TFs: DARE TO BE STUPID

It's really remarkable how many giant robots I've started to feel this way about

 

This!!!!!!!!! FIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so frustrated, because I really, really am too tired to draw a thing tonight, and I have another picture that I really ought to finish first. But I don't wannaaaaaa, I want to draw Jazz! And! Soundwave!!!

Also Thundercracker and Fireflight. And Starscream and Skyfire. Also Megatron and everyone. So many good, delicious, problematic ships, oh my goddd

A compromise! I can probably muster the energy to ramble on about this story here in the thread. I need to get a beverage and gather my energy first, but Ima do it. It's gonna happen. Does anyone want to point me in a particular direction? I can probably manage without that, but apparently being able to focus on reading means I've drained all my other ability to focus, so directing my own meta may be a challenge.

(also waspinator is so precious and I just can't handle it, he's too too sweet and I'm so sad I'm not cross-stitching him next, even though I had reasons for not picking his picture :( )

edit: almost forgot my other favorite problematic ship - Hook and First Aid 5ever

 

OH MAN HERE WE GO

Spoiler: TGWP, jazz/everyone

Ahahaha, this is going to be hilariously difficult to keep in any sort of coherent order. Let's start with Jazz/Soundwave/(secretly everyone). OKAY. So first, Laserbeak's love for Jazz is so adorable and pure it melts my heart. Frenzy and Rumble are... hm. I can't say they're in love with him in the same way as Laserbeak, because these two dorks are totally not emotionally mature enough to recognize their own feelings well, but let's be real. They're totally falling in love with him. Buzzsaw is going to follow Laserbeak. Frenzy and Rumble are clearly two-cuts-of-the-same-cloth twins, and balance each other pretty perfectly. But Laserbeak and Buzzsaw have pretty opposite temperaments, but whenever we see them out of sync, Buzzsaw is always doing things like protecting her when she's down and dying, refusing to sleep without her there, etc. She's totally 100% the dominant twin. Given the share-everything nature of their poly family, how long is it going to be before Jazz wins him over completely? And Ravage's deep, abiding (adorable) hatred of Jazz is so there, that I have to assume his eventual love and trust is going to be a bit plot point.

Which is all so interesting, because Jazz doesn't seem to see this happening at all! He is at a disadvantage, because he doesn't have an in on the comm conversations or the symbiotic link, but... come on, buddy. You know you're charming. You know you're deliberately applying your charm. You know they have their -s y m b i o t i c- link. You are about to get hit in the face with five new romantic partners and you don't even have a goddamn clue. But! This is all extra EXTRA fascinating, because okay. The Autobot faction in general was a lot more family-like than the Decepticon faction. Jazz is shocked at how little care the Decepticons have for each other in the Insecticon fight, the Autobot slaves are all clingy and affectionate with each other, etc. When the Autobots decided to give Jazz the cold shoulder, oh my god, by rejecting him that way, they're driving him so hard into a new family group, even though he's been genuinely trying to keep his emotional distance from Soundwave and company.

So you've already got Soundwave's deliciously sketchy ways with boundaries and consent. You've got him wearing Jazz down from I-flinch-when-you-move-suddenly to resigned indifference, to outright jealousy. And yet still, Jazz is keeping some emotional distance in there. And a lot of that boils down to his loyalty to the other Autobots. Now, despite his determination not to abandon his old friends, that still takes a lot of energy and effort from Jazz. It's tough, because even if Soundwave is aware that he is violating boundaries, he's... not exactly aware that it's a wrong thing to do. And his cassettes are even less aware. Frenzy and Rumble are hurt when Jazz doesn't think of himself as one of them, but as an Autobot. Jazz is a decent guy. Rejecting that sort of genuine emotion... he'll do it, especially for the sake of his other loyalties, but I don't think he likes it. But then when the people he's been loyal to, and has been fighting to protect, the people he's sacrificed and sacrificed for (when he was in the position to do so). When they reject him, basically just for the crime of being groomed by Soundwave, just imagine how much harder it is for him not to let himself buckle and be added to the cassette fold! That has to be the most lonely, isolating thing, especially given the lengths we see him go to in protecting the others. Even after they reject him, given that thing with First Aid. But given how little opportunity he gets to talk to them, well. They've driven him right into Soundwave's arms.

