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[tf-isolation]

woah you cant drop megatron marrying slipstream and not go into more detail about it. plz more detail?

Nah but seriously, I’ve always had kind of a soft spot for...MegaStream? Slipatron? Anyway-

I’ve always had kind of a soft spot for the ship for whatever reason and it’s been tied to Isolation since it’s earliest iterations. Specifically, the idea of her and Megatron being the “Queen and King” of the Decepticons respective. That’s partly why Megatron is rocking a medieval knight inspired appearance in universe and BTS, the former being as a way to remind him of how far he’s fallen since and to constantly remind himself of his conjunx, among other “self punishing” motivations. 

But anyway, the idea is that while they had some brief interactions during Megatron’s time as Terminus’ protege/under the assumed names of “Tarn” and “Kaon” respectively, things really kicked off after Terminus’ death when Megatron had to turn to the Seekers for sanctuary. Slipstream was instrumental in guiding Megatron early on to carry out “good will” missions, such as the storming of the Functionist Base, which lead to Megatron freeing Soundwave and Shockwave (among others) and serving as Decepticon Air Commander on such pivotal early battles such as the “Siege of Iacon”. She’s primarily responsible for keeping the heat off of Megatron during that bout so he could have his one-on-one with Sentinel. 

She was a highly respected force among Autobots and Decepticons alike for her more compassionate nature and for the perception that she was more “reasonable” than Megatron...though that compassionate nature is also what prompted her and some poor volunteers from both factions to stay behind during the Unicronian Cataclysm to buy time for escaping shuttles. 

Pretty much everyone on the various colony outposts assume that she died so that they could escape, a sentiment that helps Megatron down the line when he and his crew set off the try and reclaim Cybertron...but of course, not everyone is willing to be so “forgiving” of Megatron just for her sake and prefer to honor her specifically...namely the likes of Starscream, who unfortunately has the most prosperous and vast of all Cybertronian outposts. 

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Roster: Starscream?

Roster: where is x character in this AU? Who are they, what are they doing?

OH GOD, I COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD THIS IN HERE, I’M SO SORRY TO WHOEVER SENT THIS IN

I need to touch him up later since I did this design awhile ago but here’s how I more or less imagine Isolation Starscream looking. 

He, in this AU, is one of four siblings (Thundercracker, Skywarp and Slipstream) that helped form the backbone of what became the Decepticon empire. Following Megatron’s violent murder of Senate High Officer Impactor (for HIS accidental murder of Terminus), Megatron turned to the quartet of seekers in the making for safe refuge. 

From there, they would assist him in gaining the support he needed to overtake and destroy the “Three False Primes” one by one, culminating in the Siege of Iacon and the death of Sentinel Prime on the capitol steps. Things were going pretty good for Starscream, despite the whole “Megatron married my sister and now I have to question whether or not I actually earned my place as Air Commander, how DARE he” thing. Oh and the demon invasion that killed a good portion of the planet’s populace and forced the rest to flee to other worlds. 

Starscream managed to recover from that one pretty handily though! Obviously the circumstances are less than idea but despite what Megatron thinks, there ARE several colony outposts scattered across the galaxy and Starscream became the elected leader of one of the most “well off”. Which is great for our heroes by the time they head out into space the reclaim Cybertron and drum up support again...uuuuuntil Starscream’s usual penchant for adoration/resentment of Megatron rears it’s ugly head during negotiations. Yeah, things are bound to get complicated once Megatrons’ crew eventually leaves Earth.

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Local teenager with four parents has to deal with growing pains AND demonic infestation.

Transformer Fan-Series Game: Reblog with the shittiest description of what's going on in your fan-series

Local college kids fight in a war and try to govern a planet

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Heyo, I’m still alive and I guess this project is as well

Yeah, anyone who knows me knows how horrible my “perfectionism” is and a lot of the reason why I haven’t done a lot of content lately (other than the usual real life factors/burnouts until recently) is because I find myself often becoming more and more dissatisfied with the Isolation designs from my previous pass with them.

Buuuuut with a bit of motivation from my GF, I present to you and updated look at Wolfatron! (and a bonus rough glance at his palette when he uses the power of the Dead Matrix)

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cog for blackarachnia?

Cog: show a design or personality detail about x character that you really like!

ok I can finally answer this one for you, Anon

The key thing with Blackarachnia, at least early on, that I was keen to explore was the idea of growth cycles for Cybertronians, especially one like her that happens to be an Arachnicon. For context, Arachnicons are a rare and revered sub-species of Cybertronian with, among other defining features like four optics, claws and web generation, are natural triple changers. 

