Revamped the basic cypher used for Transformers to make a new Phonetic Cybertronian Alphabet!
UPDATE: I made a font! Check out pic #3 for a helpful typing guide!
THE CASE MATTERS! Uppercase and lowercase letters have different sounds and functions! And don’t forget to double your $$ and !!, or you’ll get a decimal.
Click here to get the font! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
If you’d rather use the chart, here’s a quick guide (pic #2):
If you’ve never used a cypher chart before, it works like a multiplication table. Just remember: Down, Over. Down to the row with the first sound, over to the column with the second sound. Stand alone, and special consonants, are on the right. Y, W, and 1st and 2nd diphthong sounds are at the top.
Headcannons:
I like to think that Standard Cybertronian is basically Iaconian and that they “unified” the various languages of Cybertron into their writing system after they expanded their control planet wide. The only other Cybertronian languages to survive are Vosian and Under Cant.
Under Cant originated with slaves needing a way to communicate in secret. I like to imagine it’s similar to Morse Code, but with 3 variants instead of 2. Long tones (like hums or buzzes), short sounds (like beeps and clicks), and vibratos (like growls or revs). After joining the Decepticons, Vosians adopted their own version of this (Seeker Cant) with whistles, chirps, and trills.
Bumblebee actually uses Under/Seeker Cant and switches between them depending on his mood! (Seeker Cant sounds happier and Under Cant sounds Mad) :)
the thing that bugs me the most about the censoring of the internet to please advertisers is like… tv shows aren’t having less sex and violence in them. movies aren’t having less sex and violence in them. HBO can do eight seasons of graphic murder and nudity and it’s the cultural phenomenon of the decade, but I can’t show a nipple on tumblr or talk about death on tiktok. it’s not that the internet is becoming “safer,” it’s just making these topics a privilege only for very rich people, and putting it behind a paywall for everyone else.
Skydive always had a cool jet design. No one else has sweet lightning decals. I once again split the tail fin for maximum wall leaning action. Also slapped his wings on his back instead of his legs. Got to keep all the siblings matchy matchy. Besides, his jet backpack would just look sad without them.
Only one more to go! So exited. Soon all the siblings will be done. Maybe I’ll even do Superion! :)
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how Transformers would classify their sexuality / gender, because I, like many people, think of them as all having the same bits and bobs. So, I thought maybe they would use a system based more on what they prefer to use / whether they’re dom or sub.
Since Mech and Femme are already widely used for “male” and “female”, I kept them as Top and Bottom. I then added Reversible and Ace options.
I enjoyed making Slingshot a bit more masculine than the previous two. Gotta mix things up, ya know? Hopefully I’ll stay in a productive mood and get Skydive and Silverbolt done relatively soon. :)
Once again I added more of the main jet color into the base mode to keep things balanced. I split the tail fin into two parts for the remodel which gives Fireflight a bit of a TFP-Starscream’s-double-wing look. I imagine they can lay flat against the main wings whenever needed, but I wanted to keep them held up/out like the original design.
I loved how mobile and expressive the wings were in TFP. It just makes sense for flyers to be able to maneuver their wings in base mode. Otherwise, you run into the problem of Seekers being unable to roll over if knocked on their backs. And we don’t want that.
