heya DC, are you still doing the transformers fandom asks meme? If so, I’m pretty curious about 7, 11 & 17

Sure thing!

7. Who is your favorite Decepticon?

Ooooh. This is a tough one, but I think it’s got to come down to Starscream. He’s just always amazing to watch, in any continuity – clever and troublesome and vicious and complicated, and sometimes loving, but often in screwed-up ways. Starscream was one of my first faves in Transformers and one of my most enduring. (And I love love LOVE his charm and his scheming in IDW.)

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

The Transformers: The Movie! It’s terrible and I love it. It’s not even a movie. It’s like three completely unrelated G1 episodes in a trenchcoat. It’s like the dreams you have after eating too much cheese. But it has sweeping, epic moments, every inch of it is quotable, I will always adore Rodimus, and I’m never bored watching it. (Plus. I mean. The competition is the Bayverse films and Predacons Rising, and I know which of all of those I’d rather rewatch.)

17. Favorite version of Starscream?

This may be even tougher than “favourite Decepticon”. 😀 I’m going to say IDW, because he’s just fascinating – seductive and Machiavellian and funny and wildly ambitious and maybe, sometimes, even a little bit conflicted… but that’s not going to stop him from rocking up two seconds later to unveil some new master plan for getting everyone to worship him. Plus, the way he’s drawn in some of those comics is jaw-droppingly beautiful, I mean, come on. 🙂

curveball: 39, 18 & 35 for Tarn/Rodimus (for the ship meme. tho feel free to ignore this if the pairing is too out there for your tastes)

decepticonsensual:

if the pairing is too out there for your tastes

AHAHAHAHAHA oh bless you. 😀

18.

What are their dates like? How long do/did they date? Do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?

I’m just picturing Tarn’s ideas of classy seduction running afoul of Rodimus’s passion and disregard for The Rules at every turn – like, Rodimus sweeps all of Tarn’s careful place settings to the floor so he can ravish him on the table, or Tarn brings out his “first editions” and Roddy’s just like, “Oh, wow, super creepy! Tell you what – why don’t we get away from your inexplicable corpse collection and go racing instead?” and Tarn is like I’m a TANK.

So, their dates take some doing before they find a rhythm, is what I’m saying.

I think it would be one of those things that starts as a secret indulgence – this clandestine little affair that’s never supposed to last for more than a few weeks, but they both keep coming back for more. And more. And eventually, their meetings aren’t always about seducing one another, and Rodimus gives Tarn’s music a try even when Tarn isn’t there, and Tarn buys the kind of engex Roddy likes, and holy hell when did this become a relationship. They’re never really together for long enough at a stretch to need to take a break, although sometimes Tarn does need to go for a drive to escape Roddy’s relentless energy.

35.

Do they bring out the best in each other, or the worst? Do they have a fatal flaw?

They should bring out the worst in each other. Rodimus is wildly impulsive, Tarn has all the impulse control of a turbofox in heat, and they’re both capable of holding murderous, eternal grudges.

But.

I think they challenge each other in fascinating and needed ways. I think that even if Tarn hated Rodimus, he’d treat him as a real rival rather than a stupid child, and Rodimus, in turn, would force Tarn out of his comfort zone. And their impulses don’t really feed off each other; instead, Tarn might force Roddy to think strategically, and having Rodimus around might make Tarn less able to reach for easy answers and easy comforts (transformation, nuke). I think that whether as enemies or lovers, they’d push each other to be better. And now I’m sad that any interaction between the two was eclipsed by Tarn and Megatron’s relationship (and Rodimus and Getaway’s) in the comic.

39.

Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first? When did they realize they were in love?

There are basically two ways I can see this relationship starting (well, three, but the third would technically be Glitch/Hot Rod, which isn’t the ask). The first would be during the war, with Tarn capturing or cornering Rodimus and trying to bargain with him for the safety of the unit Rodimus leads. Tarn thinks he’s going to get a steady source of information or (preferably) t-cogs, and hopefully also a pretty new Autobot toy to play with. He doesn’t reckon with Rodimus, though, who refuses to betray the Autobots but is fascinated by Tarn, and basically turns things around and pushes right into Tarn’s life and space. Tarn essentially bluescreens – nothing in his life has prepared him for being enthusiastically pursued by a gorgeous Autobot who’s not afraid of him, and who would love to convert him (but is very happy to boink him in the meantime). In this scenario, I’d imagine that Rodimus was the one who just strolled up to Tarn, brushed past the twin fusion cannons, and kissed him.

The other option would start out similar, in terms of Tarn attempting to make a bargain, but the bargain in this case would be Megatron’s life in exchange for lives of the Lost Light crew – basically, if the Lost Light were better defended and Getaway’s coup hadn’t happened, and Tarn wasn’t confident that the DJD could take the ship with Megatron commanding it. This would probably involve Tarn at his most seductive and manipulative, finding all of Rodimus’s levers – praising him, talking about how Megatron was toxic to them both, sympathising with the experience of being chosen and then abandoned by an adored leader without really ever knowing what you did wrong. If he caught Rodimus early enough in his partnership with Megatron, I think Rodimus would be tempted. In this case, Rodimus would probably also initiate the first kiss, but only after Tarn all but dared him – and hitched his mask up at least enough to expose his mouth…

(Glitch/Hot Rod would be a pre-war ship, with the two meeting either before Glitch left Orion’s side, or in Megatron’s ranks when Hot Rod was contemplating joining them. I just think Glitch badly needed friends and validation, and Hot Rod seems like the type who might watch his power in action and go, “Cool, let’s use that to go toss Senate tanks around!” rather than looking at Glitch with suspicion.)

