Here you can find links to all the parts of my transformers fan-iteration.
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Upon losing the War for Cybertron to the Decepticons, Optimus Prime along with a population of autobot refugees fled the planet. Taking with them all the remaining sparks from the last active spark field on Cybertron. Alll in the hopes of keeping the autobot philosophy and way of life alive somewhere in the cosmos.
Four million years later, the decepticons successfully hunt down the Autobot mothership The Ark and manage to capture a group of young autobots. During Optimus Primes attempt to rescue the younglings, a space bridge is damaged and sucks a group of autobots and decepticons into its portal. Stranding them light years away on a small uncontacted organic world it's inhabitants call 'Earth'.
Stranded with no way home, the young autobot Hot Rod leads a group of younglings; the small yet brave Bumblebee, the recklessly passionate Cliffjumper, the level-headed and empathetic Hound, and the mysterious yet skilled unaligned Mirage. Together, along with their human guide, nature photorgrapher Marissa Faireborn, they hope to find a way to reunite with their fellow autobots and find a way off the planet. All the while avoiding being recaptured by the decepticon Soundwave, and evading detection by Earth's government. Which is slowly becoming aware of the new presence on their planet...
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Season 1
Episode 1: Planetfall part 1
Episode 2: Planetfall part 2
Episode 3: Planetfall part 3
Episode 4: tbd
Bonus Episodes:
(These fics take place in the same universe and are canon to the overall au, but are not directly a part of the main story)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 9/?
Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Cliffjumper/Mirage (Transformers)
Characters: Cliffjumper (Transformers), Mirage (Transformers), Optimus Prime, Optimus Prime (Transformers), Hot Rod (Transformers), Bumblebee (Transformers), Ironhide (Transformers), First Aid (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Hound (Transformers), Kup (Transformers), Swindle (Transformers), Brawl (Transformers), Vortex (Transformers), Rodimus | Rodimus Prime, Sunstreaker (Transformers), Sideswipe (Transformers)
Additional Tags: barbarian au, not sure how else to describe it tbh, cliffraj, fake marriage au, Slavery mentioned, no beta we die like optimus prime, Cyberbarian AU, no primes, Animal Death, Harm to Animals, Animal Attack
Summary:
In an effort to rescue a stranger in their lands from a life of potential slavery, the autobot clan comes up with the brilliant plan.
Spin a tale of love at first sight with one of the Chiefs sons, throw a fake ceremony, shoo out the slavers, and then deal with the stranger afterwards. As long as they didn't do anything like KISS it wouldn't be official.
This was the plan as Cliffjumper understood it.
It's just unfortunate no one quite managed to communicate that to his bride to be.
Sits TF fandom down gently. Please. Please understand that the whole ‘Decepticons as revolutionaries/workers/etc’ thing is new to TF from IDW1 and Aligned onwards and was not in G1. Or anything through TFA, for that matter. It isn’t some inherent part of the canon that must always be there. Please do not ‘correct’ people on this, because you sound. Silly.
Musings on Smokescreen and Prowls relationship in my Transformers Next Generation AU.
This i more to get my ideas down somewhere as I'm writing Not Gonna Write You A Love Song. This may prove to contain spoilers for that fic, so if you're currently reading it and don't want spoilers maybe just add this one to your likes until the fic is finished and you get a chance to read through it XD
Starting with some background information;
The brothers parents/caretakers were both killed, along with most of the praxian refugees (Praxus had been destroyed a long while earlier. In fact Smokescreen was emerged from the praxian spark field the very day the city was destroyed by the decepticons). Smokescreen and Bluestreak were the sole survivors. Prowl having long since parted ways with his parents and working with the autobots at the time. As their only surviving relative, and being one of the only remaining praxians on the planet, wound up taking up guardianship over the two.
A lot happens inbetween the death of their parents and the Ark departing Cybertron, but a lot of that isn't immediately necessary to know. It's really more important to know that, at the time, Bluestreak was still just a bitty (think baby or toddler) while Smokescreen was a sparkling (a child. Think grade school age).
What this amounts to is that Smokescreen still vividly remembers their parents while Bluestreak very much doesn't and this impacts their individual relationships with Prowl as a caretaker.