The balance of power between Soundwave and Jazz is super interesting to me, because the way I read it, Soundwave loves Jazz more than Jazz loves Soundwave. But Jazz trusts Soundwave much, much more than Soundwave trusts Jazz. Especially given some of the LJ comments by the author on these latest few chapters, I think that's accurate. Someone mentioned that the big dramatic The Full Sex scene seemed an awful lot like Jazz was performing for Soundwave, especially the parts about Jazz being submissive and eager to please and letting Soundwave direct him, Jazz finally being his and how could he not have noticed earlier, etc. The author's reply basically boiled down to WINK WONK. Someone else mentioned that this felt an awful lot like Jazz letting Soundwave have one perfect night as a last goodbye present, but I don't remember what the author said to that.

I mean, given how fucking sketchy Jazz has been acting, I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. I hadn't actually connected him to the planted camera, because I am a trusting fucker who almost believed my friend when he tried to tell me his phone's area code was '911' yesterday. But this business with not-exactly-knowing Hot Rod and the way his club couldn't have been destroyed by a bomb with a Decepticon mark have me all *eyebrows lifting off into orbit*. Plus the way he's suddenly playing the perfect, submissive possession for Soundwave has me incredibly suspicious.

I kind of think the best thing for Soundwave to do (the best thing for the sake of Soundwave's heart, I mean) would be to open the floodgates of the emotional symbiotic connection, and expose Jazz to full-force cassette/carrier intimacy, as best as can be communicated. I geeeeeeeeet what he's doing, trying to save his and Jazz's fist intimate moments for just the two of them, but I think if that emotional content got passed to the cassettes and allowed their feelings and behavior to modify accordingly, Jazz would be so emotionally entrenched in this family it would be hard to escape. I mean, he's already so sweet on Laserbeak, what if she was allowed to really experience what it was like for Jazz to go from months of fighting to taking Soundwave's hand and sliding it between his legs. Or what if she could vicariously feel it every time Jazz does something to melt Soundwave's spark, without Soundwave choking off the connection. And what if JAZZ could know what she was feeling? Even without her voice or his comms, she's an expressive thing. How can he resist her charms? He can't, that's the answer.

Slash, Frenzy and Rumble. I know they've been doing more active bonding with Jazz than any of the other cassettes, and oh my goddddddd these adorable murderbabies. The moment when Starscream tried to steal Jazz back and Rumble was so frightened, that moment GOT me. Also, this story is going to end in treason. So much treason. And Rumble and Frenzy are like twenty times as willing to commit casual treason as any of the other Decepticons. I know Soundwave gets halfway-upset over them doing the thing with the riots, because they didn't have a conception of the consequences or whatever, but... come on. Soundwave, baby, you're going to get there eventually. Just roll with it. Treason for love. You and Starscream can be romantic treason buddies together. also i need you two to hatesex each other but it's okay, that can wait

I'm also loving the hell out of this Stockholm romance, because it's a different flavor than I've ever gotten to sample before. Most of my favorite ones are either accidental-romance or deliberately-breaking-you-down-from-the-inside-out-romance. This gentle, but unrelenting way that Soundwave erodes his boundaries is just FANTASTIC. And it's what he's done with at least some of his symbiotes too. The author said that the contrast between the way he bonded with his cassettes and the way Blaster bonded with his is deliberate, and I love it. His cassettes love him, and it doesn't matter how they got to that point, because it's love now, right? But the protector instinct is so genuine! The contrast between his good intentions and his fucking sketchy methods is amazing to read, most especially for the way you can gradually see it breaking down Jazz. It's so interesting that the emotional manipulation we see is driven more by jealousy than anything else. He's not allowed to talk to First Aid because Soundwave is jealous that Jazz doesn't treat him that way. Idk, maybe the slave has other not-related-to-jealousy-causing-things reasons for treating his fellow slave and old friend different from his master. But that's crazy talk! In my opinion, he balance of romance swung into Soundwave's definite favor when Jazz got jealous over Shockwave, which was just amazing to read. I think the biggest divide left between them is the balance of trust. Jazz finally bent on the romance front when he decided he didn't want anyone else sleeping with his person. So I'm excited for the balance of trust to Swing in Jazz's favor when Soundwave decides that loyalty to Jazz outweighs loyalty to Megatron. I expect it'll be done to save Jazz's life, very high stakes, so I'm super stoked.