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

First Lines Meme!

Rules: List the first lines of the last 10 stories you published.

Look to see if there are any patterns that you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any! Then tag some friends.

@warlordenfilade tagged me, and I’m also tagging anyone who wants to give it a try!

Allons-y!

1. Ultra Magnus had prepared for this.
– And Mean It

2. “Skids, right?“
– Five Times He Says Your Name

“First rule,” the big guy rumbles, “goes like this: The squad is the squad.”
– Masquerade

A photograph, tucked in a secret compartment deep in Prowl’s files, inaccessible to the rest of the world.

– We That Are Young

Three.

– A Fool Unto Himself

“So.”

– Auld Lang Syne

His wheels skitter across the ice, struts too weak to grip.

– This Thing of Darkness

“That’s it. Exactly like that. Rung, you’re a natural.”

– Law and Psychological Disorder

“Hello, Swerve. No.”

– Where Everybody Knows Your Shape

10.

It isn’t forbidden, and this is what Windblade finds herself clinging to.

– Transubstantiation

—————-

Wow. I like my short opening lines, don’t I?

I think the common thread is that for all of them, I try to create a small, immediate mystery. The “mystery” might be solved in the next sentence, but hopefully it gets people to the next sentence. What I usually do is leave out some vital bit of information, which could be:

The speaker – very frequent, apparently. The only big of dialogue up there that actually has an identified speaker, he’s only referred to by a nickname.
Whom the narration is describing.
The significance of a detail that seems ordinary, but is being framed like it’s important. (The fact that Prowl owns a photograph is unremarkable; the fact that it’s the first thing mentioned in the story, and that what’s mentioned about it is how much security it’s under, that’s odd.)
Some key noun that’s been replaced by a pronoun, as if the reader has come into the middle of the story and has to be filled in on what’s happened. (What did Ultra Magnus prepare for? What isn’t forbidden? I feel like I’m a contestant on Cybertronian Jeopardy all of a sudden.)
What the hell is going on, in a couple of cases. 😀 (A Fool Unto Himself seriously just starts with the word “Three.”)

This is an interesting exercise! I don’t think I would have been able to explain before this why I wrote some of those lines that way.

For the game, Ambulon, First Aid and Ratchet?

I’m totally going drinking with Ratchet. The Party Ambulance rides again! 😀 (The one downside is that he will absolutely drink me under the table and then still be dancing at five in the morning, while I groan faintly from the floor.)

Cuddle Ambulon, who could use a cuddle and reassurance that he’s lovely as he is, and make out with Aid. Did I mention having a bit of a thing for masks? 😉

Uhh, TFA Megatron and Blitzwing, and IDW Prowl for the meme?? (Sorry, these ones are really random)

Random is great! It’s fun to get to compare characters you wouldn’t ordinarily have a reason to think of together. 🙂

Definitely getting drunk with Blitzwing. I mean, that is quality hijinks right there. I imagine Icy just gets quiet and a little giggly and eventually tips over; Hothead very definitely wants to punch people; and Random? Random would be epic.

It’s a tough call between the other two, but I’ve been hoping someone would give Prowl a damn hug for approximately ten years’ worth of comics, so I guess this is the day I volunteer. 😀 And kiss Megatron, the mech who always manages to look smouldering, even in his own Elite Guard wanted poster.

For the game: Rung, Drift and Cyclonus

Oh, wow, all three of these guys need cuddles. I’m gonna need a bigger blanket. 😀

Rung probably needs a snuggle the most, though, so cuddle Rung. And then… as fun as drinking with Drift would be, for a while, I don’t think Drift is a very happy drunk once he starts to get into genuine-lack-of-control territory. I think that unless it’s a setting where he feels very safe, it’s easy for him to slip down into a nervous unhappiness because he’s so convinced that he has to have himself under control at all times to be a Proper Autobot.

Kissing Drift, on the other hand… yes. Yes, I am HERE for that. 😉

Kissing Cyclonus, meanwhile, is likely to get me punched in the face by a super-strong minibot, and I think getting drunk with Cyclonus would be a hoot. Like, I have it in mind that he just gets more and more deliberately dignified as the night goes on, that the less he understands what’s happening around him, the more he draws himself up to his full height and gazes about himself disdainfully, and then… probably around two in the morning…

THE SINGING.

It is extremely loud and incredibly close, and it does not stop. The rest of you pass out and wake up and decide to go for brunch, and Cyclonus is still serenading Cybertron, Gleaming In The Heavens.

TFA Prowl, IDW Prowl, and RID Prowl.

Ooooh. 🙂 All the Prowls, just how I like it!

I think maybe get drunk with RiD Prowl. He’s so very dedicated and so very buttoned up; I just want to help him relax and let loose a bit. (If he wants that; we could end up having a very civilised evening together at a Cybertronian wine bar instead, and that would be nice, too. :)) Plus, I get the feeling he might be a drunk dancer, and that I gotta see.

Cuddle TFA Prowl, which I imagine is a bit like cuddling a cat (that is, entirely on his terms; he’s not often in the mood for it, but when he is, you need to grab your opportunity!), and make out with IDW Prowl because fuck me that mech is hot. Prowl with the head spikes and the cruel mouth…