Prowl, while stolid and even cold on the outside, can be quite concerned and caring on the inside. The problem is that Prowl very much does not express his affections loudly and openly. When caring about someone, Prowl tends to express it through small quiet acts of care that he doesn't advertise.
A good example is Bluestreak; with Prowl quietly listening to his long ramblings and remembering all the details.
With Smokescreen it's a bit less clear, but Prowls frequent preoccupation with keeping him out of trouble, correcting his habits, and trying to make sure he's surrounded by good reliable people who will look after him is an attempt to make sure he has a good reputation, stays healthy, and is properly supported by people who genuinely care for him.
Smokescreen very much remembers their parents to the point that he can't bring himself to see Prowl as anything other than his far older brother who had no part in his life until after their parents deaths. So he has a tendency to subconciously compare Prowls affections to those of their dead parents who were fairly open in their affections. Unfortunately this means he tends to interpret Prowls more quiet and subdued expressions of care as distant, over-corrective, and even controlling.
Contrast with Bluestreak. Prowl is basically the only "parental" figure he can remember and so has no other reference point outside of him. This makes it so that he barely even notices Prowls sternness and 'eccentricities'. He pretty much never questions that Prowl cares and knows best.
All of this means that, despite having a talent for reading people, Smokescreen has never been able to read Prowl. And since Prowl rarely shows affection openly, this makes him have... doubts. Especially since Bluestreak seems to have no trouble elliciting attention from Prowl. It makes Smokescreen think that his role in Prowls life is a matter of obligation because they have the same parents. In spite of these doubts and the strain between them Smokescreen is, in realityy, deeply devoted to Prowl and would do almost anything for him.
However, his doubts are sadly misplaced as the difference in Prowls interactions with Bluestreak and Smokescreen are based almost entirely on the way the two tend to approach Prowl.
Prowl is somewhat literal minded and often times misses what people mean when they subtly imply it instead of stating it outright.
For instance, Smokescreen tends to be subtle in trying to get Prowls attention. Often phrasing things indirectly. So when Smokescreen suggests getting drinks together Prowl interprets that as a suggestion rather than a request for his time and attention. Smokescreen is also much more easily put off by Prowls lack of direct attention.
By comparison, Bluestreak is much more direct in asking for Prowls time and attention. He will outright beg him for his time in that irritating, but effective, way of all baby brothers everywhere.
So i guess in summation; Prowl and Smokescreens relationship is one of two people who very much love and are utterly devoted to one another. But who, because of the differences in their experiences and personality, fundamentally don't understand one another. Leading to the strain between them.
Thankfully, Bluestreak is there to bridge the gap between them. As both Prowl and Smokescreen deeply care about their baby brother and frequently find common ground whenever he's involved. Espcially as Bluestreaks mile a minute speech and social openness makes it easier for the two to interact.
(This maaaaybe has the unintended side effect of making Bluestreak very possessive of his brothers time and attention. And it maaaaybe results in him feeling threatened when other people enter the picture. It may also make him just a smidge spoiled.)
The bad thing about making things up as you go along is that sometimes you find you wanna go back and alter a few details 😭
So I may try to re-edit previous entries in Transformers Next Generation. I don't plan on changing anything major. Just altering a few minor details to better match later entries.
Could also be a good opportunity to fix some grammar issues and such.
Actually while I have my criticisms, the Odyssey is still a pretty good film. Like everything about not hiring Greek actors, Nolan cutting out some of the elements of the original myth, etc sticks in the craw. But while I'll point those issues out I cant lie and say it's not a well shot well acted film because it is.
Look there's plenty to criticize but a .5 star review is just ridiculous and reminds me way too much of those hyper conservative media grifters on YouTube pretending to be critics who insisted the film would flop because Elliot Page played achilles and Lupita Nyong'o played Helen of Troy.
I'm at work. I don't want to be at work. I'm tired and sweaty and my eternal companion the Headache is with me, and my lovely wife and animals and art projects are at home. Where I am not. Because I am at work.
And it beats the absolute hell out of starving to death because of droughts or flooding or crop blight or war or my wife having fucking cancer and being too tired and immunocompromised to work the fields with me.
