(off topic, but something that might be chilling fridge brilliance...) so, y'all are probably familiar with the planet of hats trope in which a whole planet has a unified monolithic culture, and how ridic that is if you look at earth where you go to the next town over and come across a whole damn nother mentality. and then i realized, that the functionists probably had a big ole hand in that on cybertron, and considering the life cycle of transformers, they had hundreds of thousands and probably a couple million years to shape and prune and control the society and culture to their plan. and the plan didnt change because there was no new blood taking over. man, what if the early millenia of the war actually were glorious, because it was something different, something new? and you didn't have to slog through the dull life you'd been forced into, now at least you could let out all that pent-up frustration and aggression in a more or less uncontrolled and unhealthy manner as long as the people you hurt wore a different badge? and if youre lucky, you could run. we know there were decepticon deserters and the djd dealt with them, but i'm fairly certain there were autobot deserters as well. where did they end up? did prowls stasi intelligence network seize them? did any, somehow, get away from it all? (i mean, how did the djd find their targets?) the functionists basically straight-up abused the cybertronian culture into having only little individuality and quirks at all. (that's why the fact that the public networks are being used for people-created entertainment makes me so happy, it's an important part of the healing process - they're creating things and telling their own stories without the government telling them what to write and produce). the war could be constructed as a scapegoat/golden child (memo to self: spend less time on the rbn and jnmil subreddits) blowup, with them turning on each other because it's the only thing they have left.
It's funny, because we don't see it as much but even Cybertron under the functionists wasn't quite "planet of hats". Each city-state had its own identity, form-based casting led to variants in culture based on alt-mode, we've got confirmation of like five different religious denominations even in current day (including differing degrees of enforcement of religious doctrine a la Prowl's experience with Functionists versus Whirl's), and ofc there was the huge Autobot/Decepticon/NAIL blowout that was the war. Early days of the war were a revolution, and then it all sort of went to shit and became a proper war with no good sides. And I feel like the DJD used some method of tracing spark signatures and/or Plot Magic to find their targets, especially since Decepticon badges were carved from parts of the spark chamber, which would make it easy to obtain that information at the time of formalizing someone as a Decepticon. There have been plenty of Decepticon and Autobot deserters though, and some of them call themselves non-aligned and some of them don't.
ok, i overgeneralized a bit there. idw is better about worldbuilding than some other series ive come across, could very well be that im just nitpicking because details get lost in favour of storytelling tightness. but also, imagine. functionism trying to micromanage everything to perfect efficiency.
ps, also, thank you so much to everyone who said such nice things about that prowlmegs story! The longer I sit on a wip, the more likely I am to... not hate it, but I can't see the emotional oomph anymore. So by the time that went up, I was like 'oh god this is a hot mess and hella unappealing i just wasted a month of my life oh well here we go yolo,' and it's so awesome to see people enjoying it. Of course, then people say they enjoyed it and I get overwhelmed and don't respond to any of the things they're actually telling me :V So thank you again! And I'll be trying to get my act together enough to respond to the ao3 comments sometime soon.
@pixels YES, SURRENDER TO THE ROBOTS! Oh my gosh, you should DEFINITELY do it I'm pretty sure Netflix recommended Transformers Prime to you (released in 2011, 2.5 seasons plus a tv-esque movie), and that is a good way to dig into the franchise! It's got a relatively limited cast (especially compared to the comics), and it's a pretty standard transformers setup. The first arc (5 episodes) can be a bit much, because there's robots all over the place and you don't know them yet and humans too and oh god what is happening, but I love how big and epic it is, and the animation works really nicely for the robots. Basic TFP premise: Good Giant Robots (autobots) and Evil Giant Robots (decepticons) have been a war for manymany years, and small groups of each faction are now on earth, battling mainly over energy resources. These factions include the Good Robot Leader (optimus prime) and the Bad Robot Leader (megatron, who is not actually present at first because he is away on an intergalactic road trip). When a high school student accidentally stumbles onto the war, the autobots end up taking them under their protection, and that's the viewer's key into the robot world. It starts off really large-scale, with attempted invasion with a robot zombie army, but it scales back after those first five episodes and lets you catch your breath. Ratchet is the grumpiest, most lovable old man you've ever seen (so full of sass, oh my god), Starscream is GARBAGE AND I LOVE HIM, Bulkhead is too pure for this world, Bumblebee is an adorable little thing, and Knock Out is SO sassy and fabulous and AMAZING. This continuity is more black-and-white morality than a lot of the others, but it's a really solid way into the franchise, and it goes down real easy! (I have to dash for soccer, but I will do a sperg at you later about other decent entry points to the franchise. But TFP is a very solid choice and lots of fun!)