I'm going to tentatively try to post this now, see if I hit the character limit yet, and continue in another post.

 

Honestly, I tend to favor them split up, because I'm a sucker for people exploring shiny new interpersonal dynamics, especially if there's violence involved (like between Chromia and Ironhide, or with Windblade and Starscream). I mean, I multiship like whoa, so I'm still totally on board the Windblade/Chromia train, but I also want, like... the overzealous almost-an-alien warrior dragging the depressed old man with the broken memories out of his shell, and giving him an opening to enjoy life again, see something good beyond his future that never got to come true. Or Windblade reintroducing Starscream to the kind of rivalry that doesn't have to end in vicious abuse and grinding the loser's face into the dirt.

Spoiler: windblade miniseries+ongoing

Chromia finding something that she can care about that's native to Cybertron instead being so homesick for Caminus that she almost doomed her world because she'd rather bring Windblade home rather than give Cybertron a chance to grow on her. Chromia dealing with the fact that she assaulted and injured a lonely old man so he wouldn't catch her doing wrong, and expecting to really have wrecked that relationship, because... yeah, that's not a thing friends do to friends. But he's like yeahhhhhhh in the grand scheme of recent Cybertronian history that... really wasn't much of anything, we're totally good.

Windblade having not only *a* teacher for Cybertronian politics. But the *BEST* teacher. Nobody does treachery, scheming, and plotting like Starscream. But it's not a purely cutthroat game, either, because both of them genuinely want what's best for Cybertron. It gives her breathing room where she isn't going to be eliminated as quickly as possible, and that gives her the time to learn from him and respect his mind and skill for what they genuinely are. Given how many people are coming off the war, even if they were neutral, I sincerely doubt Cybertronian politics will be anything trusting or straightforward for a long, long time, and Windblade is going into that mess with very few resources to draw on. And without the millions of years of baggage of being involved in the war, being able to see who he is after you peel away his protective layers of political games and plotting. Windblade and Starscream vowing to kill/expose each other, to win and see the other one fall. Starscream being kind of sick to the stomach in an abusee/ptsd way, thinking that he'd better pound her into nothing because he's barely gotten to start over, he's not going to let her become his new Megatron. And gradually seeing the ways that... yeah, he kind of hates her, but he doesn't hate-hate her, and um. Maybe if she died, he'd be... kind of... sad?

Sorry, ahahaha, lots of words that weren't really called for, those are just two ships I get super passionate about. I like Windblade/Chromia too, but I thiiiiiink... trying to examine my thought processes, I think that I'm less interested because those two aren't as broken as most of the rest of the main cast. An established friendship between two healthy ladies is super sweet and adorable, but I'm most invested in characters that have taken upsetting amounts of damage, so their ship pings me relatively lightly compared to some of the other options.

(though now I'm realizing this is super unfair to my shipping balance ways, because there's so few ladies who were around to be broken by the war. I don't even have many f/m ships, never mind f/f. I guess I'll have to start shipping Arcee and Windblade with extra vigor, then :T )

 

Spoiler: TGWP, complicated sex lives

WELL. The obvious thing in here is the Soundwave mess. This is so innnnnnnnnteresting, I can't get enough! Especially because, okay. So the pleasure Soundwave feels echoes back along the connection (unless he shuts it off) and feels good for the others, right? Now. Presumably that goes both ways. SO. What happens if you get Soundwave and five cassettes all in a berth at once? Oh my god, the pleasure feedback loops have to be off the scale.

Now. Imagine Jazz and Soundwave and five cassettes all in a berth at once. Jazz is an observant person. Jazz is really fucking good at pleasuring people. Imagine the things he could do to them.