Which is what would happen, if we were subsistence farming.
Folks, farming is not a side hustle. It’s an entire lively hood based on weather and pork belly futures. I promise you, it is not something most people are resourced or equipped to do.
I grew up on a farm. Not a subsistence farm or an aesthetic urban farm, but a modern family farm.
These assholes never understand how much work -- sweaty, boring, frequently gross work -- is involved with all this. Repairing and maintaining equipment. Feeding and tending animals. Moving literal shit from one location to another, which is surprisingly large percentage of all farm work.
Cutting hay. Raking hay. Fucking baling hay during the hottest days of the year because that's when hay is baled (and when the hay is baled you still have to MOVE IT AGAIN). Being at the mercy of the weather constantly. Ugh. Getting the fUCKING grain burner to work because the rain didn't cooperate and if we don't dry it, it'll rot in the bins before we can sell it.
(I do miss the animals very much. Having ducklings eat out of my hand and calves to bottle feed and a horse to love on made this bearable for me growing up. I'll never have either again because I know the work would break me)
And because there's SOMEONE out there who will be like "well I'd RATHER be moving shit - "
This poster still wasn't subsistence farming. And the society they're in sure as fuck wasn't. They still had access to all kinds of shit that can't be grown on one family farm, and, crucially, they eventually had a choice. (Eventually, because when you're a kid if your family farms, you farm. Hate everything about it? Too bad.)
That "one acre farmstead" is me laughing in actual mediaeval history: we literally know that isn't enough to reliably feed one person and their animal through the entire off-season. No not even with zucchini (and you'd have to just eat zucchini all the time).
Also I ain't going to engage with them directly but I'm petty enough to point and laugh - there's someone in the notes talking about how they "supplemented" their living By Subsistence and I have my head in my hands with the laughter at the absurdity of that sentence.
Some people just don't know what the word "subsistence" means.
If you're "supplementing" your living then you're not subsistence farming, you just have a vegetable garden.
(To people who would rather be moving shit on a modern, non-subsistence farm... you can go and do that. There's a critical shortage of farm workers in most well-off countries. Because the work sucks and as soon as there's other options, two thirds of the farmers and their kids leave.)
Every day I get a kick out of people who get chickens, urban people who get like 5 chickens, who will get up onto a high horse (it's not THEIR high horse) and talk about how they want to be more self sufficient. They don't want to be reliant on Big Ag(tm) to supply their food, so they got chickens for eggs (almost never meat)
Except.
They're not growing the staple food to feed the chickens. They're not grinding it, they're not pelletizing it. They're not growing and processing the bedding used in the coops. They're not making the cartons. They're not making the treats they give, like mealworms or scratch grains. They're not making the medicine they have to use to treat the inevitable parasites or illnesses these birds pick up from being poorly bred. Most of them aren't even getting the chickens from local sources/individual breeders, they're turning to large scale hatcheries to ship them mass-produced garbage chickens. And then they're surprised when they get roosters in the mix, and want to find "pet" homes for all the roosters, don't want to eat them themselves but don't want anyone else eating them too. The people getting meat birds from Big Ag hatcheries often act like the birds are making them self sufficient because they "grew their own" meat....
none of what they're doing is subsistence farming, and it's not even actually self-reliance like they think. Instead of paying for the egg, they're paying for all the other stuff and thinking they get the eggs "free." Maybe some of them realize it's not actually free, and I see some people talk about how they didn't do it for self reliance but so that they know what goes into their food and know the hens are getting humane care. But a LOT of new folks barge in the door talking about self reliance and related things, and I'm sorry but a few chickens in your backyard is not it.
It's not a BAD THING to want to grow SOME of your own food, if you can. It's not a bad thing to want to have a little bit of homegrown food for your family. Having a garden, keeping chickens, keeping quail, even raising smaller meat animals like rabbits (because there's no way you're humanely keeping even small hoofstock like goats on pasture less than an acre- penned goats on bale feed, sure, but not pastured), having a few fruit trees, keeping a beehive... that's good that people want to be hands on with where their food comes from. But I think the point is to be realistic about what you're actually doing, and what it means, and how it doesn't remove reliance but merely changes it.
