You know thinking about it the people upset about the meta and the push back about the way Scott is writing bots seem to be the ones that are very attached to performative gender roles.
There is a roughly 75% chance that Arcee's drinking energon fresh from the veins of some poor person she sliced up off screen, while all the others are drinking engex and having the time of their life (Starscream's jealous of the party)
...I think I missed it if someone linked this TGWP everyone's so excited about, help? Mirrors got me, nvm
Here you go! It only lives on ff.net and livejournal, unfortunately. And yesssssssss, read the thing and tell us your thoughts, it's so good!!
Okay, so, TGWP gives me the most characterization-dysphoria on Megatron. The main characters are ones I'm not super familiar with in the IDW G1 comics I'm reading, so I can read these different-continuity versions of them without much trouble. Megatron, though... wow, really an entirely different character! Which isn't a fic criticism. Second most characterization-dysphoria is Perceptor. Even though he barely shows up.
same, completely same. everyone else i'm like 'cool yeah i know this guy', but megatron is so so different from the Grouchy Silver Fox i know and love, and percy is just. who is this small nervous robot. shockwave, though, also tripped me up a bit. since he is not at all emotionless in the fic, and he is a lot more interested in megatron's attention than i am used to shockwave being.
Same!! The G1 Megatron is the character thing I've found most, most jarring about the original cartoon. He's so different from IDW especially. Shockwave is a little rough too, because I imprinted hard on his TFP depiction, so seeing him emotional and petty is a bit weird. And I have such a hard time when anyone in this story says he's ugly, because... no. I'm sorry, but no. (I've also quietly been substituting Jazz's G1 voice in my head out for something closer to his TFA voice, because otherwise all I can hear is him saying 'BLACKER THAN THE INSIDE OF A DRIVE SHAFT') Slash, imagine Jazz playing Ain't Misbehavin' and mugging outrageously the way Fats Waller does
It just occurred to me that TGWP has exactly the kind of characterization of Megatron that would probably make Ray scream and fall into a tantrum hole. But god do I love it. The Decepticon faction is exactly the kind of messed up, dark, gonna-shoot-themselves-in-the-foot kind of empire I love for fics like these, and a lot of it comes down to Megatron and the culture he's generated around himself (Also I wish we got to see more of the Seekers and their "sharing" because holy hell)
The funny thing about TGWP is it's literally 'everyone is Megatron's abuse victim'. YOU get an abuse backstory! YOU get an abuse backstory! EVERYONE GETS ABUSED!
God yes. I don't know if I could ever write G1 outside of some sort of G1/IDW fusion thing for Starscream/Skyfire, but I need more about seekers sharing, pls Which is tough, because in IDW, the main trine is pretty thoroughly broken :T But maybe that would be a good excuse for some nice sexy rebonding time together. Hummmmm, what if Starscream in a relationship plus a reunited trine plus sharing time. HMMMM. I need to think about this. It would be hard to write, but so frigging hot.
Like... Spoiler: TGWP Just in the parts I've read, Megatron is clearly sexually, emotionally, and physically abusing Starscream, and has been doing so for some time. The same goes with Soundwave, although Soundwave never identifies it as such - he mentions Megatron hitting him in displeasure in the past, and the fact that he's expected to perform sexually for Megatron whenever Megatron wants. Shockwave is jealous because Megatron fucks Starscream a lot more than Shockwave, which... nnnot even gonna get into that. The abuse Megatron throws at his higher-ups trickles down to their employees, and the whole thing is a fucking mess. The thing I'm wondering is, why is Soundwave so loyal? At what point did Megatron start abusing him instead of just paying him lucratively for his services? We know he joined the Decepticons at first to be able to feed his symbiotes. Why does Soundwave find abuse towards himself so normalized, and where did he learn the boundary wearing down patterns he uses on his symbiotes to bond with them, even though he dearly loves and treasures their health and happiness above his own? What happened to him?? So like... what if Megatron wasn't the first person to pull that shit with him, and that's part of why he's so clueless as to it not being normal and okay?