And Soundwave is an intelligent mech. I'm sure he knows about pleasure feedback loop business. There was a post on schandbringer for Thundercracker/Reflector where part of it was about how intense it could be overloading mechs who have a mental connection like that, and how easy it would be for him to wreck them like that. Imagine how much trust it would take from Soundwave to let Jazz have him and his cassettes in such a vulnerable position. That is all. :3c

Now, the carrier/cassette bond is the most overt poly-ish, messy sex life thing in the story, just because of who's talking. But... mmm. Let's talk about the trines first!

This is kind of easy mode, because the trines seem to be just like, bff groups without a direct mental connection. Some kind of pale/flush mashup where they're separate beings, but super close to each other, pretty intimate, and very willing to share with each other. Starscream's romantic ways are their own mess for later consideration, so I'm going to mostly concentrate on Thundercracker and Fireflight. Some of this even comes up directly in the cast, even though there's not much reason for our POV character to be observing these two too closely. One of the author's comments I saw was about how Thundercracker wants to be the good master-- not much of a challenge when you're competing with Skywarp and Starscream, but still. There's a couple points where he expresses concern for Fireflight and tries to get him good things.

Thundercracker brings up that being in a separated gestalt group is probably a lot like being in a trine that's been split up (probably... y'know. worse. but it's a good effort, buddy!). He tries to bring Fireflight to earth twice that we see, even though he gets shut down hard each time. And nominally, this is for the goal of letting Fireflight stretch his wings, which would require him to be released from his mode lock. That's something we haven't seen for any of the other Autobots, not even Perceptor, and he turns into a fucking microscope. You'd think Thundercracker would one, know this was out of the question (especially on an unsecured alien world), and two, would have decent grasp of the dangers of pissing off the 'bots in high command. But he keeps asking.

And then, when he gets to earth, he goes to Silverbolt (who is literally described on wikipedia as a 'den mother') and tries to tell him that Fireflight misses his old team and that he's doing well. Silverbolt is (understandably!) hostile. But okay. Thundercracker not only lets Fireflight talk a lot about his old team and how much he misses them, but he even offers to bring back a message for his slave. Silverbolt still calls him out on his bullshit, but, I mean. Just contrast that to how virtually anyone else treats their slaves. Even Soundwave has his massive, massive jealousy issues. And later, when everyone's out in the woods, Thundercracker seems to be kind of processing the things Silverbolt said to him. He shuts Skywarp down when he asks if they can start feeding Fireflight by hand. Plus, Fireflight was one of the young ones.Even if he was a loyal autobot, it's gotta be easier to win his love and affection than it would be to win over one of the 'bots who was in the war from the start. And Thundercracker has the sweetest temper in his trine. Plus there's a lot made of how intimate trines are, and even if Fireflight isn't a trine, he's a flier and he's used to the intimacy of a gestalt group, I want to see how these things interact. It's killingggg me that we don't have a consistent POV into his life, because I really, really want to see more of how he and Fireflight play off each other.

Then there's Starscream. Oh, Starscream. I was already shipping him and Skyfire, but this fic has amped it up to painful levels. I'm a sucker for inexcusable cruelty done for the sake of your own emotional pain. I love love love it. That whole setup of 'this explains my actions, but does not excuse them.' SO GOOD. Perceptor is in a pretty sucky place in this story. But, you know, so is Starscream. (Perceptor is worse off, but shhh just imagine him getting traded for Skyfire and getting to do hard labor with Brawn, because they are apparently a thing). Starscream started this fic in the position that Soundwave ends up in. Megatron has a handle on his biggest emotional weak spot, and is openly exploiting the shit out of it to keep him in line. He dangles Skyfire over his head, but he and Starscream both know that Megatron will never let him have him. Which sucks! Especially given how Megatron gets whatever Megatron wants, whenever he wants it, which extends to sex with any of his officers, saying no is not an option. Very ouch, given the way he withholds Skyfire :(

So tbh, I'm pretty impressed that Starscream keeps working the political scene, given the emotional leverage Megatron has on him. Honestly, I'm excitedterrified to see Megatron try to exploit Jazz the same way. And like... Skyfire is someone that Starscream openly respects and admires. Is he... the only 'bot like that in the story? I think he really might be. Given Starscream's everything, that's a pretty shocking amount of genuinely vulnerable emotion from the guy. So I was already on board with it. But then, oh my goddddd, they got to earth, and that scene with the two of them. That scene where, uh, they didn't actually talk to each other. My heart ached for Starscream. G1 Starscream!! That's really saying something.

