Incidentally, my friends and I spent Thanksgiving feasting and playing a whole bunch of games, one of which was Fake Artist Goes To New York:  the idea is that you all collectively draw something by passing the paper around and each adding one line.  You’ve all been given a piece of paper with the same prompt on it, except for one person, who is the “fake artist” and has no idea what the drawing is supposed to be.  The object is to spot the fake (or avoid detection if you are the fake).

At one point, I said, “I’d be so tempted to just write “fake” on all of the slips of paper for one round, just – see what the drawing ended up being.”

My friend stared at me for a moment, her eyes going really wide, and then:

Her:  YOU ARE THE TRUE CHAOTIC NEUTRAL.

Me:  *tearing up*  That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.

For the Transformers ask thing: 8, 9, and 24! c:

8. If you were a transformer, what would your alt mode be? Why?

Shuttle!  Like my Cybertronian alter ego. 😀  Basically, a flier, but something more big and stately than fast.

9. RIRFIB or RIBFIR?

I know this has been a debate since the very earliest days of the fandom, and it always tickles me when it comes up.  Really, the important thing is that whichever combination we prefer, we respect each other’s preferences and look Frenzy is fucking RED.

Blue is soothing.  It’s the colour of the ocean.  Of a cloudless sky.  Of a true Prime’s optics (it’s a sign of affinity).  People don’t go into a blue rage.  It’s not a thing.

Does any of that sound compatible with a drill-wielding maniac named FRENZY?

I rest my case.

24. Would you rather meet Peter Cullen or Frank Welker?

I’d love to meet either of them, but I think I have to come down on the side of Frank Welker, because a) Megatron, b) even outside of Transformers he’s a legend in the industry and c) I genuinely think I’d be too nervous meeting Cullen.  If I screwed up I’d feel like I had Disappointed Optimus Prime.

Hey DC! Hope you’re doing okay. How does 25, 29 and 30 sound for the TF asks?

25. Who is better: Blaster or Soundwave?

Soundwave:  Superior.  😀

Blaster is a sweetheart, but Soundwave is fascinating – the “emotionless” spy who’s anything but, behind the mask; the host with a psychic link to a motley crew of symbiotes, whether by choice or not; the revolutionary who, as much as Prowl did, became a monster in the shadows for the sake of the Cause.  I love him.

29. Crossover you want to see?

I would actually love to see a crossover with Atomic Robo.  Those comics frequently touch on the fact that Robo, as the only one of his kind, feels lonely – not because he’s a robot (people are people, who cares if they’re made of metal?), but because he’s functionally immortal.  He’s seen so many generations of friends and allies come and go that he now takes years before he commits to learning the names of new Tesladyne staff.  What if he met some folks who are not only immortal, but so ancient that he feels like a mayfly compared with them?  You could have an Autobot team, say, hanging out on Earth for a few hundred years.  And they totally remember stuff like the radio serials Robo loved when he was young.  And they find him utterly adorable, like, they keep cooing over the fact that he’s tiny and all big blue optics and rounded edges and no inbuilt weaponry, like a sweet little civilian, which the robot whose strength outstrips any human’s and who routinely hits monsters with Buicks has some trouble getting used to.

And then he meets the Cybertronian scientists, and ohhhhh godddddd this is like ten thousand Christmases.  For everyone involved.

(I also want to see Brainstorm encounter Doctor Dinosaur, because they would immediately start collaborating on stuff to make reality swallow its own tail.  They’re both obsessed with time travel and crystals and the weirdest possible science. :D)

I would also pay cash money for an Atomic Robo series penned by James Roberts, because he would tease out all those tragic undertones and make us weep without ever losing the humour of the series.  Brian Clevinger could take a turn on the TF comics and just do a miniseries of TITANIC ADVENTURE!