soundwave himself has this to say re: his loyalty Spoiler: tgwp "How can you serve him?" The blunt question surprised Soundwave, who hadn't been asked such a thing in hundreds of vorns. "Megatron, my leader." "He's a cruel leader who tramples on his subordinates, blames them for his mistakes, and beats them when things don't go his way," Jazz argued. "He's almost worse to his own soldiers than he is to the enemy. I have to kneel to Megatron, because I am a slave and don't get a say in the matter. Why do you?" "Soundwave, pledged loyalty to Megatron many centuries ago. His actions now, irrelevant. For this model, loyalty permanent." Soundwave pressed a hand against his chest compartment, conscious of the sleeping twins inside. "All carrier models, hardcoded for loyalty. Such loyalty required to protect symbiotes, fundamental to way of life. This loyalty applied to Lord Megatron as matter of course." "Even if he does this to you?" "Megatron has expectations of my performance. Soundwave, failed those expectations. Deserved punishment." "Evidently you didn't feel like you deserved it that much," Jazz retorted. "Since you jumped through all manner of ethically questionable hoops to get me back." Soundwave avoided that uncomfortable train of thought with some determination, keeping his attention firmly on the current subject. "Betrayal of leader, impossible for my kind. Jazz, not able to understand such loyalty?" "Not for someone like that." Jazz hugged his knees to his chest, looking wistful. "If you were going to sell your soul on a first-come, lifetime guarantee basis, I wish the Autobots had gotten to you first. Things would have been… different."
Spoiler: TGWP Wait, so. Wait. That almost reads like cassette player models are some sort of slave subspecies. EDIT: LIKE, or they could be very easily twisted into that, as Megatron is clearly and deliberately doing to Soundwave. No wonder Soundwave is his favorite. He CAN'T rebel.
Spoiler: tgwp The reading experience has given me the question that it's like... to keep vehicle model cybertronians happy, you have to give them the chance to get outside and get around. Cassettes are wired to want to find a carrier model to protect and....... serve isn't exactly right, but it's kind of right. There's still a lot of range in how these relationships can play out. Soundwave talks about keeping Ravage prisoner for like a century before Ravage consented to being his, with regular escape/murder attempts from Ravage, but you see a flashback of Blaster playing frisbee with Steeljaw, pre-bonding, but with both of them pretty obviously sweet on each other. I think it's implied that some of Soundwave's sketchy interpersonal ways are a result of Decepticon culture, but also Soundwave is really, really naturally bad at people and boundaries. So I think that colors some of his explanations. The cassette/carrier loyalty and service do definitely go both ways. You hear about things like Soundwave holding medical vigil over his cassettes, or nursing Laserbeak back from the edge of death over a period of months. He is definitely the boss, but he also cares super deeply about taking the best possible care of his symbiotes, and keeping them happy and healthy. And his loyal ways towards his cassettes extends (to a lesser extent) to other people he gets involved with, like Megatron, the citizens of Iacon, and pretty much everyone he ever gets close to because he's secretly such a fucking softie. I really enjoy this part of the story! Of the cassettes, I only cared about Ravage before, and that was purely because of MTMTE. This is an alien sociological dynamic I'm loving to pieces, and I'm really happy the story is exploring it so much. edit: actually, yeah, that would really explain why soundwave is so bad at understanding why a slave wouldn't want to be a slave, as long as their master treats them right. He has real trouble visualizing a relationship without that kind of built-in power dynamic and subservience. So he doesn't understand why Jazz is so unhappy as a slave, even though Soundwave is going above and beyond, trying to make him happy. Huh.
Spoiler: tgwp i wonder what would happen to that loyalty if megatron were to die? would it persist? also, i don't think that loyalty would stand up against competition. sure, soundwave will take beatings and he'll 'service' megatron when required, but. it's pretty clear that his loyalty to his cassettes is stronger than anything else, and jazz has been triggering the same carrier protocols in soundwave as the cassettes do, lately. what'll happen when soundwave's back is against the wall, and it's jazz or megatron? and it's not like the cassettes have any particular loyalty to megatron. they would ditch the decepticons in a hot second if they had to choose between The Cause and soundwave. also: soundwave clearly doesn't like the way decepticons in general, and megatron in particular, talk about cassettes like they're less-than. idk. i think that betraying megatron will probably go against all of soundwave's instincts, but i also think that he'll eventually be in a position where it'll be his loyalty to megatron vs his loyalty to his family, and megatron will lose. like a big loser. a big losing loser, who loses. (⋈≖_≖) loser
Since I'm having feels have a song for TGWP. Spoiler: TGWP With soft drugs and seam ripper Tough love and tape measure Stitching up boys is different that way You fix a bird, you buy a cage You fix a man You fix a man, and he flies away When I ran out of thread I couldn't let go But that's not sewing, that's That's just poking holes And it's a strange breed A different kind of creature Looks for love through the eye of a needle But the creed of the seamstress is That you're pretty in pieces