I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiid! I just about DIED, oh my god. Trufax, I still have it open in another tab so I can go back and re-re-re-re-read what she wrote and have heart attacks over the things she said. I had.... not in a million years expected that much of an enthusiastic response, and it makes me grin so wide my face hurts.
Can anyone point me in the direction of an IDW cyclonus pic where he's holding his sword and the top half of him isn't cut off by a panel? I need to turn him into a meme for tumblr.
He didn't feel like working it for the camera that day. Or explaining why he needed to ride in another enforcer.
@pixels, I'm here to give you a more organized sperging!! Okay, as far as my experience of the franchise goes, your best entry points to the Land Of Robots And Happiness are Transformers Prime (2011 CG animated tv show, 2.5 seasons + movie) Transformers Animated (2007 traditionally animated tv show, 3 seasons) More Than Meets The Eye (2012-present IDW comic book series, 57 issues and counting, part of a larger comics universe) There are pros and cons to all these things. My path was MTMTE comics => TFP => TFA => all the other IDW comics, which worked well for me, but MTMTE can be an overwhelming entry point depending on how you like to consume things. I don't recommend starting with the original TV show. That is something that is best to consume with some combination of 1)alcohol, 2)co-hecklers, or 3)distractions. I've made it through half of one season, but I'm-- I'm too weak to go on--- There are also old Marvel comics out there, that are fondly remembered, but I have a rough time getting into that era of comics, so I haven't touched them yet. There's also a Dreamwave comics series, which I haven't touched, but the art doesn't move me and based on Linkara's review of one issue, my impression is *whistling fart sound of disappointment* So! From oldest to newest, I guess. Though, spoilers, my personal recommendation is TFP => MTMTE => TFA. I love them all a lot, but MTMTE is far and away my favorite of those choices. Transformers Animated: This show is an interesting beast. There's usually a pretty standard formula to transformers universes, where there's a big autobot vs decepticon war, and optimus prime and megatron face off against each other as the heads of their respective factions. This tosses that right out the window and gets experimental, and it's really cool. The autobot vs decepticon war took place in the distant past, and autobots have control of their home planet, Cybertron, while the decepticons are exiled to the outer reaches of space. Optimus Prime is not the head autobot, and he's not even a high-ranking officer. He's teeeechnically an officer, yes, but he is a Youth and also disgraced, and as punishment, he's been put in charge of an inexperienced crew of other bots who have had Issues with their command hierarchy. Also they pick up a stray cyber-ninja in space. The basic plot is that this ragtag crew finds the Allspark (device of variable existence and variable use between continuities, but kinda... the soul of the cybertronian people, I guess?) just as a decepticon ship also finds the thing. A decepticon ship carrying Megatron and other assorted badasses. After some Shenanigans, Megatron and the autobots crash on earth, they're out of it for fifty years, Megatron is definitely super dead (only kinda), and his body is found by a stray scientist and leveraged into super duper technological advancements for the planet. So at its outset, this thing looks like a pretty standard kid show, and it feels like a kid show, but there is a LOT of dark worldbuilding tucked away in this universe. It's made clear at the outset that autobot high command doesn't give a flying fuck about Optimus and his crew, there are hints in the artbook that the entire reason the autobot/decepticon conflict started is that the decepticons are the bots built for war, and after cybertron found peace, the non-war-bots were like haha fuk u just go starve to death or something, and you get an increasingly bleak picture of the dystopian direction cybertron is heading. Even though the show starts kinda slow, after five episodes or so, shit starts to get DARK. And bonus points to this continuity limiting themselves to one (1) human protagonist, and her being a girl of color (plus they do some really cool shit with her) The biggest downside is that there was supposed to be a fourth season, which would have been really epic.... but the show got cancelled to make way for TFP. I thought the end was pretty awesome, but yeah, it could have been awesomer. Upsides are that you get some REALLY strong fic for this verse. And if you're familiar with the transformers premise, this is a really fun, fresh take on things. Also she doesn't get the screen time she deserves, but Megatron's second-in-command is Strika, and she is lorge and in chorge Those are standard-size autobots and most decepticons also run large, the size difference kink for this series is A M A Z I N G. See: Megatron and Optimus Also Jazz is gr9 Transformers Prime: As far as these choices go, this is the most.... usual flavor of transformers universe, while also being much more self-contained than the comic. General premise is autobot vs decepticon war that has lasted a long, long time. Optimus Prime leads a small group of autobots on earth and Megatron Starscream leads a larger force of decepticons, though a lot of this force is made up of faceless mooks. They fight over energy resources, and at first that's the only real driving thing, but the stakes steadily increase as the series progresses and it gets pretty seriously epic. This series is actually inspired by the michael bayverse aesthetic, which... on the one hand, no. But