See, the little “legs” on Blackarachnia and the blades growing out of her arms are “placeholders” for what would become spare spider legs, not matter what alt mode she chooses to scan in the future. If an Arachnicon scans something, their body will automatically figure out how to make a spider mode out of it. Hence why Arcee has car kibble and still has spider-parts sticking out of her.

So that’s something I was interested in with Blackarachnia, showing off the final growth stage of a Cybertronian before they reach adulthood AND how that applies to a more unique specimen like an Arachnicon, where there’s yet another metamorphosis past that growth stage for her to look forward to. And I do mean metamorphosis. THAT stage can get a little gross 

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Sorry for the long absence, everyone! 

I still intend to get to some of the meme prompts I’ve been sent and take new ones but as a few of them were design related, that gave me pause and I had to ask myself “how satisfied am I really with the direction of these current designs?”. So I present, a revised and (hopefully) finalized shot of all five main characters in Isolation! 

From left to right we have Blackarachnia, the young ward and (supposed) last new Cybertronian in the universe. Shockwave, her father and the team’s defacto engineer working past the effects of shadowplay to be a better caretaker. Of course we have  Megatron, repentant former King of the Decepticons with a dark bond. Arcee, former Arachnicon priestess/Autobot who was wounded and betrayed ages ago by her own sister, Airachnid. And lastly Soundwave, Megatron’s mysterious right hand man and resident telepath. 

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ask meme- Tip, humans? *eyes emoji*

Tip: will x thing in canon appear or occur? How similar to canon will it be? 

Honestly...humans will have a relatively minor role in Isolation, especially since the Iso crew is set to leave Earth with Optimus’ crew and the Vehicon generals at the end of what would’ve been “season two” of the comic version (thank you, based Agatha, for this format change). 

Buuuuut there is a key element that the humans have been providing to our Cybertronian leads and a key human figure among them all responsible for ensuring their anonymous status on Earth. One Marissa Faireborn of the EDC.

See, while hiding out in Alaska’s wilderness was a fine enough idea to keep a low profile on Earth, the ever increasing attacks from Unicronians made it harder and harder for Megatron and his team to hide the evidence of their battles. Granted, Unicronian drones and Thralls tend to burn to ash upon death anyway, but they don’t exactly clean up all the busted up environment they leave in their wake.

That would be where the EDC and a surprise ally come in to help. See, while the EDC tends to cover for Megatron’s crew from the shadows by keeping people from the sites of their battles and covering up for them, down to covering up satellite imagery of Unicronian pods or any fight scenes they might be able to catch, they are also responsible for tracking down any pods that happen to land on different sides of the planet. It’s a rare occurrence, sure, but one that is urgent enough for them to have a Cybertronian agent around to assist an Anti Unicronian Task Force in destroying such drones. Said Cybertronian Agent being none other than former Seeker and brother in law to Megatron, Thundercracker. 

Thundercracker ended up on Earth relatively recently, crash-landing in a far less “discreet” location than Megatron and his team a little over 20 years ago, having been in active pursuit of a Unicronian scout ship. Long story short, Thundercracker worked with a small squad of human soldiers to help destroy the scouting party once it landed on Earth and helped establish the EDC with the leader of the squad that helped rescue him, Marissa. 

So while humans overall aren’t that important to Isolation and don’t feature that prominently, Marissa and the EDC have been instrumental in covering up for Megatron and co from behind the scenes and protecting the earth from scouting parties that occasionally land far away from Alaska. 

It certainly helps that Marissa and Thundercracker have gotten along really well over the last 20+ years of working together! Reaaaally well. : )

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archive - Unicron and his legions of demons

Archive: what’s the history or worldbuilding behind x thing or event?

Oooooh boy, gonna have to do a little bit of condensing on this one. 

Ok so, in the Isolation Universe, it isn’t just Primus and Unicron as a factor but their sister, Gaea, as well. All three were instrumental in the foundation of life across the galaxy, each taking special interest in Cybertron, “Planet X” and Earth respectively to shape life on those planets. 

Unicron’s forces had more “humble” origins on Planet X, essentially being crude imitations of Primus’ Cybertronians. Which makes sense, considering Unicron is a god recognized for his connection to chaos, destruction, all sorts of wicked business (though he’s also noted for his connection to the arts, interestingly enough.). Which was...a bit disheartening for the “newer” god among his siblings, though it helped that all three of them pitched in to assist with each other’s worlds and Planet X was no different, with Primus granting Unicron’s creations sparks and a certain “compatibility” with his fledgling Cybertronians, in exchange for assistance with Primus “first 13″ (namely the likes of Liege Maximo and Megatronus Prime). 

