A fiddly mix of IDW/80's cartoon? I know that IDW pulled a lot from the stuff the 80's cartoon did anyhow and just added backstory, but we could pretty easily mash the two continuities together I think. I am now stuck between the idea of a starry-eyed fighter jet and a grumpy old sergeant stuck here training kiddos because he was starting to question battlefield orders a little too much and retirement isn't really a thing on cybertron. Sarge would be either a Big Bomber or a Stealth Bomber, but the bombing is the important part. hm.
*thumbs up* Just thought it should be set ahead of time or else we run into communication mishaps :P i haven't seen the 80s cartoon at all so idk if continuity mashing might not make things confusing for me I just wanted to check in so we were all planning around the same continuity!! Since Femmes are very much a Thing Of Significance in IDW-verse and stuff.
I only remember vague bits of the 80s cartoon and like, Herz's G1 comics. I'm pretty sure Arcee and Elita One both exist in that continuity though, and maybe have elite lady warriors? So just... not bothering with the Gender Is Significant parts of IDW while keeping most of the framework (which fanon Vos has a hell of a lot more substance to it than canon Vos in either continuity I think, so we would be hashing that out on our own anyhow.) The reason for the Decepticon/Autobot conflict isn't really significant unless we need a background of energon shortage vs social inequity. I'm inclined to lean IDW for this (since we get more worldbuilding on Cybertron that way) and go social inequity, which also gives us things like the uh. Whatever army position Minimus holds in IDW.
I'm slogging my way through the 80's cartoon right now, as it so happens. I know there's some femmes later, including Arcee, Elita 1, and Firestar, but I haven't got that far. I'm at the intellectual monoliths of the Dinobots atm. I'm for the social inequity conflict too. It's more interesting, I think, and gives us more variables for conflict in-group as well as from outside.
AAAH You guys are all so amazing I'd love to have some people have both a teacher and a student. Then we could have teen drama and grown up time.
*Yeah, we can mash up the continuities to include femme robots. Femme robots could be kind of unusual but not unheard of like in IDWverse. I'd also like to snatch the..possibly fanon idea of symbiotes and carriers from the G1 cartoon. @Ryncoon I love your jet fighter! She's really cute. @KarrinBlue Magical Supersonic Nanoha absolutely needs to be a thing. Ok so, my idea for the general social order in the academy First class: fighter jets, seekers, bombers, attack helicopters with a longstanding rivalry between the jets and the helicopters. Second class: Recon, support, third class: Transport People seem to like Vos, so we'll make it offical :D
Actually I'm not sure Nanoha would be a supersonic jet? I mean, whatever her alt mode would be, would need to have a) strong firepower b) heavy armor and c) maneuverability (not speed.) I mean, there's a version of canon where Nanoha, upon getting a shield, and getting into a race in a city (in a video game) decides the best course of action is to fly straight through the buildings. So I was thinking her alt mode would be the unholy combination of an attack helicopter and a tank or something. But I'm not set on that.
Also I'm not sure what the best counterpart for raising heart would be. Something like Soundwave's cassettes)? Though I'm not sure whether raising heart would turn into a gun or some kind of laserbeaky attack drone. ...if she DID have RH she'd be super gaudy. A giant robot in white with red and blue accents, with a pink and gold whatever? People could spot her from miles away.
So BBYStarscream: For one, is actually quite a studious little nerdlet. Mainly because his ambition right now is focused on being the best seeker ever. Loves capes, is not a model the camera just turned itself on! Does have a bit of a temper. Can be kind of bossy but tends to be like a cat with a bug, if actually Has power he doesn´t really know what to do with it now. Talks a lot (No news here). Talks with his hands/wings a lot. Quite loyal by nature because Megatron hasn´t yet broken him of that. Also Trinebait. The biggest trinebait. Very likely to fall in with groups hoping to be "cool" and accepted, sometimes gets into trouble that way. ^This is a jumbled WIP of notes. Also disclaimer, this is My interpretation of what he might be like pre-war and pre-Megs. Other peoples may differ.
Oh please, please throw him in with Warplight and let her get him into ALL of the trouble. And hey, they're both super fast, so maybe she'll actually get him OUT of it most of the time, too!
Moar Starscream things: Not just trinebait but trineflirt, aka if he kinda likes someone going "You totally smudged my wing, you owe me a polishing!" (Also he just likes to be pampered) Things Starscream learns at school: Seeker-ing, officer-ing, all that stuff. Also how to get stuff done sneakily and that functionism kinda sorta sucks a lot.
Blackhawk Nanoha? *knows nothing about attack helicopters* It might be fun if she started off with more normal paint colors, and made it a goal to be repainted as a gaudy mess. I could see paint jobs being part of a rewards system. Ooh! She could have a minibot of her very own. I am all in favor of more symbiotes. They could start hanging out with Nanoha very early on if you don't want to deal with another autonomous character. We can never have too many helicopters. They could teach maneuverability once the babbies have learned to fly without running into each other (or could be the designated flyer kindergarten teacher, since helicopters are a little more suited to dodging erratic flight paths). Hah! That's perfect! I can just see the little peacock, he's adorable. Oh man, does Starscream flirt in a pigtail pulling kind of way? Or is he more genuine? I think Topspin gets angry easily, but he's also got a deep coding tendency to obey orders. He can resist it, but if he gets distracted he'll start doing what he was told to do anyway.
Ok, I'm gonna try to get a rough list of characters going later tonight if there's time after the TFA stream tonight. Question - does anyone have proposed characters who are going to be assholes? I feel like we need some assholes. Note to self: Read the other transformers RP thread because you have only a shaky idea how forum rp is supposed to work.