Didn’t felt like going hard on drawing, mostly just a simple look into what my mind goes through when I think about injector sparks for my au.
I’ve talked about them before for how they are even made and the social aspect when it came to their production, but this is to show what it’s like actually growing, since unlike the other ways of being born, this is only one where they have to grow over time
They start off with the CNA injected spark that is pulled from an energon river into a metal shell. In which it stays in it and forms the shell around it to help develop its protoform. Provided the energon from its creators the shell grows in size and develops the main color that the bot would have. Once it’s fully turned into the color and grown into the right size, it will hatch. Little nubs coming out and a full round head poking up seeing the world, though not very well since they haven’t developed pupils yet. They don’t come with a mouth so they continue just latching onto their creators for energon.
Once they reach toddler age they are officially a sparkling in development. They are still very simple but now have developed a mouth to consume energon on their own, same with pupils to properly see in their environment. Their main plating is very thick to protect themselves, but over time it will molt off and harden with what will be its main armor plates.
When they’re about 5-10 years old in Cybertronian (this is subject to change judging by the environment and conditions, so present day RBA injector sparks are able to grow at the same rate as human kids physically and mentally). They are still unable to transform but they do develop all the main structures that will grow with time. They are the most malleable and easy to damage in this time emotionally. They are at their most observant of their environment during this time, any damage done here stays. This continues on once they become teenagers.
By 11 they are able to transform into their preset vehicle form that was ingrained into their t cog at birth. Now able to move in an alternate mode, they require someone to teach them how to use it to the best of their ability. Still it is possible for them to learn completely on their own, though it takes more time and has them fall behind peers their own age despite how few years ago there were in development. Just as their previous stage, they are very different compared to other born sparks. Due to them being born effectively already in a mature body and mind, it’s difficult to make others understand the feeling of being a true child with no way of articulating it to others. This causes many to grow distant and aggressive towards others due to well borns and cold constructs unable to understand the feeling of truly being young and having no control over your environment or situation. Especially for those who manage to have a familial life instead of a factory made and lived life, due to how small that pool was. They are still growing at this stage since they haven’t reached their full heights or strength yet. They effectively are on equal grounds with the average bot but continue growing.
By ~18 they’ve reached their physical maturity being at the physical stage that well borns are. But further experience and mentally wise to having learned and grown over periods of time. They stay this way physically for the large portion of their life, only developing wrinkles and signs of old age further down the line