifact that sentinel has in his possession for most of the time but he returns it to the well of allsparks for religious holidays and such. this version of the matrix selects the leaders of cybertron, tailored specifically for whatever the mecha of the planet need at that time. and they need a leader, one who will listen, one who will fight. and that mech is not orion.

the matrix calls to orion. he ignores the many guards surrounding it, almost entranced. megatron tries to stop him, tries to get him away because what good has the matrix done anyways, we don't need it. but orion ends up touching the matrix, letting its light consumes him. and the mecha who returns to the well of allsparks is not orion pax, but optimus prime my version of optimus prime is a dormant fragment that got lost in transit while orion's full consciousness was forming.

orion is the host, he's the one who was in control for most of the pre war era. optimus on the other hand, is a mech whose identity is formed by the matrix' overwhelming need for a being who will fight against the corruption that has burned through cybertron's very core. megatron, meanwhile is freaking out. his friend, his lover just vanished in a flash of light. he's being interrogated by guards when another flash of light engulfs the room and then a mech who looks similar to orion appears. he's bigger, taller, with more armour and a battle mask snapped firmly over his face plates but that colour palette and the way he speaks sounds just like orion.

"i am optimus prime." the new mech says and then he collapes.

my version of optimus and orion are a duality. i am a fan of creating themes of characters who are opposites to each other. orion is the thinker, he is the one who reads and absorbs information. he craves knowledge. optimus is a fighter. he's built to fight and is heavily armoured and is very much willing to take on the system of cybertron if it means a better future for everyone else i think that orion has a lot of identity issues when he finally comes to and is told what happens. on the one servo, that explains why exactly he was so curious about plurality and felt a kinship with many of the first hand accounts he'd read. but on the other servo. there's literally a whole other person, one hand picked by primus himself to fight now inhabiting his frame alongside him. and that's a lot to take in. my version of orion grapples with the reality that he is never alone anymore and isn't that wonderful but also it'll never be just him anymore and that's terrifying. he also has to cope with the very real possibility that optimus might injure their shared body very badly in a fight

optimus is rather confused about the whole situation. mostly because he's existed for only a few minutes as a full person, not as a random fragment floating around in the depths of orion's processor. but he knows why he's here and what his goal is. he needs to help cybertron and he's more than ready to do his duty. the handsome gladiator that his headmate managed to bag probably isn't such a bad thing either lmao

megatron probably handles it the best. he's almost entranced by optimus, someone who is bigger than orion both in body and mind, who can grapple with megatron without straining a strut with that matrix granted strength. he's down fucking bad for the both of them is what i'm saying. he helps orion through the identity crisis and is there to assure and council both his lovers through all their problems. he is a bit shaken up when it first happens because he's honestly not sure if he'll ever seen orion again.

optimus and orion exist in a state of co-fronting and only one of them around for a long period of time. when its the both of them, their identities merge and warp and become close to something like one individual for the most part. they still exist as themselves but something about having their minds so close together for long periods of time blurs the line between optimus prime and orion pax. however when it's just one of them on their own, they are very much themselves.

orion, as mentioned is a thinker. he's the strategist, the diplomat and he's the one in front for the periods of time when the army is on their own on earth. he loves the life on the new planet and he is the one responsible for charging rewind to create a detailed history of their people

optimus is the one fronting for most of the time they are fighting. in a way he almost craves it, the thrill of combat, the glory of battle. he likes to interact with the army to, he gets to know most of the soliders and doesn't shy away from getting his servos dirty. he interacts with the troops and gets to really know his soldiers on a deep personal level. he's a very down to earth kind of guy and tends to not get caught up in emotional stuff as badly as orion, though he's got a lot of repressed feelings regarding stuff like the matrix and primus but it's better for him to just not think about that kind of thing

anyways i really like thinking about plurality in transformers. i'm a singlet (so not a system) but i'm friends with quite a few systems myself (one of which got me into transformers) so making plural headcanons (and by that i mean my massive brain friends make the headcanons and i immediately incorporate them into my belief system.) i get rather nervous posting my headcanons so please be nice <3

reblogs > likes (if ya like my headcanons give em' a reblog)

[druid-for-hire]

