Transformers: Memory Leak - A fan project

Main: ichbinmeltdown This is the home of my fan continuity, Transformers: Memory Leak. It's a comic series, heavily inspired by G1 and TFOne. Here's where I'll put the comic releases and anything related to the ML universe. Check the pinned post for a guide to my tags. (PS the profile picture and banner are just placeholders until I make something that fits better.)

[transformersmemoryleak]

Transformers: Memory Leak - Fancomics and such

This is where I'm going to post my comics for my fan continuity, and anything related to it. TFML is heavily based off of G1, but with some TFOne elements incorporated into it too. Most of the designs will either be the G1 designs or combinations of multiple continuities' designs, but some may have unique embellishments. There'll also be OCs in it!

Important info about this blog (that will probably be updated later as I think of more important things to add)

This comic is going to be PG-13. I will tag any applicable warnings for each specific issue since I'm not sure where exactly the story will go yet.

Overall summary

The Autobots and Decepticons' war has caused Cybertron to run out of resources entirely, with Primus unable to sustain this level of consumption any longer. Megatron decides the only way to save the planet and let it recover is to invent a new superweapon and end the war by any means necessary. But it's far too powerful and impossible to control- and Cybertron is instead entirely destroyed. Much of their knowledge and history has been erased with the destruction of their home planet, and their society is essentially set back eons. To make matters worse for the surviving Cybertronians, without their connections to Vector Sigma and the other resources of Cybertron, malfunctions start occurring. The Autobots and Decepticons both need to find a new home, and one with the resources they need to help repair their damaged systems. The Autobots discover Earth, which is rich with different materials and resources that could be of help to them. They strike a deal with the humans, who let them take refuge here. The Decepticons soon find Earth too, and they've ended up moving their civil war here, with humans caught in the middle. Unlike the Autobots, though, the Decepticons aren't such gracious houseguests... How will things change for Cybertronians, with their home world destroyed and having to survive on an unfamiliar planet? Can they avoid Earth succumbing to the same fate as Cybertron... and will the humans be able to live peacefully with them?

Tagging guide

#tfml comics: Full completed comics

#wip: Work in progress comics and previews

#references: Refsheets for my OCs

#redesigns: Redesigns of the canon TF characters

#misc design: Logos and other miscellaneous elements for the comics

#worldbuilding: Anything related to worldbuilding I'm working on, usually to later be included in the comics but may also be supplemental information

#character infocards: Finished infocards for OCs or canon characters, complete with a summary of their personality and other facts about them

[transformersmemoryleak]

More redesigns, this time of Starscream and Jazz I'm gonna try and work on these again I swear

[transformersmemoryleak]

New format for character posts

So I did a new format for the character posts and I'm gonna just post these little infocards (I have different templates for minor/background characters or characters like Unicron, Primus, the Thirteen or other divines so those will look a bit different)

Here's the infocards I've done so far

[transformersmemoryleak]

Finished my Spike redesign! Well actually this is his casual outfit- his work uniform is the same as in the 80s cartoon. I'm not super happy with how it turned out, but hey, this is just for reference, I can do it fancier later

PS how the hell do you draw cowboy boots

[transformersmemoryleak]

Alright y'all I need some help deciding something with Wheelie

When Nightshade, Meltdown, Aniline and a few others return from their expedition they find that Cybertron is completely gone and radio Optimus Prime, who's now on Earth and start making their way there after talking to them. But Nightshade finds something unusual- a little Cybertronian boy named Wheelie, stuck on a remote planet all by himself. They bring him back with the Autobots, and later they find out that he's actually a Junkion and he ended up on that planet after surviving a spaceship crash- I'm thinking what happened there is that Wheelie's family and a few other Junkions were abducted by the Quintessons or maybe Wheelie snuck onto a Junkion ship leaving the planet, but either way Wheelie ended up being the only survivor.

