24) What they wish they could change about themselves

I think he does wish, at times, that he had more raw stopping power – especially when he pits himself against Megatron.  Agility and intelligence count for a lot, but sheer strength does, too, if you’re fighting one-on-one in close quarters.

I think a part of him occasionally wishes to be more overall – smarter, more devious, better.  But he crushes that part down pretty ruthlessly.  Starscream’s failures are and must always be because of other people.

25) What other people wish they could change about them

Megatron wishes Starscream would trust him fully, and commit himself completely to Megatron’s cause, without running his own agenda on the side.  Soundwave just wishes Starscream would put that devious mind to work and think before he says things/does things/disembowels people.  Shockwave doesn’t really understand Starscream’s resentment of him, and wishes he would just… stop feeling like that.

9) What calms them when they are upset

Nautica wants to retreat into herself when she’s upset.  Time alone, especially with a book that can serve as a distraction, or making lists to help her get her disjointed thoughts in order, is her go-to.  Sometimes that’s good for her, but sometimes it leads to her isolating herself for longer periods than she should, and she ends up feeling worse.  Solitude has diminishing returns for Nautica.  (Skids leading a delegation to her quarters to cheer her up with their antics may have been annoying at first, but it ended up bringing Nautica out of herself in a way that just staying in there alone couldn’t, after a certain point.)

I also headcanon that Nautica actually enjoys dancing on her own – it helps her feel better and connects her to her frame, when she’s spent too much time in her head.  So dancing with Skids was, to an extent, letting him into a private ritual she has.

11) This character’s favorite piece or pieces of clothing

I don’t think Nautica’s that big on clothing (which… sounds naughtier than it should :P).  Pretty, flamboyant clothing is associated with the Camien obsession with performance.  She makes an exception for her trusty protective gear for when she’s working, which she almost regards as an old friend.

___________

4) What they would do if they had one month to live

I think, to an extent, we saw it in Empire of Stone – not that Drift thought he was going to die immediately, but that he’d stopped caring, and stopped thinking of himself as having a real future.  I think if he found out now that he was going to die, he’d do something similar:  head out across the galaxy to right wrongs and help people, wherever and however he can.  I think the difference now is that he’d want his closest friends with him, and there’d also be some emphasis on seeing the beauties of the galaxy before he died (including maybe wonders that he’d seen as a Decepticon soldier, but couldn’t enjoy mid-battle).  I think he’d definitely go meteoroid-surfing with Rodimus, if only for a few hours. 🙂

19) When they feel safest

I have a long-time headcanon that Drift feels safest in a hospital bed, because when he was young, the only time anyone really paid him positive attention and showed concern for him was in Ratchet’s clinic.  And that persisted into the Decepticon ranks, where competition and backstabbing could get vicious (especially among officers), but Hook’s medbay was kind of an agreed time-out, where your rivals weren’t going to be able to touch you.

19) When they feel safest

Wrapped around Tailgate, drawing a sense of safety from his own ability to keep his beloved safe.  (It’s one more reason why hugging Tailgate when he was convinced Tailgate was about to disappear felt so heartbreakingly wrong – Cyclonus didn’t have any way to protect against that threat.)

21) Their fondest childhood memory

I think the peace, and the deep sense of connection to the universe, that came with religious ritual are a very fond memory for young Cyclonus, one that shaped his spiritual outlook for the rest of his life.

24) What they wish they could change about themselves

I think Cyclonus does wish he found it easier to express his deepest feelings.  He doesn’t want to be silver-tongued, exactly – he doesn’t want the ability to lie, or to make his feelings come across as anything other than they really are.  He values being honest.  But I think he does sometimes wish for the eloquence to do his feelings (especially for Tailgate) justice, or rather, he wishes that eloquence came more easily and with less pain when he’s actually face-to-face with the object of his affections.

25) What other people wish they could change about them

… I honestly don’t think Tailgate would change a damn thing, except maybe get Cyclonus to have a bit more faith in himself and his own worth, and to treat himself better (like, say, by trusting his boyfriend with the information that said boyfriend is hurting him in his sleep, and believing that the revelation won’t split them apart, AHEM CYCLONUS).

Whirl wouldn’t change his favourite big purple murderfriend at all, either.

Many of the crew would do something about the singing, but fuck them, they clearly have no taste. 😛

1) Something this character is truly proud of

I think he’s genuinely proud of a lot of his schemes.  The one that springs to mind was his hacking of Earth Defence Command during the hunt for the Enigma of Combination back in ex-RiD; there was just something so smug in the way Prowl related reading the general’s emails while he was in there for the hell of it. 😀  In a broader sense, I think Prowl’s proud of having the kind of mind that allows him to come up with such schemes.  It’s a burden, but also a gift.