[image id: a four-page comic. it is titled "immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as “do not stand at my grave and weep”). the first page shows paleontologists digging up fossils at a dig. it reads, “do not stand at my grave and weep. i am not there. i do not sleep.” page two features several prehistoric creatures living in the wild. not featured but notable, each have modern descendants: horses, cetaceans, horsetail plants, and crocodilians. it reads, “i am a thousand winds that blow. i am the diamond glints on snow. i am the sunlight on ripened grain. i am the gentle autumn rain.” the third page shows archaeopteryx in the treetops and the skies, then a modern museum-goer reading the placard on a fossil display. it reads, “when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush, of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry.” the fourth page shows a chicken in a field. it reads, “i am not there. i did not die” / end id]

a comic i made in about 15 hours for my school’s comic anthology. the theme was “evolution”

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[katsinspats]

Thematically appropriate comic for Make a Terrible Comic Day!!

I saw the original post this morning and it made me get out of bed to make something, so thank u Pseudonym Jones mission accomplished

[callisteios]

Hi, feel free to take my new uquiz to discover what kind of vampire you are!

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Michael refuses to be gaslit on “THE BITE OF 83”

[belobogindustries]

PHAETHON

[totally-here]

3 times Phantom's Guardian was Mentioned + 1 Time He Showed Up

One

Phantom’s introduction to Young Justice wasn’t as dramatic as Empress’ or Slobo’s, or even Arrowette’s first introduction to the cave. No, it wasn’t during the Olympics, or on a battlefield, and he didn’t come in injured and looking for help. 

Impulse just brought Phantom in one day and insisted that he should join because he’s their age, interested in justice, and now that Greta’s human again they need another ghost member. So Phantom stayed, popping in and out for missions but never really sticking around all that long. 

Today is one of the days that Phantom’s with them on a mission, that being looking around a lab of the Brain’s that had an energy surge recently, despite it being presumably abandoned. 

Kon got paired up with Phantom to check the rest out first, since they both have better hearing than Anita and Tim, who were both still in the main room working on checking the computers for previous activity. 

The room is dark except for the light green ball glowing slightly above Phantom’s hand. He waves it around enough for it to reflect off of glass, then throws it up to the ceiling. The light expands enough to illuminate the room. 

Phantom mumbles about not knowing he could do that. Kon ignores him and moves closer to inspect the glass tubes to the side of several monitors set up. 

“Looks like cloning equipment,” Phantom says, casually. He drags a finger through the dust gathering on one of the monitors. “Don’t think they’ve been activated recently, though, so that’s good.”

“What? You got a problem with clones or something?” It’s a quick and defensive answer, and Phantom puts his hands up in surrender. 

“Not in concept.” He shrugs and joins Kon near the tubes. “But not a lot of people ask before making clones.”

“So I don’t need to sic Superman on you?” Obviously Kon could chew Phantom out himself, but few can do a “not mad, just disappointed” face better than Clark. 

Phantom scrunches his face. “Why would you need to?” 

Kon stops pretending to inspect the tube and stares at Phantom. “You do know I’m a clone, right?” The blank look on Phantom’s face tells him that no, he did not. “Well I am. Clone of Superman, though we’re pretty much brothers now.”

“Cool,” Phantom says, not a bit less friendly. He hesitates for a second before continuing, “Could I maybe ask you how you got there? Me and my clone have landed on cousins, but that was also, like, given to us by her evil dad. So.”

Phantom trails off. Huh, that makes three members of the team that have been cloned. Not a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened three times. 

“You’re making sure she feels accepted, right?” 

“Yeah! Well, whenever she’s around. She,” Phantom waves his hand around, looking for the right word, “She’s a wanderer. Exploring the world and stuff. But Richard has a room for her at home, and I remind her of that whenever she does stop by.” 

“Well, first of all, don’t push it so hard,” Kon says. Phantom nods enthusiastically. “And second, who’s Richard?”

Kon doesn’t know a lot of Richards, and he doesn’t think that Phantom ever mentioned one before. Or even if he remembers his living life. 

“Oh, he’s my, uh, guardian? I guess that’s the best term. The guy I’m living with who forces me to go to school sometimes.” Phantom looks away and back to the tubes. 

Before Kon can ask for more details, Robin and Empress come in with a report of dead computers and wanting to know where they’re at with the cloning room.

They’re unimpressed with their lack of progress.

