i think large “pregnant” bellies on carrying mecha are silly (unless you’re specifically drawing or writing softbody/protoform) — i think it makes the most sense for a species with largely unyielding body parts to not change shape so much while carrying
however i am a small belly enthusiast so i tend to think of carriers as probably going through gradual frame microtransformations to allow clearance for a gestation chamber + the sparkling in their torso, where armor is usually very minimal and plating tends to be shown as overlapping to visualize flexibility around the waist
meaning they’ll definitely change shape, but it will be fairly subtle until the final stretch of their carriage, and then they’ll be grumpy, code-addled, overtired, constantly-hungry mecha that are so unused to their frame being ANYTHING like this shape and they feel like a BOATFORMER and are SO OVER IT!! even though theyre really not that big at all