I had an interesting idea though: What if Wheelie isn't actually a sparkling at all? Maybe the crash was actually many hundreds of thousands of years ago and he instead just failed to age properly like other Junkions did due to being away from the planet during those formative years and not able to receive the code streams from the Junkions' equivalent of Vector Sigma? Wheelie's actually a fully grown mech but he's stuck living as a sparkling. It would be like what happened to Babette in Skyrim, or Baby Doll in Batman The Animated Series. (It'd actually be more like Babette than Baby Doll since Wheelie would've aged normally if he wasn't marooned on that planet, come to think of it. I'm also not sure if it should be reversible if this is the angle I go with, like if they bring him back to Junkion and hook him up to their computer in a way to replace the code he never got, would he rapidly catch up to his real age?)

Of course, it would work just as well if Wheelie actually was a sparkling and managed to survive as long as he did by himself there. In fact if I went this route I had an idea where over time he and Blurr bond and eventually Blurr officially adopts him as his son.

So all that in mind should Wheelie be truly a sparkling, or should he just be trapped in a sparkling's body?

Actual sparkling

Stuck in sparkling body

Voting ended onJul 26, 2025

[transformersmemoryleak]

Beeeeeeeeeee

[transformersmemoryleak]

I started doing redesigns again! (Not shading them though this time, even though the other ones look good with the shading it makes it take way too long and I need to get more designs done.)

[transformersmemoryleak]

I plan on adding in some characters from other continuities (though the comic does mostly use G1 characters) just because I thought they were cool

- Knockout (TFP): The Decepticons need a medic too, and I think Starscream needs another flamboyant friend XD

- Nightshade (ES): I didn't like the writing of ES but they have so much potential and a really cool design, I really wanted to throw them in here so they can get the love and better characterization they deserve

- Windblade (I don't remember where she first appeared): I just like her design lol

- Sunder (IDW): Ditto, plus the fact that he's a bloodthirsty cannibal is really interesting and could raise the stakes pretty well

[transformersmemoryleak]

Just finished my Carly redesign!

[ichbinmeltdown]

This is Sandclaw, my Insecticon OC. His alt form is a scorpion (which I don't have pictures of because I'm horrible at art, I can barely draw robots as is)

Yes, I know that scorpions are arachnids, I don't care, he's still an Insecticon regardless.

I haven't decided anything about his personality yet, just his appearance so far

[ichbinmeltdown]

I totally forgot to update this post with the details I finally hammered out about his personality! He finally has a personality and story lol

He's known for being particularly nosy, sly and sneaky, and a little more laid-back (ok, let's be honest, lazy) than the other Insecticons. He's also pretty greedy and jealous and wants people to pay attention to him, getting annoyed when other bots have things he don't. Like the other Insecticons, he loves to eat and has a sadistic streak. He likes to lounge around in sunny spots, preferably with a nice Energon cube or two in his mandibles. Sandclaw has a rather unique habit of carrying around his most prized possessions on his back in alt mode, fiercely guarding them with his sharp, venom-filled tail.

As for the role he'd play in the 1986 movie, he's the only Insecticon who didn't get thrown out of Astrotrain because he hid from Starscream leading to Thundercracker getting jettisoned in his place, and thus is the only one who didn't change. He later finds out that all the other Insecticons changed, becoming Cyclonus and the Sweeps, and really doesn't know how to feel about it. He's glad he was able to hide from Starscream and didn't get thrown into space, but at the same time is jealous that they got new powers while he didn't. He longs for the old days of chewing through wires with his allies, who now couldn't care less about him (if they even remember him). After all this trying to please Bombshell and Megatron and get in their good graces for some sweet, sweet recognition, they're both gone and the Decepticons who still remember him just saw him as kinda... there as opposed to really leaving an impact. Basically Sandclaw was a generic NPC to most of the other 'cons. And Sandclaw, who craves attention and being recognized as special and excellent, was absolutely devastated by that.

[idlepollingofcybertron]

Hi! I've been playing with an idea and was wondering how you go about making a transformers continuity?

It sounds like you've got the first part, which is some kind of idea to start from. You can build one however you want to be honest, depending on what you want to focus on or start with. But I'll walk through the process I've used by going through how I made some of mine.

1.) An idea/character focus/question.

For TF: Iconoclast my starting concept Roomie and I built from was him basically asking me:

What if the Quintessons were never overthrown?

For TF: Legendarium it was my own idea of:

What if magic/myths were a main focus of it and Prima was evil?