Two

Wally doesn’t really need to come by the Hamilton Lodge that often, not when that’s Young Justice’s territory and he doesn’t want to get involved in all of That.

But Red Tornado said that the team has a file on a planet that’s very quickly becoming a league problem, and he figured it might be a good time to try to check in with Bart, anyway. Make sure he hasn’t run any cars off cliffs again and all that. 

So he stops by Manchester to ask Bart about the file, then they both head East to actually find it. 

When they arrive at the hotel minutes later, Wally’s surprised to actually find it… clean? There’s no visible trash or overturned furniture or anything else he’d expect from an abandoned hotel filled with teenagers. Well, maybe not filled, lately. He doesn’t think anyone’s living here currently, with Greta at Elias’ for the school year and Slobo gone. 

Still, the room smells slightly of artificial pine scent, and Bart perks up before disappearing and reappearing rapidly, holding a teammate up by his armpits. Said teammate just accepts this, his legs folding into a wispy tail, and head rolling against his shoulders. 

“This is Phantom!” Bart holds him up higher. Phantom waves. Wally’s only heard of him through Max’s updates, the same way he would hear about Preston or Carol, but with more wariness about the supposed ghost. 

Actually looking at the pale face and glowing green eyes contrasting against the darker than dark jumpsuit, Wally’s a little more ready to accept his claim at being undead. 

“He stress cleans,” Bart explains, moving to carry Phantom under his arm. Wally bites down the urge to tell him to put him down, but only because Phantom doesn’t resist the hold, only moving to get into a more comfortable position. His hands are touching the floor. “So what happened?” 

Bart directs the question downwards, and Phantom heaves a very dramatic sigh. Definitely a teenager. It does raise the question of who exactly this kid’s mentor is. Hopefully he does have one. Maybe he’s the Spectre’s kid?

Phantom phases through the arm holding him only to lay on top of Bart’s hair. “I accidentally called Richard dad. And then fled.” 

Bart nods sagely. “Classic. One time I accidentally called Max dad, so I had to start a fire to distract him.”

Phantom sighs again, almost dreamily. “Genius.” 

Wally doesn’t have time to unpack all of that. Well he does, but he’s not going to, because there’s really only one Richard that comes to mind that might have the heart to take in a dead kid, even if he doesn’t go by his full name.

But surely Dick would have told him, or any other Titan, if he had adopted a kid. Right?

But there’s still a little shadow of doubt. Maybe Dick wanted it to be a secret, or it was really new or had a rocky start. Phantom doesn’t seem to hold himself like a Bat, but it’s not a guarantee Dick would have trained him. 

“The lodge looks nice,” Wally offers out loud, which Phantom shrugs at and wraps his tail around Bart’s head to keep secure. “Anyway, Impulse. The file on Myrg?” 

“Oh yeah!” Again, Bart disappears then reappears a few seconds later with a paper file. They really need to start digitizing more of these things. “That’s the planet where we played baseball so that they wouldn’t destroy Earth!” 

“You what.” 

The prospect of Dick following in his dad’s footsteps is forgotten in the face of what the hell Young Justice got up to on Myrg. 

Three

Tim may be in a…Predicament. 

It’s not his fault. Really. He knew what he was doing. He couldn’t let a civilian fall for the trap. But they were already so close, so he just, kinda, pushed himself into the rope instead. 

So there Robin is, tied upside down in a warehouse, with the Joker below next to an overly complicated control panel. The clown’s rambling about bombs hidden all over the city that Tim knows Batman is already tracking down with Batgirl. 

Tim’s not really paying attention to the rant because of that, more focused on wiggling enough to get the spare mini-birdarang out of his glove to cut the rope without notifying the Joker. 

“Yikes, bad time?” Asks Phantom’s voice beside him. Based on the source and accounting for the slight echo, he’s floating with his head near Tim’s, likely upside down. “Want some help?” 

Tim gets the birdarang out and starts sawing at the thick rope. They should be fine anyway, but stalling the Joker for extra time would be helpful. “Can you possess the Joker? Just hold him still.”

“The correct term is overshadow, but sure.” The voice disappears, and a few seconds later the Joker freezes. 

His body jerks forward, then backward, and a laugh chokes out of his throat. His hand claws over his mouth at the noise and he hunches over. All movement halts before he rights himself, shaking out his hands and rolling his shoulders. Phantom looks up at Tim and his eyes are glowing. 