I wish we'd gotten to hear more from Skyfire himself to see how he processed that whole encounter. Because Jazz was draped all over Skyfire, giving Starscream shit. Was Skyfire embarrassed in a bad way? Was he glad that someone else was bridging some of the gap between them, because he couldn't bring himself to do it? Was he relieved to get some confirmation that Starscream still felt things for him? INQUIRING MINDS WISH TO KNOW. I mean, my guess would be that it wasn't totally a negative reaction, because he and Jazz are probably the two closest Autobots to understanding each other's feelings towards the objects of their affections. I was with Soundwave, assuming that it was one-sided affection, but. Oh noooo, Skyfire ;_; he's like a giant, gentle puppy, I just want him to be happy. I need him to be happy.

(but also if treason happens, which is totally going to be the case, if Skyfire gets some agency, he's one of the only 'bots in existence who can remember who Starscream was before the war and politics got to him. If anyone can gentle Starscream out, it's Skyfire. And okay, I know Starscream totally shot him in the boob on screen, but. Come on. One-time mistake. Starscream isn't going to be able to hurt Skyfire, not with those big, sad, gentle puppy-dog eyes of his. I want to see that balance of power tip so hard that Starscream swoons right into Skyfire's arms)

(ooh, bad thought. megatron has had his way with most/all of the enslaved autobots, yeah? so he's raped skyfire, and it takes an insecticon emergency for him to let starscream even be on the same planet as the guy. ouch)

And finally. Hook and First Aid. HOOK AND FIRST AID!! Ahhhhhh this is the best best best, because okay. So many grounds to bond on. Despite Hook being a Constructicon, which is a pretty serious starting disadvantage for First Aid. Let's start with being medics. That's an interesting one that other people have talked about before, but I love the idea that medics from opposite sides of the war are able to bond easier than most of the pure combatants. Being able to connect over a desire to save lives is POWERFUL. Even coming from opposite sides, and in a master/slave setting, you don't see any disrespect from one 'bot to the other on professional grounds. First Aid respects Hook and doesn't seem to fear him the way he does some of the other Decepticons. Hook is still pretty gruff and demanding, maybe a leetle violent, but he's not cruel the way so many of the other Decepticons are. He defends First Aid's skills, he's clearly helping him develop further as a medic, and he takes care of him when he's hurt. From the first time they show up on screen, Soundwave makes a point of how Hook could have totally sent him into a wall, but just lightly cuffs him.

Plus, both of these two are part of a gestalt. Now that's a powerful connection. I'm not sure whether it's stronger than the carrier/cassette bond, but it's at least on the same level, which means pretty fucking strong. I doubt anyone who's not part of a team like that could even properly understand. And First Aid's from a broken gestalt team. Now, the Constructicon team is intact. But given the nature of the war, and given what happened to the Combaticons and to the Protectobots, Hook must have at least considered what it would be like to have your gestalt broken. That's gotta be rough, man. Soundwave is terrified at the thought of losing one of his cassettes. He's never experienced it, but he thinks it's got to be excruciatingly painful. Or when he loses the unbonded cassettes, that still destroys him, because of how he's programmed. I don't think it's a big stretch for a gestalt team to have a similar reaction to losing one of their own.

And also, First Aid is pretty quiet to start with. The Constructicons are... not that thing. First Aid is one of the healthiest slaves we see, both mentally and physically. I think that could only happen if Hook was making a particular effort to take good care of him and keep him safe. I mean, the guy even gives Soundwave advice about caring for the mental health of his slave, how he needs to take Jazz out for walkies to keep him happy. He says he learned from experience. Hook totally takes First Aid out for walks. Or if not, he trusts First Aid with errands, which is pretty important and imply a high level of trust when you're the big medical boss man for the ruling party. But come on, Hook totally takes First Aid out for walks, this is soooo totally a thing that happens. They just tour different parts of the city than Soundwave and Jazz. They're building their own brand of intimacy.