2.) I asked how that would change things and followed along in a "yes and..." manner. Or picked the main cast and then slowly connected them together. Brainstorm a list of ideas or moments or worldbuilding elements without censoring.

TF: Iconoclast was something that I built in my living room going back and forth with roomie. We popped ideas off of each other back and forth and figured out how it would fit in, by asking questions like: How would society be if the Cybertronians were never free? And going through "Darkest World" kind of scenarios and through characters we liked.

I keep a brainstorming document jotting down ideas, all of them, to start from later.

TF: Legendarium I didn't focus on the larger world so much as go back and forth between building the mythical groundwork for the universe by writing fairy tales and myths and focus on individual characters and how they exist. By building them I built the world.

Again started brainstorming ideas and just jotting anything down pretty freely.

3.) Start fine tuning ideas or making them firmer.

I firm them up to be a central idea/plot theme.

TF: Iconoclast was that the Transformers are rebelling against the Quintessons and freeing themselves.

TF: Legendarium was much more scattered and eventually focused on the themes of nature v. nature, choosing to be a compassionate person, free will, and identity. Every narrative part draws back to this.

4.) Build Characters OR Worldbuilding

Sometimes building the characters comes before the themes or you work on them at the same time. Developing the characters and how you want to handle them can help you figure out the themes you want to focus on.

As a recommendation you don’t have to do every character, just choose the ones that you like and want to talk about.   

Worldbuilding is one of the funner elements for me, so it was funner. I do recommend building your world thoroughly. Quick tips are building historical events that still affect things and the three layer rule. 

TF: Iconoclast for example the ancient past is the Quintessons taking over Cybertron during Rung’s time/Quintessa taking over, the modern past is Galvatron’s Rebellion, and the recent one is the Lithone People bringing the Quintessons to court for breaking laws protecting sapient life and starting the case for Transformers to be recognized as an independent species.

TF: Legendarium as an example: the ancient past is war of the thirteen, the modern past was Sentinel’s overthrowing of his father, and the recent past was Pickup’s Rebellion.

Start with three: one that happened in the distant past that changed society, one that happened in the modern times (think grandparents/parents time generation wise), and one that happened recently.

If you want to add an element to worldbuilding give it three layers. You set the world up so whatever you establish is the rules just maintain them throughout. Start with the main element then add one deeper reason behind it and then one more so it is built in.

Other Recommendations

It can also be helpful to talk to people to bounce ideas off of. 

For TF:Legendarium, I had a few Tumblr users who would ask about specific characters they really liked or scenarios that helped me develop them. 

For TF: Iconoclast, I and Roomie were building it together and would talk about it and I would bounce ideas off him.

Don’t be afraid to complete change things or do something new with characters. Throw your wild ideas out and have fun.

I’ve made Ratchet female in one story and married to Pharma. I’ve made Tarn a small toy model who is JazzProwl’s “child”. I’ve made Mirage the First Conjunx of Cybertron married to Sentinel Prime and the parent of Knock Out. I made the Alpha Trion evil and manipulating civilization to start a holy war.

Now, please tell me about your idea.

[transformers-coexistence]

I started off this fan continuity with a question "What if Cybertronians and the franchise co-exist?"

And then one idea led to another, a fan meeting Cybertronians for the first time and struggling and other things.

I am still expanding, and trying to refine ideas, but it works and I am happy.

Although for now I am now coupling other things like TF: One and other continuities and ideas bouncing around. I need to streamline this.

[transformersmemoryleak]

Memory Leak came about in a weird, roundabout way I think.

I really came up with the idea because I discovered Wreck-Gar in TFA and realized I like both versions equally, then decided to do a redesign that merges his G1 and TFA versions. I did the same for Arcee later on, for her G1 and TFP versions.