But here's the thing: society was pretty much invented so we wouldn't have to rely on only our own skills and luck. We made society so that we could rely on each other, and not have to do Every Single Thing by ourselves to survive. We made society to help each other, and to make things easier for ourselves.
It's actually perfectly okay to rely on other people. We're humans, it's kind of our thing. Relying on one another isn't the problem, and subsistence farming/total self-reliance isn't a feasible solution for the world we're in.
Bringing this back. Nearly a year old reblog comment from me.
Been growing vegetables and herbs in big pots for a few months now. I'm enjoying it and its great to have fresh herbs and veggies to eat. While it can help save a bit of money, it is NOT something me or my household are gonna be able to subsist off of long term.
Look gang, I encourage people to grow stuff at home. There's stuff you can even manage to grow effectively in something like an apartment. It really helps to have a little bit of greenery around to take care of, especially if its something you can harvest.
But NEVER kid yourself.
"It takes a village" is not a phrase that's only about child rearing. Farming is an aspect of modern civilization that requires some kinda work force to be effective. It's literally a result of human cooperation.
So, yeah, get yourself a vegetable garden if you've got the time, energy, and money to start one up. Just don't go burning any bridges with broader society.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 8/?
Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Cliffjumper/Mirage (Transformers)
Characters: Cliffjumper (Transformers), Mirage (Transformers), Optimus Prime, Optimus Prime (Transformers), Hot Rod (Transformers), Bumblebee (Transformers), Ironhide (Transformers), First Aid (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers), Hound (Transformers), Kup (Transformers), Swindle (Transformers), Brawl (Transformers), Vortex (Transformers), Rodimus | Rodimus Prime
Additional Tags: barbarian au, not sure how else to describe it tbh, cliffraj, fake marriage au, Slavery mentioned, no beta we die like optimus prime, Cyberbarian AU, no primes
Summary:
In an effort to rescue a stranger in their lands from a life of potential slavery, the autobot clan comes up with the brilliant plan.
Spin a tale of love at first sight with one of the Chiefs sons, throw a fake ceremony, shoo out the slavers, and then deal with the stranger afterwards. As long as they didn't do anything like KISS it wouldn't be official.
This was the plan as Cliffjumper understood it.
It's just unfortunate no one quite managed to communicate that to his bride to be.
The funny thing about Starscream, and that i think is an enduring quality of his character that's helped make him popular, is that he is both a cunning and competent threat AND a comedic butt monkey who is never as impressive as he thinks he is.
And that seems contradictory to some people but I think, when done in right combination, it makes for some of the best portrayals of his character.
See, I think Starscream is a character I could classify as having what I call Vegeta Syndrome™ named, of course, for Vegata from DBZ to describe a character who is smart and confident and is capable of being a real threat but whose personal vices (stuff like pride, ego, impatience, selfishness, etc) result in their own downfall.
Basically i think Starscream, in various continuities, is intelligent, cunning, has the public speaking skills to sway people to his side, and is a genuinely powerful fighter. All traits that make him a genuinely deadly threat. But because he's also narcissistic, cowardly, egotistical, and frequently impatient he frequently fails in what he sets out to do by his own hand.
I don't even think I'm the first person to notice this. I swear I've seen other fans point out that if Starscream had someone like Soundwave's personality he'd be a MUCH deadlier threat that was way harder for the autobots, let alone megatron, to put down.
But the thing is that him being like this is what makes him stand out amongst the other decepticons! He has a degree of bombastic personality that a lot of the typical members of decepticon command tend to not have. And as an antagonist, the fact that Starscreams failures are frequently self inflicted is oddly satisfying. LIke, you the audience know that if he had just kept his ego in check or been more patient or had been willing to brave a dangerous situation, he'd have come out on top. The fact that he doesn't is a clear character flaw that makes his failures feel deserved.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 12/?
Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bumblebee & Cliffjumper & Hot Rod & Hound & Mirage (Transformers), Bumblebee & Cliffjumper (Transformers), Cliffjumper & Hound (Transformers), Hound & Mirage (Transformers)
Characters: Hot Rod (Transformers), Mirage (Transformers), Cliffjumper (Transformers), Bumblebee (Transformers), Hound (Transformers), Chip Chase (Transformers), Marissa Faireborn (Transformers), Carly Spencer (Transformers), Sparkplug Witwicky (Transformers), Spike Witwicky (Transformers), Marissa Faireborn, Sparkplug (Transformers), Agent William Fowler, Rodimus | Rodimus Prime
Additional Tags: Bee and Cliff are twins, Hound should not have to deal with this, Mirage is done with everyones shit, Hot Rod is in way over his head, Marissa deserves a drink for having to deal with this, Fan Continuity, Fan AU, Canon-Typical Violence, First Contact, necessary filler ocs, no beta we die like optimus prime
Series: Part 5 of Transformers - Next Generation
Summary:
Marissa Faireborn was ready to begin the next chapter of her life as a professional photographer. For once her life was going to focus entirely on herself. Where she wanted to go. What she wanted to do. And the first step was photographing the tricentennial meteor shower.
Then the stars fell from the sky.
The autobot younglings awaken to find themselves stranded on an alien organic world. With no way to contact the autobot fleet, and uncertain if anyone is looking for them, they could really use a knowledgeable native guide...
I think the fandom at large needs to let Red Alert be more of a badass. I tend to see his anxiety and paranoia played up a lot more with little regard that his preparedness is there for a reason.
Like you could even have a whole running gag of Red Alert having just the right, yet improbable, thing for any given situation with him constantly commenting that it "pays to be prepared".
As I work on the next chapter for Episode 3 have some fun character trivia for some of the members of the cast of Transformers Next Generation.
Mirage is fairly religious. He believes wholly in Primus and in the Thirteen original Primes and tends to pray when he's in dire straits. A lot of his religious views are derived from the beliefs held by his grand-progenitor and clan and are based on many of the beliefs held during pre-war Cybertron. This has led to Mirage having certain views regarding things like outliers.
Interestingly enough, Hot Rod is also somewhat religious. At bare minimum he wholly believes that Primehood is conferred by the will of Primus himself.
Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Hound meanwhile tend to treat the story of Primus as a distant legend. Not having been raised by particularly religious bots nor ever having been on Cybertron they have far less of a connection to Primus and the Thirteen as concepts outside of stories.
Hot Rod has a huge crush on his sparkling-hood friend, Arcee.
Bumblebee loves games and tends to be good at video games in particular.
While rough and tumble, Cliffjumper secretly harbors a sweet natured soft side that only comes out to those he's closest to.
While Hound is easily the kindest youngling in the group, he has no sympathy for any decepticon regardless of the situation.
Mirage develops a quick love for earthling romance media and becomes a bit of a hopeless romantic as a result. Even beginning to dream of making such a romantic connection himself one day.
Marissa is neither particularly religious nor atheistic. Her attitude is largely laid back when it comes to the powers that be. Preferring to focus more on the here and now rather than some future afterlife.
I’ve seen multiple “Best Death Personification” brackets on this website, and every time the Discworld fandom turns up en masse to vote for Discworld Death, and it’s always deserved, and it’s always funny. A horde of book nerds rising up in defence of their collective grandfather.
Actually speaking of tags should I be tagging every fic in my au with Smokescreen in it given I've already established him as a chainsmoker and will be establishing him as a borderline alcoholic? Like just throw on a drug use tag or something?
I know ao3 has two separate tags for both Hot Rod AND Rodimus even though they're the same character but generally does the fandom stick to that difference when looking for fics or no? Like I have Hot Rod as a major central character in my au but since he's specifically NOT a prime does that mean I just don't tag him as Rodimus?
Like I try to dig through tags on ao3 to get an answer but it's not, like, consistent.
first time actually! i watched the first few episodes once but this time i'm watching it with a friend and we fully intend on watching until at least the end of season 1 >:]
it hopefully will :D honestly considering how eventually i'll run out of transformers material to watch one day i figure we'll probably end up watching s2 eventually.
we've JUST finished the first 3 episodes. theres a lot of core character stuff that im seeing here that explains a lot of fanon. ALSO: spike's diary entries so far are some very uh. my friend has been joking that he's writing letters to princess celestia.