Tim cuts through the rope, kicking and using the momentum to right himself and land on his feet. He brushes past Phantom in Joker’s body to handle the control panel. He turns off the radio broadcast and dismantles the bomb strapped to the panel.

Threat handled, he turns to Phantom and holds up some handcuffs. “Let me arrest you?”

Phantom obliges, turning the Joker’s body around and putting his hands behind his back. Tim lets him walk by himself out of the warehouse and moves the handcuffs around a lamppost. The Joker’s body jerks again, then slumps forward, just as Phantom reappears next to him, scowling down at the unconscious body. 

“That felt really slimy. Zero out of ten, would not do again,” Phantom grouches. 

“Why’re you in Gotham?” Tim asks. It’s not like Phantom makes a habit of visiting. The last time he came into the city, he complained about feeling the dead under the streets. Fortunately, that let Tim uncover a few tunnels that Talons travel through. Phantom, however, was unnerved by the Talons and left quickly. 

“Oh, Solomon Grundy’s back in our sewers. Richard said I should probably tell one of you Gotham heroes, since you keep track of those guys.” He shakes out his hands like they were cramped in the Joker. 

They hadn’t seen Grundy in a while. Tim assumed he was currently in a less violent personality. “What’s he doing?” 

Phantom shrugs. “Just chilling. Mostly underground. I tried to talk to him but he only grunted back at me. He also tried to pick me up, dunno what that was about.”

“Maybe because you’re both dead?” Tim guessed. That would be a surface level connection. Ivy and Woodrue have had more luck working with Grundy than anyone, and Phantom definitely doesn’t have the connection to the Green that’d help with that. 

Police lights turn around the corner, and Tim shoots a grapple to get to the roof above them. Phantom follows, but disappears as soon as they’re on the roof. Going back home, probably. 

Cass drops down from the roof she was listening on. “Richard?”

“Not the same one.”

They both stick around long enough to watch the Joker get put into the cop car. 

Plus one

A spaceship landed in the forests of New York, and Cassie’s team was the first to respond to it. Technically not respond, but check it out, since there wasn’t any alert or anything. 

Still, Wonder Girl has Empress, Robin, and Superboy on the other side of the ship, watching what looks like the back door, while she, Impulse, and Phantom watch the other door and main window. She has binoculars, but the windows are so tinted she can’t quite make anything out. 

No aliens have come out yet, and she hesitates to have anyone go in, in case whoever inside does turn hostile. 

Impulse has offered to run through a total of five times already, and it’s a testament to his restraint that he hasn’t, and a testament to Cassie’s that she hasn’t yelled at him yet. Phantom at least isn’t being annoying, but he’s not necessarily helpful, either. He’s not even watching the spaceship anymore. Now he’s trying to make a flower crown out of dandelions. 

“Door’s opening on our side,” Robin says from the comms. “But no one’s coming out.” 

“Alright, good enough to try to get in,” Cassie decides. She turns to Phantom, who’s closing off the circle of flowers. Beside him, Impulse has since pulled out a gameboy. “Phantom, go in invisibly through the open door and report back. Try to see what their plans are.” 

“Oh, sure. One second.” Phantom finishes the crown and tries to put it on Bart’s head. It doesn’t quite fit over his mane of hair, but Phantom shrugs and leaves it sitting there anyway before going invisible. 

“Maybe I should shave my head again,” Bart says as his game character dies. 

He gets a resounding no in response. 

Half an hour later they have a very annoyed Green Lantern lecturing them about league jurisdiction and knowing when to call someone else. 

Apparently, the alien ship was just stopping to complete some maintenance, and did not appreciate any spying on them, and especially did not appreciate who did it. Green Lantern was more than happy to explain that Wonder Girl’s team is not really a part of the Justice League and he can help with their maintenance. They denied his help and left to find a place with less people in it. 

“-and you!” Green Lantern rounds on Phantom next, but Cassie knows none of them are really listening. Sure, they messed up by freaking out the visiting aliens, and yeah maybe they should have contacted the league about it, but they’ve dealt with stuff worse than this! It’s not Cassie’s fault she thought that this would have stuck to the formula. 

“Who even are you?” Green Lantern runs a hand through his black hair, stupid green gauntlets shining in the sunlight. “Do I need to call your mentor?” He frowns. “Or do they know you mess up alien technology by just being around it?” 