I'm not exactly sure how I ended up deciding to turn that redesigning project into a whole fan continuity, honestly. I think it might've also had to do with designing my OCs and their backstories. Another thing that inspired my continuity was fixing plot issues/holes in the canon lore. For example, Spike being too young to have a trade job (not an issue anymore since he's 19 now and has an apprenticeship with his dad's construction company!), Megatron's gun alt being less powerful than his robot form (he's now a triple changer with a machine gun alt and a tank alt) and why they went from having Cybertronian alt modes to Earth ones (they tried to use their Cybertron alt modes on Earth but found that in this different atmosphere, terrain type and gravity they were basically unusable so had to pick new ones while they were here- which I thought made more sense than Teletraan's repair drone having survived this long and being randomly activated)

Also giving characters more screen time and better endings (I don't want to spoil some examples of the latter, but for the former one thing I can say is that Roller is going to be there a lot more since he's basically Optimus Prime's dog, and there'll be more stuff with the supporting femmes like Chromia and Firestar. And Frenzy gets to do stuff too, not just Rumble!)

I think the hardest part after all that was coming up with a central premise/problem. I thought about the main continuities this one was deriving from- G1 and TFOne- and their central problems. Again I'm not exactly sure how this happened because I didn't document my brainstorming very well - but I decided that instead of just being away from Cybertron, Megatron became so desperate for an end to the war and blinded by his desire for victory that he more or turned the planet's core into an atomic bomb and killed Primus. And that's why they had to leave and find a new home, thus bringing them to Earth.

Even more backwards, I already came up with the name "Memory Leak" as a placeholder and couldn't figure out one that tied into the idea better but eventually it hit me - the full actual problem for the story that made everything fit. I was looking at my notes for the episode where the Autobots created the Aerialbots and I thought "Oh, being away from Vector Sigma is probably going to impact them" and then I thought about the episode where they started glitching out because they were out of Cybertonium. Then I realized that that's probably why they came to Earth- they need some certain resources and they need to work quickly before being away from Vector Sigma's power fries their CPUs. I also thought that they'd have lost a lot of their history and instructions, and have to basically piece together a lot of the past and ways that Cybertronians of old did things- with the ultimate goal being to rebuild Vector Sigma or at least unlock the same power he used. So that's what "Memory Leak" means - it's both referring to their glitches and the loss of their past.

Anyway I'm sorry I rambled so much. These are really helpful for refining it a little more, thanks ^^

[transformersmemoryleak]

Redid the logo/banner thing that I'll put on the top of my comics and it's a lot more legible now ^^

[ichbinmeltdown]

Just some random information about Meltdown

Specifically this is about how other bots see him and his relationships with them

His whole life he's been shunned and labeled dangerous - not just because of his poison and radiation powers but because of his extremely intense emotions too. Sometimes his unchecked anger would lead to him attacking bots with hazardous chemicals, but bots would also often call him obsessive or say he's coming on too strong. For pretty much his whole life the only people who've loved him were his parents- who, perhaps, gave him too much affection and love, making the hatred the rest of the world poured onto him hurt even more. At every turn, whenever he wanted to help bots, he'd end up hurting them- often accidentally from not knowing his own strength or just random side effects of his radiation powers, or sometimes attacking in a fit of rage.

This part I'm probably gonna change and tweak, but at some point before coming to Earth he befriended Aniline. She sort of had the opposite problem, where her family despised her for not supporting the Autobots, but other bots outside of her family liked her. I'm also not sure exactly how Meltdown ended up getting involved in the war yet, but I know eventually he decided all he was really good for was destruction so he became a soldier.

Anyway, he first wanted to join the Autobots since he liked how much they talked about peace and he felt like if he had to do battle, he would join the side that he felt would help the most bots. But things went horribly wrong when he went to join. The Autobots were terrified of him- at first they were willing to deal with his poison and radiation powers, though reluctant. It was his intense emotions and temper, and merciless way of fighting that completely terrified the Autobots and caused them to vehemently reject him. He had attempted to argue with them, saying that Optimus Prime was being naive, that they shouldn't be trying to use words to settle with a group that clearly didn't want to settle with words. (If I decide to tie this into the TFOne universe rather than just G1, a main point of contention is Optimus Prime intervening when Megatron first tried to kill Sentinel.) This, of course, didn't go over well, and it really hurt him. A lot of them, such as Ironhide and Cliffjumper, were very abrasive to him and said he was evil and dangerous. Later, when he vented to Aniline about it, she explained why she didn't trust the Autobots and that she thought the Decepticons really were going to be better for Cybertronians in the long run. (Again, I haven't really hammered this part out, but all I know is he got rejected from/kicked out of the Autobots and still kind of sees where both sides are coming from, but ultimately prefers the Decepticons since he can relate to having good intentions but still being seen as a monster.)