Though none of their creations prior to the “War of the Gods” in ancient times is as notable as a legend that is distinct to the Isolation universe. You see, all three gods came together once upon a time, realizing their great potential to create life and serve as positive active representations of more “ethereal” concepts that they are worshiped for but they knew they had equal, if not greater potential, for destruction and could easily abuse their powers against not only their own creations, but those of the other gods. So, the three vowed to funnel considerable portions of their power into sacred relics that would serve to empower those worthy of such gifts and give birth to an almighty being with the power to terminate any one of the gods and revert them to the metaphysical realms of the crafts and aspects of life they represent. 

Buuuuut that’s another story that I only mention now because op, turns out that’s exactly what ended up happening. Unicron eventually revolted against his two siblings and sought to spread his chaotic ideals across their entire shared universe, waging war against them with his corrupted agents of Planet X, even attempting to turn the ancient life of Earth and Cybertron to his will (succeeding with the corruption of Megatronus and the willing betrayal of Liege Maximo, the first two bots to (willingly) become Thralls of Unicron.) 

Unicron was eventually warded off and reduced to a dormant state, buried within his pride and joy “Planet X”, though the ritual that made this possible had the same effect on Primus and Gaea, trapping their spirits within the cores of Cybertron and Earth respectively, serving as more passive agents to their creations. 

Of course, Unicron still had a means of influencing life on those other two planets and agents who could sew chaos in his stead, setting the stage for Cybertron to eventually break out in a brutal civil war that would feed Unicron’s power and allow him to spread his influence to a point where, even as Optimus Prime and Megatron had settled down and prepared to discuss a mutually beneficial end to their conflict, Unicron and his forces were strong enough to overtake Cybertron and several other colony worlds by force, growing stronger still as more and more Cybertronians willingly pledged themselves to Unicron in exchange for power and their continued existence on the “winning team”. Their dominion over the universe has continued to spread, in the hopes of eventually restoring Unicron to a more active form, these efforts being led by the infamous “Knights of Unicron”, headed by Unicron’s greatest agent and mastermind of such events as the “Rise of the Three Primes”, Sideways. 

As it stands now, our solar system and few select colonies across the stars are currently safe from Unicron’s influence, though Megatron and his team on Earth are left to believe that they are the only remaining Cybertronians who haven’t been corrupted by Unicron...and even then, Megatron cannot claim to be entirely pure himself...

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It’s only a week late but I ended up doing a crossover idea as a gift to the lovely @moontruffles featuring my boi Gil from her @transformersreversal AU! 

I can’t tell you exactly what compelled me to give him Wolfatron’s sword and cape but hey, I guess it worked ‘cause I went from having art block for a week to IMMEDIATELY having a solid sketch for him last night when I got it. I guess the secret to making me draw something is “give it a sword and a cape”.

Well, the cape certainly looks good on Gil! Not too sure about that sword, though...it’s weird, people keep saying it gives off a bad vibe and informs their use of it...almost like it has a mind of it’s own.

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archive- how did they get to alaska?? or 'alaska'?

Archive: what’s the history or worldbuilding behind x thing or event?

They arrived on a smaller, personal escape shuttle that they used to flee from Cybertron almost a century ago, actually! 

Them arriving on Earth wasn’t quite as exciting as their initial departure, considering that involved a lot of active demon attacks, last minute escapes and four older bots having to take care of an infant Cybertronian but the background behind their decision to venture for Earth, Alaska’s wilderness in particular, hopefully is. 

See, Megatron and his crew had been going from colonized world to colonized world over the past few centuries, not being able to settle for very long before they had to vacate for greener pastures, as it were. It seemed like, for awhile, the infestation of Unicron’s forces followed them wherever they went, not allowing them to settle on any one planet for very long, certainly not allowing them to trust many other Cybertronians, as anyone other than those who already inhabit the small vessel were usually killed by Unicron, turned on them for faction/ideological differences or were turned into Thralls by the Chaos Bringer.

They only settled on Earth about 50 years prior to our present, when Blackarachnia was still considered a “pre-teen” ‘by Cybertronian standards. The reasoning for this choice was because, strangely, Unicron’s influence hasn’t quite reached our solar system. Even in the 50 years since the team has settled, Unicronian presence has been relatively scarce on Earth. Almost like there’s someone or something looking out for them. 

It also helps that Alaska had several ideal animal candidates for alternate modes that wouldn’t be out of place, in the off chance that they were discovered by humans venturing into the wilderness. Well, that and nearby formations of raw  energon certainly don’t hurt.

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baffle and backdrop!

Baffle: most unconventional pairing in this AU? 

I think I just mentioned it in Shockwave’s design post but I think Airachnid and Shockwave is the most unorthodox one that comes to mind...and it’s a major factor in the plot. 

