I'm currently looking for ref while browsing this blog and an interesting detail caught my eye!
minimus did not show his original alt form (idk animal), but the alt mode of his spark brother, dominus, was shown. even their original appearance in the form of a mech is different, which fans often note and draw alt mode minimus more "smooth" and not so "fluffy"?? but looking at your drawings (or at least the ones your friend??) alt mode nitrous is very similar to alt mode dominus. I don't know if it was an accident, but even so, my thought seemed sweet to me and I wanted to share it! (minimus loves his brother very much and their fate is killing me and the child rodmims, which even resembles dominus by 1% (GENES MOTHERFUCKING), is quite touching to the heart spark and leaves warmth in the chest!!
photos to compare the appearance so that you can immediately refer to while reading!!
a cat to attract attention.
WEHEHEHE it is an intentional detail yes >:3c
My fun hc that definitely has no implications on poor minimus (a lie) is that the Default turbofox altmode looks like the altmode 113 youve put in the ask. Like i think thats what a bog standard wild turbofox looks like, and is what i believe dominus looked like after whatever the djd did to him
As a side hc, i believe dominus would have been the white, black, and orange/yellow colour as we see he is in the functionalist universe even in his alt mode. I like to think the djd truly stripped him of everything that made him Him including his paint job, his house insignia, and any other distinct features he might have had. And the afterspark image of him was just not accurate for some reason idk why but somehow thats what was conjured by their memories i guess?? I mean we have seen that its not 100% accurate like the whole skids thing yknow
Ok back to the main answer, so in this universe, minimus would originally have looked more like that. He would have retained his colours, but he would have had more kibble 'fluff' like his brother did. But!!! When he took on the role as ultra magnus, they took that away from him. Tyrest had him 'shaved', both so he would be a better fit for the magnus armour, and also so that he would lose whatever identity he originally had. Him taking on the role as ultra magnus isnt just a job, its his life now. Nothing of what he was must remain (ignore the fact that the tyrest arc in the comics kinda suggests that tyrest never knew that there was a smaller mims in the mims. Lets pretend he forgor ok)
Post ultra magnus armour inheriting, irreducible minimus looks like what we see in the comics- kinda bald, no visibe turbofox kibble. So if he were to transform, he would look very smooth and small, and actually have no tail (THEY DOCKED HIS TAIL)
So in this universe, actually, in the middle of a lot of minimus drama and internal conflict etc etc etc that has yet to be unlocked, he has to actively decide that, even tho he has learnt his entire life that being a turbofox is BAD and NOT ALLOWED due to functionalism and his role as ultra magnus and everything else, he actually wants his tail back. He has to make the decision to go to ratchet to physically request the attachment of a tail if he wants it back
He does eventually do that cos he now has a turbofox kit that he wants to be able to connect with the best he can (dont worry about the 5 million trauma he relives when he sees that he condemned his offspring to an unspeakable fate with his cursed altmode). He doesnt get the rest of the fluff back, but his root mode will have some extra kibble (or just an extra tail) after he gets the tail back
But yea hehe all that aside!! Nitrous has a more standard turbofox build, which serves to remind minimus of his brother, and also gives him a very rodimus silhouette which i think is fun!!