2) Who they want to please the most

Hmmm… difficult.  I actually don’t think Prowl wants to please anyone anymore.  At one point, it was definitely Tumbler, but now, pleasing anyone takes a back seat to the Cause.  In fact, I think he’s gotten to the point where if people are happy with him (especially if those people are Optimus), he thinks he’s doing something wrong.

Oh – I do think that while he was bonded to the Constructicons, it felt treacherously good to make them happy (because it would ripple backwards and forwards across the bond and amplify), and he hated that because it was this foreign impulse he felt had been forced on him.

Prowl does have his moments, though.  I think the last person he genuinely wanted to please, even just in a small way, was probably Fort Max, and before that, Springer.  And before that, Ironfist.  (Yes, that was Prowl being manipulative, but he also genuinely thought he was doing a kind thing.)

Even after all these years – I think it’s still Chromedome.  Four million years after they broke up, Prowl still depends on him enough that he tells Chromedome in the first issue of MTMTE, “I can’t do without you.”  And I don’t think he just means for his mnemosurgery talents, either.

I also think Chromedome represents a piece of Prowl’s past, back when he was… more innocent, maybe.  Untainted.  He’s fond of his agents (Jazz, Skids, and Getaway especially), and he’s genuinely friends with Perceptor and seems to have been with Bee, once, and he’s got complex, tangled, intimate relationships with Impactor and Springer and Mesothalus and the Constructicons and Arcee – but all of that came during or after the war.  Those connections were made by cold, calculating Prowl who never really turned off the “what can I use this person for” running tally in the back of his head.  The Prowl who first fell in love with Tumbler was Prowl the sweet, geeky detective who’d never been in a fight, and I think present-day Prowl – as much as he’d consciously deny it – values that link to his past on some level.

17) What they’d sing at karaoke

Oh, gosh.  I kind of think it would depend on how Prowl ended up being persuaded into singing karaoke in the first place, and how overcharged he was. 😀  Either a torch song that gives away waaay too much about how he feels (especially towards Chromedome) – I’m thinking “With Every Breath I Take” from City of Angels, or, more wistfully, Tom McRae’s “Vampire Heart” – or something startlingly filthy to make everyone else in the room deliberately uncomfortable.  With dancing.  And optic contact.

10) How they deal with pain

Windblade’s actually very used to pain, because coping with pain is a big part of a Cityspeaker’s training.  As a Cityspeaker, you’re going to tap into the minds of Titans, and sometimes those Titans will be hurt; if you’re not ready, that pain – writ on such a massive scale – can overwhelm you.  You need to be able to help the Titan control their pain, and to do that, you need to first be able to control it in your own head.  So, when Windblade is hurting, she uses the same meditative techniques that she’d use to help Caminus or Metroplex recognise and cordon off pain.  That’s why she’s so able to power through it.

3) Who depends on them

Rodimus, absolutely – Drift is the counterbalance to Magnus, the voice that reminds Rodimus of what’s good in him.  I think part of what drove Roddy to isolate himself in early season 2 wasn’t just the presence of Megatron onboard, but the absence of Drift and Drift’s infleunce.

I think Ratchet’s come to depend on him, too, more than he’d likely admit.

7) This character’s favorite character

Oooh.  It’s a hard choice among Ratchet, Rodimus, and Wing, but… I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say, quite regardless of shipping, Rodimus is Drift’s favourite person.  Because Roddy was his refuge for a long time, a familiar and quasi-friendly face on the other side of the battlefield, one of the very first to extend a hand to Drift when he switched sides.  His best friend.  And also, Rodimus’s presence is just infectiously fun, like, Drift can relax with him and not have to front, but it’s also a safe space to get up to all the antics he was never able to as a younger mech.  They’re two young (in attitude, at least) mechs who didn’t have much of a youth, because of poverty and then the war.

It would be a very difficult call among his many deployers (except for IDW Soundwave – his is definitely Ravage, although he adores them all, even his one-time horrible boss Ratbat).

Soundwave loves Megs, but he comes second to the deployers.

comingfromastatechampionasshole:

1) Something this character is truly proud of.

2) Who they want to please the most. 

3) Who depends on them. 

4) What they would do if they had one month to live. 

5) A cherished personal belonging. 

6) Something they lost, but would love to have back

7) This character’s favorite character

8) What kind of car they would drive. 

9) What calms them when they are upset. 

10) How they deal with pain. 

11) This character’s favorite piece or pieces of clothing. 

12) How they sleep. 

13) What kind of parent they would be. 

14) How they did in school

15) What cologne or perfume they would use

16) Their sexuality

17) What they’d sing at karaoke

18) Special talents they have

19) When they feel safest

20) Household chore they hate the most

21) Their fondest childhood memory

22) How they spend their money. 

23) What kind of alcohol they drink

24) What they wish they could change about themselves

25) What other people wish they could change about them