#tf heave

[elfdragon12]

So I think what I'm drawing for October is "Characters I and maybe 5 other people care about" zines.

A Scrounge and Heave for day 1.

Will this be every day? Probably not. And I will likely work on coloring after October.

Who are some characters that you and maybe 5 other people care about? (If any one of you says Drift or Swerve or someone else that actually has a sizeable following, I'm reaching through the screen and smacking you.)

[elfdragon12]

Each of the Astro Squad giving human OC, Ettie, a little smooch! Because it's cute.

I debated as to whether or not the masked half of the team should have faces underneath. I think the faceplates being their full face was more interesting. Plus! It could be a thing for masked bots in particular to make little sparks for affection! It's cute!

[elfdragon12]

Shock the Grapevine

A short story featuring Barrage and Heave of the Astro Squad plus human OC, Ettie!

Inspired by the @cybertronia-obscura prompt "partner"!

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They'd had many expeditions across the wide expanse of space. Barrage was open in that he enjoyed when things got hostile. The science and discovery was interesting, sure, but he tagged along for action. Deep space was out-of-processor boring most of the time and a good scrape was perfect to keep the fuel lines flowing.

Action was better, however, when his blaster shots actually hit something and not just ricochet back at him! The last shot singed his shoulder tire! The writhing mass of metal, vines, petals, and spines maybe flinched. Maybe. Glitch it all! It was impossible to tell!

All through Barrage's struggles to make these technoplants stop, Heave was flailing around and trying to keep himself from being eaten. His haphazard kicks were about as effective as Barrage's blasters. At least their little human wA safe behind Barrage, even if she was making too much noise.

"What even are those things?" Ettie yelped.

"Morphobots!" Heave's voice strained from his efforts. He never could pass an opportunity to share about aliens. "We're on Fluron-3! We--" He kicked at another vine and missed. "We aren't insecticons, so--" Another kick. "It wasn't supposed to be a problem!"

Barrage's jaw clenched. He shot at the base of a Morphobot. Just maybe, if he could find the right place to shoot--

"Wait!" Ettie's fleshy little hand smacked his hip. "Wait, wait, wait! Morphobots!"

"What about them?" Barrage snapped.

"I know what to do!" She stepped to the side and cupped her hands around her mouth."Heave! Heave! Play my Blaster mixtape!"

Heave struggled to look over his kibble at her. "What?!"

"Trust me! It'll work!"

Music blared to life from his internal speakers. Horns blared and a guitar played an odd rhythm. If Barrage remembered right, it was some sort of ska band from the 90s.

The effect was immediate. Formerly writhing vines stopped. They stuck straight up in the air, dropping Heave to the ground. The little groan he made was just audible over the music. As he stood, the Morphobots actually moved away from him!

"Now slowly back up towards us!" Only Heave's radar could have picked up her shout.

He followed her command, still blasting the music.

"Alright," Barrage snapped, "let's combine and split!"

"Sounds good to me." Heave scooped up Ettie before they transformed around her, kicking up dirt as they sped off.

Ettie sighed as she fell into one of Barrage's seats. "Whew! We're telling Missile to never come back here again, right?"

"I'll be glad to never come back," Heave agreed.

There was a minute of silence before Barrage spoke again. "How'd you know what to do? We're your first space mission, right?"

"Hm? Oh!" She clapped her hands together. "When Heave said they were Morphobots, I remembered a story Blaster shares on his radio show sometimes! Cosmos got some stuck on him when he was coming back to Earty back in the 80s. Blaster's music was the only way to stop them!"

Barrage hummed. "Well, good to know all that time with headphones in does you some good."

"And don't you forget it!"

[elfdragon12]

So I did the pic of just Phaser of the Astro Squad with Ettie, so I did another piece of Heave leaning down to hear the music she likes to listen to!

[elfdragon12]

The Astro Squad, Dreamwave bios

I love their contrasting personalities and the little look at how a couple of them view some of the others. Also that listed weaknesses are due to their personalities. XD

These designs are a bit too toyetic (the circles on some of their torsos is actually where a screw on their toys are), but beggars can't be choosers.

[elfdragon12]

Across The Universe

A short story featuring the Astro Squad and my human OC, Ettie, getting into more personal interactions. This is inspired by the "loud" prompt from @cybertronia-obscura

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Heave was going to check on their new human companion, but, to his excitement, she came to him first.

"Hey, your name is Heave, right?" Loretta, she said they could call her 'Ettie', asked. "You do the communications stuff?"

The mech adjusted his seat to face her more fully. "That's correct, Ettie! I make sure that we're able to keep connection with at least one Autobot outpost or, at the very least, be aware where the closest one is to our location. I also make sure to send off data packets of our reports at regular intervals," he explained.

Ettie stood up on her tiptoes, a cute organic trait he thought, to look at all of the screens, dials, and buttons. "What about incoming? Could we possibly get broadcasts from Earth?"

His engine hummed as he thought it over. As he turned back to the instruments, his chair squeaked. Quick calculations ticked in his mind. "Possibly," he finally said, "I doubt we could get a consistent signal, but we might get it sometimes, depending on the source." His head tilted towards Ettie. "Is there someone you want to hear from back at your home?"

"I wouldn't mind," she replied, "but I was hoping we'd be able to get Blaster's radio show out here." Her face brightened as she kept talking. "I really like it and that was the main thing I was going to miss on the expedition."

"Oh!" Heave's tone picked up. "Getting broadcasts from Autobot City will be much easier. Our instruments already have those frequencies preset! Would you like me to set up timers so we can try to tune in?"

The grin seemed way too large for her little face, but it was pleasant to see. "Really? Thank you so much!" Ettie held her hand out to him, palm up.

Taking a guess, Heave held his own hand out in a similar fashion. It had to have been the right choice be she jumped and slapped their hands together. His spark whirled in his chassis. "Happy to help, Ettie." He leaned his elbows on his knees. "Anything else I can help you with?"

"Oh yeah, so Phaser said to ho to the cockpit to talk to him if I need to while we're traveling, but what about Blast?"

Heave opened his mouth to speak when a voice boomed over it.

"Just call my name!" Blast Master announced. "You were talking about me, right? I don't mind if you call me Blast, by the way. My full designation can give the wrong impression about me, I think."

Ettie giggled. "Good to know."

"As you might guess," Heave said, his tone leaking deadpan, "there's not much privacy on this ship. Be mindful when talking to Blast Master as he can throw us off course if he gets too caught up in conversation."

"It doesn't happen that often!"

"Once is enough," Heave replied.

A laugh from their human cut the argument short. "I'll keep that in mind! But yeah, thanks, Heave!" She patted the closest wall. "Thanks, Blast, I won't let you get too distracted when I want to chat."

"Good luck with that," Heave muttered.

"I heard that!"