Plus, oh my god. That scene at Shockwave's party. It would have cost Hook nothing to wait until they got home to fix up First Aid's face. In fact, fixing up his face after he pissed off Megatron, while still at the party where that happened, was probably not playing it as safe as he could have done. That's so sweet, for a twisted master/slave value of sweet. And even though he tells First Aid off, it's not the way that bots like Starscream and Skywarp do it. It's constructive telling-off, not just abuse for the sake of you-made-me-angry. And again, more for them bonding over being medics, he tells First Aid about the cassettes. Even though he wasn't supposed to. Even though there was no benefit other than giving First Aid some peace of mind. Oh my god, this pings all my teacher/student buttons, on top of the master/slave buttons that this fic is mashing into oblivion.

I love all my problematic ships so, so much, and I'd be hard-pressed to name one of the three background ships as my favorite, but they're all SO. SO. GOOD.

And I'm going to hold off until tomorrow on writing more, because my hands hurt and I'm about to keep over from the tireds. But be assured. THERE WILL BE MORE.

 

asfsdfasdf I'm supposed to be sleeping

 

One last ramble!

Spoiler: TGWP, miscellaneous

Okay, first off, let me say that I have the worst sense for how strong or weak foreshadowing is supposed to be, so I've got no clue whether this is supposed to be really obvious or whether I'm making something up out of thin air. Which is an embarrassing position to be speculating from. But. Megatron's burned hands. I'm pretty sure that what happened was that he tried to get his perfectly consensual sex rape on with Hot Rod, Hot Rod did his flame on thing, and burned the shit out of Megatron's hands and made a break for the wilderness. Because the story draws attention to Hot Rod getting all fanboy-ish over Megatron, then draws attention to how Megatron totally wants to tap that ass, then draws attention to how mysterious it is that Hot Rod is nowhere to be found. Plus this Megatron has pretty... hedonistic and sex-related motivations for a lot of his day-to-day activities, and that was a massive overreaction he has to a medic noticing he's, y'know, injured. Also it would be a good way to break Megatron's pedestal in Hot Rod's eyes, the same way being sent off to a life of hard labor would do it for Springer. Again, I have no sense for how much the story is actually trying to imply this thing, but that's sure what I've latched onto.

Also, I am suspicious as heck over all these [not G2. but not original G1. The ones the animated movie focuses on. I don't know my transformers lingo :P] characters suddenly starting to show up. You've got Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer, plus Springer explicitly mentioning the rest of his crew. I'd almost wave these off as cute little cameos, but... This story is pretty tightly plotted. Plus there's all the attention that gets drawn to how ~mysterious~ it is that Hot Rod disappears (you know, I wonder who his roommates are), and given that overthrowing Megatron is probably going to be the eventual end result, Springer's deportation for hard labor with Autobot malcontents and the inclusion of some version of the Wreckers-- it all seems really foreshadow-y.

Actually, now that I think of it, a lot of these characters do seem to be drawn from the survivors of the eighties animated movie. Gah, I'm kicking myself because I've never seen it, but I know that the goal was to kill off a ton of old characters to make way for the new ones - like Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer. And Jazz was one of the few original cast members to survive. Huh. If that's the case, I hope we get to see Kup soon. Grumpy old worn-out neutral seems like it would be an easy thing to fit into the story, especially if he's still doing the mentor thing for Hot Rod. Maybe he's helping shelter Hot Rod, if the attempted-rape-run-away thing is right. I still don't know much about the G1 cartoon at all, so I can't tell who else would maybe be showing up, but this is all very interesting to read.

Slash, I'm kind of inclined to say that Jazz is a little more innocent than Soundwave suspects (though I am a born sucker, and way too trusting, don't listen to the things I say) and that the anti-Megatron things are gaining momentum without much help from him. Partially because Soundwave has him on such a short leash. However much space Jazz has, I'm sure he's exploiting it for all it's worth, but Soundwave is a smart cookie. Hm. Plus I'd definitely believe that Jazz was being honest about how bitter he was over neutrals who were just now deciding that hey, maybe they liked the Autobots after all. But I do like the idea of Jazz dragging Soundwave by the heart straight into an existing resistance movement, where Soundwave is the untrusted outsider and Jazz is in a position to really protect him and defend his honor. And if the hostility towards neutrals who are only now coming around is what Jazz really feels, then I want to see him pour out his frustration for Soundwave the way he did when he was recovering after Megatron wrecked his arm. I want comfort and affection, goddammit.

