some Vos thoughts
in a disorganized wall of text because I’m not caffeinated enough to put it down coherently and I’ll forget otherwise
Tarn notes Vos’ cynicism at one point which got me thinking
what *kind* of cynicism? Philosophical and colloquial meanings are rather different. I’m no philosopher but my understanding is that philosophical cynicism is more about rejecting society and embarrassment, giving up riches to live and ascetic lifestyle with the belief that cultural woes would be eliminated if everyone gave up wealth and social status vs. the colloquial meaning of cynicism being something like having a fundamental distrust in human nature
James Roberts seems to be a philosophy guy- “Weak Anthropic Principle,” anyone?
anyway given Tarn’s love of being perceived as cultured or whatnot I could see him meaning “cynicism” as either- or both.
which *further* got me thinking-
-there’s something about Vos’s face mask that mirrors empurata. Given that was used by the oppressors on the oppressed it may be further symbolic (and pretty hypocritical, which rings true for the DJD)
-given that he’s named “Vos,” I wonder if he originated there and was once flight capable. His original name is never given- as per Roberts, “Forestock” was not his original name- and I’ve seen him described as a “heavily modified intellectual class body type” (TV Tropes MTMTE / DJD page) and he’s the only one who can’t move in altmode
-which further makes me wonder, what if he was once a member of the Vosian upper class, an intellectual who gave up things he saw as contributing to society’s ills: social status, a privileged altmode in functionist society, hell, even his altmode mobility.
-the fact that he understands but refuses to learn (or at least speak) the common vernacular and mostly only uses old Cybertronian could play into his being a philosophical cynic as well? Either a) he’s old as shit b) his only speaking in a dead language could be one of his countercultural statements or c) all of the above
actually he probably is old as shit because Megs doesn’t address him by the name he had before either Forestock or Vos
I’m kind of imagining pre-DJD Vos as a scientist (which is canon) from Vos. Possibly a surveillance drone. He’s small but not a minibot, and those quadcopter drones are kind of just a camera fuselage and four lil dorky arms with rotors that I could see being modified into Vos’ back kibble
I wonder what he was like? Was he always fucked up like he is during MTMTE/LL?
Vos 1 obviously wasn’t a flyer, but before Nickel, none of the other DJD members were, and…I like things that fly so I will always write in aircraft into backstory or headcanon gaps if I think it sounds feasible enough heh
anyway some interesting possibilities with all of the DJD. It’s a shame but I doubt we’ll ever get more background on these guys