on the other hand, it actually works out pretty well with this animation. Bumblebee is the most obvious change, compared to TFA But yeah, it actually works pretty well, and this Bumblebee is precious. It's interesting, because the TFA characters are definitely more developed and well-rounded than the TFP characters (excepting Megatron, tbh), but TFA sends me in a fic-writing/shipping/art direction much, much harder than TFP does. The series... mmmmkinda the ending wasn't as awesome as it could have been, but I think the whole thing is a really solid experience. There's darkness and depth here too, but it's like, plot-related darkness, none of the dystopia feeling you get in TFA. The first five-episode arc hits you with a lot of stuff very quickly, but then it steps back and takes a breath and lets you catch up. I really love this series a lot, and hey, it is on le Netflix. Plus, a lot of the robots in this series are really distressingly hot. There's Knock Out, who is a gorrrrrrgeous asshole doctor with a hell of a voice (also he totally has a lorge boyfriend and they're super super adorable together) Then there's Soundwave, who is 99% nonverbal, and the BIGGEST ASS-KICKER IN THIS WHOLE THING, TBH (i love him and his long creepy arms so, so much) I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Starscream's incredible fuck-me-now stilettos Annnnnnnd last video I swear, because watching Shockwave in this series was like hahaha WOW, and on this day I truly became a woman. He's got such WEIGHT, and such a deliberate tread, and he's a stone-cold scientist, a mech of LOGIC, and it's basically every single one of my life goals, t b h (this is probably my favorite favorite tfp clip ever) And okay. I know I've hit you with a lot of TFP stuff. But even if you don't follow up with anything else, please. PLEASE check out the indescribably megatron/optimus marriage comics bonnini draws. I just-- Some of these have made me laugh so hard I cried. The clownxnerd tag is great too, but casamegop is just too beautiful for words. (sometimes slightly nsfw) http://bonnini.tumblr.com/tagged/casamegop/chrono AND FINALLY More Than Meets The Eye: Sooooo, this is a complicated whatsit. IDW has been running transformers comics since... 2005? First was Phase One. That followed the basic premise of 'robots in disguise on earth fighting over energy'. At first. There was a set of sequential miniseries with a SHIT-TON of spotlight issues to focus on individual characters, but the spotlights tended to (mostly) tie back into the plot, and then eventually there was an ongoing series, and EVENTUALLY there was a big epic Thing that culminated in the war being over. The decepticons lost, mostly because Megatron is really positively definitely dead, we know he's absolutely deceased this time, guys (nope). Cybertron goes from being a storm-ravaged wasteland to being kinda-liveable, though with an incredible amount of rebuilding needed. Optimus Prime is like I Am So Tired Of This Shit and peaces out (he's kinda bland, but also like... horrifically depressed) and the people left are trying to reintegrate autobots and decepticons and returning neutral cybertronians after four million years of war, and after the cybertronian race has been reduced to like, nothing. (my favorite thing in phase one is last stand of the wreckers, a short miniseries that mostly stands on its own. the basic premise is 'what if the robot grand highblood decided to take over an autobot prison and throw himself a three-year murderparty? it is Good Shit, and there are also prose stories to accompany it that hit you right in the gut. it is SERIOIUSLY good.) So that's where Phase Two starts. This starts with two parallel series, which mostly exist independently, except for one crossover event around issue 20 (Dark Cybertron. I skipped it entirely my first time through, it has some nice character stuff, but the plot is... shaky). The series formerly known as Robots In Disguise (exrid) sticks to Cybertron and later Earth. The series More Than Meets The Eye is where Rodimus goes fuck this shit, I'm out and decides to go on a wacky intergalactic road trip with anyone who wants to join the party. The series is written by JRO, who is an ascended fanboy (I'm pretty sure he wrote an epic, novel-length transformers oviposition kink fic), and it is honest-to-god some of the best, OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD writing I have ever, ever seen. More Than Meets The Eye, Issue 1 There's a large cast, and some (not all) of them have backstory, and if you haven't taken levels in robot identification, it can be pretty hard to tell them apart. There is a robot spotting guide that I wrote somewhere in here that I can dig up if you want it. But like, even if you can't keep track of who's who, I recommend the comic anyways, because the writing is just that good. It's hilarious and lighthearted, but it's also dark and tragic. It made me cry twice (16 and 43, iirc), and honestly, that almost never happens for officially published works. It's so elegantly crafted that reading it makes me flap, and that's even after getting embarrassingly familiar with all the twists and turns :P The transformers franchises tend to have an issue with gender balance in the cast, because it was a toy-driven franchise aimed at boys. So a lot of time the chicks seem to turn out as bland tokens, or do bland token romance things (not an issue in TFP, arcee is kickass). IDW especially had a... weird gender thing that thankfully isn't being lingered on or made a central plot point Spoiler: gender things In the original IDW canon, cybertronians were All Male, with... one unfortunate exception. Arcee is a female bot, but artificially changed into being female, apparently because this one scientist