PS, before I forget, does anyone have a clue who was romantically involved with Optimus Prime? The carefully-not-named bot he died trying to save? I'm totally blanking. All my candidates seem to be a little dead, but the G1 cast is large and I don't have the best handle on it yet. And the way the story dances around it makes me think this is important. Slash is this carefully-not-named bot definitely deceased? Because that would be a strong central point for starting a resistance movement.

And ohhhhh there are no WORDS for how excited I am to see what the heck is happening with Mirage, Sideswipe, and Hound. It's all so SUSPICIOUS. Especially since someone has been telling the Insecticons that Autobots and Decepticons are working together, and Megatron has broken their agreement. If Starscream really did execute Bombshell and/or the others, this might be a little difficult for Soundwave to untangle, but I am soooo so so interested. Okay, on the basis of no information whatsoever, I think Mirage has made his way to earth, and is my favorite candidate for who shot Laserbeak in the middle of the jungle. He's sneaky and stealthy and has vested interest in eroding Megatron's power base, plus given his invisibility thing, he might be one of the few people who has a safe(ish) way to approach and talk to the Insecticons without getting instantly murderized. The story keeps coming back around to the hunt for him, and Jazz is totally confident in his ability to get around these problems and keep doing his sneaky spy thing.

So, if Mirage is important, Sideswipe is definitely also important, though I'm having trouble seeing his role so much, except possibly as a way to split up the Stunticons. Which was important when the Combaticons raided the slave camp, but Sideswipe couldn't have known that was coming - or could he? No, I don't have much clue. BUT. Sideswipe and Mirage (and the couple other named still-not-found Autobots) are some of the only Autobots left with their comm systems. Those signals probably aren't terribly secure, but hey. It's something. Now, I'm having trouble seeing how this would work, given that the Combaticon spaceship is a sentient entity. But what if Mirage smuggled himself off that one planet on board their ship? He's got to have had some way of getting himself off the planet, and given the information currently available, that's one of the few ways I'm seeing. Which I'm pretty ehhhhh on, because even with invisibility powers, you'd think Blast Off would be able to feel an extra pair of feet walking around. But. Hm. One of the only other options I'm really seeing is that the Combaticons have decided fuck Megatron, we're ditching before he can screw us over. Whether they've been subverted by Mirage/Hound/Sideswipe, or whether they decided to do it on their own. Now, again, I'm not too-too happy with either of these, because faction loyalty is pretty dang strong in this story (even if Megatron keeps kicking them when they're down) and the Combaticons are assholes, so I have trouble seeing a lone, desperate fugitive working out a functional alliance (especially with how greedy Swindle is). Hmmmm. I'm sure we're missing an important chunk of information that would unlock all of this, but I just can't stop worrying at it :T

And aw, Sunstreaker :( I don't have a clue exactly what went wonky there, but something is definitely... not-good. In the little we've seen of him, he reads like a feral animal. It's been what, like six years since the war ended? Even if he was trying to fight back against Megatron, that sort of extreme pushback seems kinda unsustainable for that long of a time period. I'm more familiar with him in IDW than the G1 cartoon, but like, he's not like that. He's vain and kind of a dickbag, and definitely a very competent fighter, but he's not feral or anything. But man, I don't know what could have done that to the guy, or whether getting him back together with his brother would help any. I just really want to know what did that to the guy :( I love my vain asshole son, it hurts me that so much bad stuff keeps happening to him.

Slaaaaash, I am so stoked to see Megatron's exploitive ways come back to bite him in the ass. Because like... sexual abuse of slaves? Still awful, but it's an expected kind of awful. But it's pretty increasingly obvious that Megatron is up for sexually exploiting everyone. I mentioned earlier that it was extra rough that Starscream is aware both that Megatron is keeping Skyfire away from him and that he's almost definitely raped Skyfire. But you know, Megatron's pretty much raped Starscream too :T We don't have a proper POV to get an inside look at that, but when Jazz deflects Starscream by being like 'SO YOU KNOW HOW YOU CALL MEGATRON'S NAME WHEN YOU OVERLOAD,' Megatron is pretty much like 'we are going to do the sex. right now,' and Starscream is pretty obviously not into it. Does that matter? AHAHAHA, no. When Soundwave makes his joke about being jealous of Jazz's skill and not that Megatron used him, well. One, Megatron doesn't contradict the implication that they have done the do multiple times. And two, Soundwave doesn't act like he was forced, but. Soundwave does not have the best grasp of boundaries. As an aside, I've always thought Shockwave was a cutie, even if he's a creep. I feel grudgingly sad that the only officer who wants to have sex with Megatron is apparently so ugly Megatron won't go for it.