30. What do you like about the fandom?

I love how varied the fandom is and the fandom experience is (since not only people’s favourite canons but the way in which they interact with canon differs hugely – some are reading, some are watching, some are collecting, etc.).  I love that that means there are very few corners of this vast and multifaceted canon that are not someone’s favourite thing, somewhere.  Mention an obscure character in a series that was never dubbed in your primary language, and three people will immediately rock up to tell you how cool that character is.  I love the close relationships many of the creators have with the fandom, and how kind and generous many people on both the creator and fandom sides are towards one another (there’s been some asshole behaviour, but the awesomeness has outweighed it).  And, of course, I adore how creative the fandom is.

2, 15, and 29? :)

Thanks!

2. What was your first experience with transformers?

I actually discovered Transformers as an adult – through TVTropes, of all things.  So, technically, my first experience was clicking through all the Five Man Band/Five Bad Band tropes and reading the one describing the Big Bad’s second-in-command (the Dragon) and reading something like, “If the Dragon wants to overthrow the Big Bad, they may be The Starscream.”

And I was like, The fuck is a Starscream?

And the rest is history. 😀

My first proper experience of canon was watching a G1 episode – “Starscream’s Ghost”, which was, like, the worst possible place to start even though it remains one of my favourite episodes.  I was SO CONFUSED.  Who’s this dude?  Where’s Optimus Prime?  Where’s Megatron?  Where the hell is Charr?  Is THAT Starscream?  Why’s he dead?  Etc.  (But hey, it’s still the episode with Starscream and Octane giggling through their fake-torture scene, Octane being so terrified he manages to turn into all three of his modes at once so he’s a winged tanker truck with a head sticking out of it, and Cyclonus bellowing at his enemy to “stop cowering like a pocket computer”, and for those things I will always love it.)

15. Favorite transformers memory?

Oh, gosh, that one’s tough – I’ve met so many amazing people and had so many fantastic conversations and discovered so much mindblowing fanwork through this fandom, it would be impossible to say, but if I stick just to favourite memories of experiencing canon itself?  Weirdly enough, probably sobbing my guts out over Rewind and Chromedome in MTMTE 16.  It was such a visceral moment, like, I still remember where I physically was when I read that issue, because it hit me so hard.  And that sobbing was something I’d needed to do for a long time, I think.  That was the issue that unlocked something for me.

Second would probably be the first time I read Last Stand of the Wreckers and found out that you COULD have that kind of storytelling – heartbreaking, layered, symbolic, political, meaningful – in a Transformers story.

29. Crossover you want to see?

I want some proper stories about Transformers in historical/mythological wars.  Not this The Last Knight shit with wehhhhyy, I’m Merlin, I’m drunk, come fight a war for me for no reason okay bye, but one or two rogue Cybertronians from each side using a human conflict as a proxy war, with all the politics that comes along with that.  Transformers in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Transformers in the last days of the Roman Republic.  Transformers in the Arthurian legends, sure, why not?  But given proper attention!

TRANSFORMERS FANDOM ASKS

mako-doodles:

earth-style-jets:

1. When did you join the fandom?

2. What was your first experience with transformers?

3. What was the first show you watched? First episode?

4. What was your first transformers figure?

5. Autobots or Decepticons? Why?

6. Who is your favorite Autobot?

7. Who is your favorite Decepticon?

8. If you were a transformer, what would your alt mode be? Why?

9. RIRFIB or RIBFIR?

10. Favorite transformers show/game/comic?

11. Out of all the movies (including g1 and Predacons Rising), which is your favorite? Why?

12. Favorite transformers figure?

13. How many transformers figures do you have?

14. If you could meet any character from any show, who would it be?

15. Favorite transformers memory?

16.Favorite combiner team?

17. Favorite version of Starscream?

18. Who do you hope appears in the next transformers show?

19. Favorite transformers pairing?

20. Least favorite transformers pairing?

21. Least favorite Autobot?

22. Least Favorite Decepticon?

23. Least favorite transformers universe?

24. Would you rather meet Peter Cullen or Frank Welker?

25. Who is better: Blaster or Soundwave?

26. Who is the most hot transformer?

27. Do you read any transformers comics? What do you think about them?

28. Who has better boobs: Soundwave or Shockwave?

29. Crossover you want to see?

30. What do you like about the fandom?

I’ll be at work today, but I’ll be able to answer questions afterwards :3