After doing some research, he decided she was probably right, and went to them to join. Sadly most of the Decepticons themselves were afraid of his powers- but they wanted him on their side, and liked how he had a merciless style of fighting. Megatron let him join, but ended up seeing him mostly as a living weapon rather than an actual bot. He often tried make Meltdown mad on purpose so that he'd be even more destructive during battle, and encouraged the other Decepticons to do the same. Megatron would praise Meltdown for being a "destructive monster" and make light of the trauma that he'd been through because of it. But Soundwave, though... he was different. He wanted to see what Meltdown was really like, deep down, behind all the unpredictability and hazardous chemicals. He couldn't explain what it was but something just... drew him to the radioactive mech. Meltdown, of course, became super-attached to him like he always did whenever someone showed him even the slightest bit of concern. This terrified him though- he didn't want to hurt Soundwave, this mech he'd fallen so hard for; or do anything to scare him off like he had with so many others. They soon both realized that they had a similar view on the Decepticons as a whole- they thoroughly supported the cause, but Megatron had completely corrupted the movement. Meltdown also, eventually, gets Soundwave to see that Megatron's abuse has completely destroyed the team's dynamics, compared to the super-close Autobots, which would put them at a huge disadvantage.

I'll probably have some more, but this is just kind of me infodumping and getting a bunch of thoughts I had out. Any suggestions on how to flesh things out more would be very appreciated!

[ichbinmeltdown]

I did a redesign of Wreck-Gar that's a combination of his TFA and G1 versions! ^^

[ichbinmeltdown]

Just finished a redesign of Arcee that's a cross between her G1 version and TFP version!

I haven't thought of any other continuity merges I wanna do but I do love doing these, I'll have to come up with some more.

[knightmarebug]

Reblog this and show me your Transformers OCs, please and thank you

PLEASE I love seeing people's transformers OC's so much

And feel free to absolutely info-dump about them, I will read all of it. ALSO if anyone has sparkling oc's theyre willing to share (whether from canon or oc characters) I will die of happiness.

[ichbinmeltdown]

Say hi to Aniline and Meltdown! I'm working on more characters, but these two are the only ones who are finished.

Meltdown is basically my cybersona. His alt form is a Mercedes Benz G1 Actros tanker truck, and he's a hazardous waste truck. He keeps a foul cocktail of toxic chemicals in his tank, and he emits radiation as well. He's immune to being hurt by radiation, and is immune to most chemicals as well (though there are still some that can hurt him.) He doesn't have very good control of his powers and emotions, and for his whole life he's basically been all alone because he keeps accidentally hurting bots, whether with his words, chemicals or actions. (I hope I explained his backstory well, there's a better version on my FA) I haven't finalized his role in the war, but I know he certainly sees both the Autobots' and Decepticons' sides of things and feels like they're both right. He came to Earth as a mercenary, hired to protect an exploration group (the one Aniline was part of in fact). I'm kinda leaning towards making him a Decepticon or associated with them in some way, though I'm not sure yet.

Aniline is basically the sidekick in Meltdown's story, being basically his first friend. Her alt form is a Dassault Falcon 2000LX. When she came to Earth, she was captured by humans and was treated horribly by them. They would force her to sing and dance for them with practically no recharge time and wouldn't keep up with her repairs so she was constantly in pain, and the humans constantly spoke of her in a way that dismissed her sentience- calling her "it", saying "you're a machine, your feelings aren't real" and stuff like that. So ever since then she's hated humans and supported the Decepticons' push for machine rights- but she doesn't want to join the war because she finds war itself very distasteful.

I'm also working on a scorpion Insecticon called Sandclaw, but I haven't finished him yet. I also wanna make an Autobot OC whose alt form is a mail truck

[ichbinmeltdown]

This is Sandclaw, my Insecticon OC. His alt form is a scorpion (which I don't have pictures of because I'm horrible at art, I can barely draw robots as is)

Yes, I know that scorpions are arachnids, I don't care, he's still an Insecticon regardless.

I haven't decided anything about his personality yet, just his appearance so far