But okay okay. So. One of my favorite guilty pleasures in master/slave things is when the slave gets put in the position of comforting/etc their master. Like when Jazz had to apologize to Soundwave for almost getting himself killed, I was all eeeeeEEEEEE. I would be very, very interested in seeing Jazz and/or Skyfire trying to communicate to Soundwave and Starscream that what Megatron has been doing to them is not okay. Whether or not they ever manage to get the point across. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be hard to convince Starscream that he's been wronged, but I think Soundwave would be a whole 'nother story. Even if Jazz isn't properly able to get through to him, seeing Jazz being sad for Soundwave! I! Need! This!!! Soundwave mentions that their earliest intimate moments seem to come back to the death of the cassettibots, which, incidentally, is pretty much the first time Jazz gives Soundwave credit for being a decent guy, because he has a window to see Soundwave's pain. Which is tricky, given how Soundwave is. Even his apology comes back to that same thing. Now I want the sympathy and intimacy that's flavored like 'even if you aren't sad for yourself, I'm sad for you.'

Also Skyfire and Starscream would have their own interesting flavor, because Starscream is so, so self-centered and eager to be adored. But okay. He's willing to admit his own pain. But that gives him an opening to recognize the similar suffering that Skyfire has experienced, and opens the door for him to feel actual sadness over the things Skyfire has been through. Plus for Starscream, given especially his interactions with Megatron, how hard is it going to be for him to show vulnerability? In this setting, I don't think anyone but his trine or Skyfire has a chance of seeing it, and even with his trine, Starscream still has to play the role of the big important officer. I'm dyinggggg here, because Starscream is going to be really fucking careful about keeping any genuine softness secret and under wraps, so even with Soundwave's spies, I think we'd have trouble seeing it on the page. But. I NEED IT.

(goddammit, Skyfire doesn't have a proper parallel in IDW does he? i mean, there's jetfire doing his thing, but he and starscream don't quite share the same sort of history as in the cartoon. because I'm suddenly dyinggggg to write some sweet stuff for these two. Gentle giant size kink and the good ol' Starscream how-do-I-do-genuine-emotion setup. Fuck me, I really, really need this.)

One last thought, the gestalts share their thoughts and emotions pretty effortlessly. I think it's pretty obvious how Hook has been relatively gentle with First Aid. How does the rest of his team feel? How does the rest of First Aid's team feel? :DDD Is Hook getting any pushback, like Ravage has been doing with Soundwave? Is the rest of his gestalt team softening towards First Aid too? Is First Aid being shared at all, the way Jazz is with the cassetticons? How aware is he of that, if it's happening? How happy vs unhappy is First Aid? How does he feel towards Hook? Towards the rest of the Constructicons? It's pretty clear that most of the Decepticons have done some nonconsensual fornicating, buuuuut have First Aid and Hook (and/or the rest of the Constructicons) had any gentler, sweeter sexual encounters? I need to know I need it I need it.

Also it occurred to me that all of the Decepticons with softer feelings towards certain Autobots are all collected on Earth right now. Starscream has already raised the point of possible treason with Soundwave, which is a pretty significant move. And Starscream is observant. He can't have missed the way Thundercracker is treating Fireflight. Hook might be a little harder for him to read, but Hook is pretty clever and observant. He's already noticed Soundwave's treatment of Jazz, and everyone comes to him for medical treatment. He's got to see the way some of the other cons are reacting to these slaves. I just want them all to fall into ridiculously problematic star-crossed-love with each other and everything is sexy and romantic forever.

(ps jazz and soundwave should totally have taken starscream up on his proposed threesome)