Phantom scoffs and rolls his eyes. “How was I supposed to know their tech would go all fuzzy when I came in?” 

“You wouldn’t have to know if you just stayed out of the spaceship!” 

“Hey!” Cassie cuts in. “Technically that was my call. It’s not all on Phantom.”

“I still could've been more careful,” Phantom says to her, ignoring Green Lantern as they argue about blame. 

“Cut it out for a second, okay?” Green Lantern puts a hand between them and they stop to glare at him. He pulls the hand back. “Look, can I just talk to one of your adults about this?” 

Robin glares. “We don’t need an adult. We have this under control.”

“Only because I’m here now.” 

“I’ll call my mentor,” Phantom says. Kon opens his mouth, most likely to offer to call Superman instead in hopes of a lighter sentence, but Bart covers his mouth, smiling like he knows something Cassie doesn’t. Tim and Anita share a look, and don’t intervene as Phantom pulls out a phone from his chest. 

It rings once before it’s picked up. Cassie can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Kon’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “Hey, do you think you can pick me up? Green Lantern wants to talk to you.” Phantom looks Green Lantern up and down then says, “No, this one doesn’t have a cape.”

Phantom says goodbye after rattling off their coordinates, hangs up, and stares at Green Lantern in silence for a few seconds. 

And then a swirling mass of black seeps into the space next to Phantom. The end of a cane steps out of it, followed by a leg, then the rest of the immaculately dressed man holding the handle of the cane that’s shaped like a bird’s head. 

“Phantom,” The man says. His voice drips with condescension in only a way a british accent can, yet Phantom smiles up at him. The shadowy portal behind him disappears. “What, exactly, happened?”

“That’s the fucking Shade,” Anita hisses to Robin, who shrugs noncommittedly at her. Green Lantern seems to recognise him too, taking a step back and clenching his hand that holds his ring. 

“Well, the team and I were staking out this spaceship–super cool, by the way–and I went inside to check it out, but my presence messed with their tech–which was an accident–and they freaked out, so I freaked out, and then we kinda got into a little fight until Green Lantern came to mediate.”

“Hm. Is that right?” The Shade asks Green Lantern, who nods slowly, still anticipating an attack. “It seems like the problem’s fixed, then.”

“Well, yes, but–”

“And it does seem about time for these kids to get home, doesn't it?” The Shade pulls out an actual pocket watch, chain and all, from his suit pocket and takes his time in checking it. “I’ll see them home.” 

Shadows grow from behind the team, swirling until they become a giant, gaping maw that swallows them up and spits them out in a different forest, or maybe just a different part of the same forest. 

Either way, Cassie has to take a moment to make sure she doesn’t throw up from the sudden vertigo the shadow portal caused. 

The Shade looks at Phantom, and raises an eyebrow. “You can’t expect me to always bail you out.” 

Phantom shrugs, looking guilty. “I know. Thanks, Richard.”

Oh, so that’s who Richard is. Annoyingly, neither Tim or Bart look surprised by this revelation.

[deathricedrawn]

i'm ready to try

[thatrandomblogsays]

RIP Annabeth, I just know Percy sacrificing himself for you, after knowing you for a week, after telling you that you’ve done more for him this week than his father ever has, is permanently altering the brain chemistry of your avoidant attachment self

[ofswordsandpens]

I fear that "fire bending didn't come easy to zuko" and "zuko isn't a prodigy" (both true) has somehow snowballed into "zuko is a bad or at best average fire bender".... which simply isn't true, especially by the end of book 3

[cozylittleartblog]

New Family Speedrun 00:09.12 (World Record Not Clickbait???)

[demaparbat-hp]

Izumi (steambaby) sketches.

[khaopybara]

It's the beginning of a Christmas Hallmark movie, nothing sad happens to them later.

LINGLING SIRILAK as FAHLADA THANANUSAK and ORM KORNNAPHAT as EARN SANITHADA episode 1 of THE SECRET OF US

[thund3randrain]

"I respect you and won't stop you from being who you are" and "I'm not ready to call you by a new name and pronouns because it hurts me" can not co-exist when the speaker is your parent who has a huge amount of control over your life.

[divorcedwife]

love this guy, sure hope his life doesn't take a turn for a worse after this