Admittedly, it comes from a reaaaally old ship I had back when I was active in the TFP RP community on this site but the basic idea has kinda stuck with me, since I always figured Shockwave and Airachnid would both be a good match for each other, being morally questionable bots with a shared interest in “experimentation” and what not. Especially with a Shockwave who regains his sense of morality and strays from what she found “interesting” in the first place. 

Yeah, long story short, Airachnid is kind of a bad partner and an equally awful mom, having cut and run as soon as Shockwave started to ACTUALLY catch feelings. 

Backdrop: what’s your favorite place or setting in this AU?

Oooof, I don’t have any specific images for this one but I’ve always been super keen on the “winter wilderness” setting for this AU and I’m really happy with the final setting of “Alaska” for the key four characters. 

Admittedly, the decision was somewhat influenced by a trip that my girlfriend @moontruffles had made a little while back but I thought the wilderness there would be the perfect blend of a...well, isolated setting without being too obscure.

Plus the geography meant that the alt modes picked by most of the key five wouldn’t stand out as much, depending on the circumstances. Plus ya know, snowy/raining scenery is just my jam.

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Original Continuity Ask Meme!

I made this for Transformers but also I think it works for basically any AU. Even some original projects lol. Before you reblog this, try asking one of these questions to the person you reblog it from, so everybody gets some love!

CHARACTERS

Roster: where is x character in this AU? Who are they, what are they doing?

Figure: who is the/a protagonist? What’s a detail about them you haven’t given us yet?

Fallen: who is the/an antagonist? What’s a detail about them you haven’t given us yet?

Cog: show a design or personality detail about x character that you really like!

Scan: what canon design or personality details did you use for x character?

Prime: favorite character, by personality, design, or something else?

Scrap: least favorite character, by personality, design, or something else?

Bond: favorite pairing in this AU?

Baffle: most unconventional pairing in this AU?

PLOT

Archive: what’s the history or worldbuilding behind x thing or event?

Foresight: point out a piece of foreshadowing you want us to notice (but going full spoiler is up to you)

Snapshot: make a little doodle or drabble one of your favorite scenes!

Backdrop: what’s your favorite place or setting in this AU?

Tip: will x thing in canon appear or occur? How similar to canon will it be? (your answer can be as spoilery as you’d like)

Record: give us an in-character blurb about x thing or event in this AU, from history, from the plot, etc!

DESIGN

Blueprint: what’s a detail in your designs that you like a lot? (you can pick, or I can specify a character/thing)

Spark: what’s the core theme or idea behind this AU? What do you want us to take away from your work?

Jam: what’s the hardest part of this AU, plotting, worldbuilding, drawing, or something else?

Well: where did the inspiration for this character/event/worldbuilding come from?

Party: how did you decide on your main cast?

Spare: how would you fit x thing or character into this AU?

Collide: what inspiration did you take from outside of canon? Other fandoms, personal projects, etc?

Tune: give us a song you associate with this AU, a character, or a plot point!

CURSED

Pick a character and ask them job interview questions. "Where do you see yourself in this AU in five years? What strengths do you bring to the table? Describe a time you have mediated an argument.“

Kiss, marry, kill?

Worst possible ship suggestions for this AU.

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Admittedly, I kinda got lazy with the shading on this one but I’ve finally got another member of the “core four” Isolation crew, namely Shockwave! 

One of Megatron’s most loyal allies and one of the Decepticon’s earliest driving forces, being a former victim of the Functionist council (like fellow hermit Soundwave) who encouraged the people of Cybertron to help dismantle the system of the “Three Primes” government. In more recent years, Shockwave has almost completely undone the effects that Shadowplay had over his personality, allowing him to be more expressive and “emotional” than most other depiction. The reason for this change? 

So he could be the best father possible to Blackarachnia, his daughter with the Decepticon deserter (and former scientist) Airachnid. After all, the current theory is that she could very well be the last “new” Cybertronian left uncorrupted by Unicron. Best to raise her as best they can, to have her serve as the best possible example of their supposedly fleeting race.

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Motivated by @agathaarts and her take on the old man, I finally took another stab at the design and came upon a design I was happy with...for the first time in the almost three years since I came up with the AU. Whoops. 

Megatron...has had it rough over the past several centuries. He went from being a proud ruler, the literal king of his Decepticons, to a disgraced old knight hiding out on Earth. The years have not been especially kind to him but they have brought about some positive changes to the former tyrant, such as a renewed sense of humility and a reminder of his former purpose...to protect those who cannot defend themselves from a corrupt higher power. (though he hasn’t decided whether dealing with Autobot politicians was better or worse than fighting demons)

While old age may be slowing Megatron down, he does still have one ace up his sleeve...one that seems to respond surprisingly well to the strange sword and shield set. Even the most mindless drone of the Chaos Bringer seems to take pause whenever they see it. Curious...