asshole wanted to see if he could do it or something? for reasons? this is mostly a thing in phase one's Spotlight: Arcee, which is Unfortunate for plenty of reasons. As of phase two, she kicks so much ass and has some interesting brainweird going on where I can't quite find a label that satisfies me (autism? autism and... something? i d k), deals with feelings of isolation, but kicks, again, so much ass. I love her. And because the gender thing was an unfortunate writing choice, other writers haven't jossed it, but they're working to improve things. Cybertron has reestablished contact with a bunch of old colonies that have tons of lady bots, so apparently there was something weird that went down on cybertron only. Exrid has a couple major female players right now, and mtmte mainly has Nautica, who is A Joy And A Delight and amazing in every way shape and form and also pretty much canonically autistic. She is the BEST. Autistic engineer lady. How could I not love her? Okay, but before I got distracted. The lady bots are not being distributed as token romance pawns. How did the writers deal with personal interactions of varying degrees of intimacy? By making everything super, super gay. There's a married pair of dudes, who are disgustingly in love with each other (but also have fights and such, it's a well-written relationship). One guy has a missing in action husband. One guy has been widowed three times (there was a lot of death in this war). One guy is motivated by the fact that he doesn't want to work with the people who killed the only mech he ever loved. Two guys who are on... bad terms had a flashback to the pre-war days where they had lots of tension and a podcast interviewing the creators confirmed them to be "closer than friends" (I love this relationship and it's so tragic and I love poking at Prowl and seeing how he still hurts over this). Two other guys are super-duper in love and other people have started being like sooooooooo when are you two gonna get marrrrrrried??? Also, canonical palerom. Canonical poly palerom. We got to see an on-screen poly palerom marriage. It was glorious. And finally, this series has one of the most nuanced treatments of mental health issues I've ever seen. The war they were in lasted for four million years, there were horrible atrocities being done all over the place, the scale of this thing was unbelievable. Nobody is okay, except for the few characters who didn't actually live through it, and... Nautica is mostly okay, I guess? For a while? Ten seems pretty resilient? But even then, I'm kinda like ehhhhhhhhh they're sorta mostly okay. Attempted suicide is a thing that comes up here and there, including near-death from depression-induced self-neglect. I spy with my little eye something beginning with ADHD (3-ish characters). One character has some major anxiety tics, and even explicitly discusses mental health in issue 47. Most of the characters have since kind of trauma, and one of the main characters is a therapist. I wrote a (very subjective) meta post about Prowl and BPD. The LSOTW prose stories go into how one of the characters has SEEERIOUS ptsd (best guess is that it was caused by a battle that literally halved the cybertronian race). Several characters are trying to recover from massive amounts of abuse. One character sure looks like he has OCPD (it ultra magnus). Like, even for Tailgate, an unbelievable sweetheart who missed the entire war, these are his intro panels. He also has panic attacks sometimes. He's such a loving person and is so friendly and outgoing, but... it's absolutely canon that he does not like himself. I'm not doing the best job of describing this part of the series, because it permeates the entire comic. It's just. Holy shit is it well-done. It's not heavy-handed, and there's nothing that got me upset because it was insensitive. It's just a really, really solidly written aspect of an already-amazing series. And also, finally, just check out this set of panels. This is the kind of amazing thing you can expect from this beautiful, beautiful canon
@spockandawe What's your opinion of the RiD 2015 cartoon? I'm really enjoying it, and only like 40% of that enjoyment is purely from Strongarm.
It's fun, and I LOVE Strongarm, Grimlock, and Sideswipe, but Bumblebee is kinda bland, I'm not impressed by the kid, and I hate the dad. I wish they'd done it as Raf grown up and his kid, tbh :/ The villains are kinda hit or miss for me, some of the creature-y ones don't quite seem to fit the transformers aesthetic, and it kinda wears on me, but I sure do love me some Steeljaw and Thunderhoof. I did have a fun enough time with it (also I paid dollars for a grimlock toy and a teeny tiny strongarm), but I think I just got Tired when the obnoxious dad tried to have an engineer-off with the super-advanced alien robots and the show acted like there was any possible way he could be keeping up with them (raf!!! why! isn't! he! raf!!!!!) and I temporarily bailed and forgot to ever go back to it :P I think it was the boxing episode where I left off? So I'm curious to see where the thing with Optimus and Micronus is going, and I've seen some of the characters who show up in later episodes, and those do have me hyped, but I've been short on free time in general and it didn't grip me tight enough to push through that. I do want to go back to it at some point, though!
I've finally read through Spock's story and I don't know what to say about it that other people haven't already said but it's just generally great in every respect. I especially liked Sherma and Momus? They feel really authentic to the setting even though neither of them really appeared in canon much. (and I can't stop wondering about what happened to shockwave in this AU. Canon was bad enough.)
