Not that anybody asked, but I think it's important to understand how shame and guilt actually work before you try to use it for good.
It's a necessary emotion. There are reasons we have it. It makes everything so. much. worse. when you use it wrong.
Shame and guilt are DE-motivators. They are meant to stop behavior, not promote it. You cannot, ever, in any meaningful way, guilt someone into doing good. You can only shame them into not doing bad.
Let's say you're a parent and your kid is having issues.
Swearing in class? Shame could work. You want them to stop it. Keep it in proportion*, and it might help. *(KEEP IT IN PROPORTION!!!)
Not doing their homework? NO! STOP! NO NOT DO THAT! EVER! EVER! EVER! You want them to start to do their homework. Shaming them will have to opposite effect! You have demotivated them! They will double down on NOT doing it. Not because they are being oppositional, but because that's what shame does!
You can't guilt people into building better habits, being more successful, or getting more involved. That requires encouragement. You need to motivate for that stuff!
If you want it in a simple phrase:
You can shame someone out of being a bad person, but you can't shame them into being a good person.
Lex Luthor has unleashed his most evil plot yet: he’s released a new cryptocurrency called KryptoCurrency.
Superman watches in agony as his beloved pet becomes synonymous with the worst kinds of people on earth. Apathetic, misogynistic, bigoted, handsy, entitled, neo-n*zi, rich douchebags are overtaking Krypto’s entire public presence, and it’s beginning to affect how everyone sees both the dog and Superman.
Even though the public knows—because he’s stated it many times—that he has no connection to nor endorsement of KryptoCurrency or its growing (and worsening) cult following, it’s still the first thing they think of when they hear the words Krypto, Krypton, or even Kryptonite.
I mean, sure, Superman’s a big figure. But you’re just as likely to run into wannabe tech dicks in everyday life as you are to see him—and maybe get a monster attack a few times a year. If you live outside Metropolis, the chances of seeing Superman are almost zero unless it’s a big enough threat for a team-up—and even then, he’s probably just a blur.
It’s gotten to the point where it’s not simply annoying or insulting; it’s usurping and dishonoring his lost homeworld—and all that remains of it.
Ill-equipped to handle a problem where neither moral appeal nor brute strength will help—having very narrowly convinced Supergirl of that second fact—he turns to the master of public and social manipulation: Batman.
At first, he receives no word about it other than a curt, “I’ll look into it.”
A few weeks later, he hears gossip at the Daily Planet about Lex Luthor getting sued. That’s not uncommon, but it rarely works out for the prosecuting party.
Superman starts to wonder if Batman is already doing something in his weird, unknowable chess-match underground way. Or, worse, if even Batman can’t think of a solution.
Then, one random day, Lois bursts into his cubicle, practically trampling Mr. Galloway as she throws herself into Clark’s face.
“HARVEY DENT IS GOING UP AGAINST LEX LUTHOR.”
“What?! Like right now?” Clark stands up, anxiously listening for sounds of battle he might’ve missed. A fight between Lex and any Gotham villain would be a catastrophe for civilians and bystanders. Nothing in his home city… maybe it’s in Gotham? “Why is Two-Face fighting Luthor?”
Lois grabs his face and makes him look at her. “Two-Face isn’t fighting Lex Luthor; Harvey Dent is suing him. On behalf of Bruce Wayne.”
“…What?”
Apparently, Bruce Wayne had trademarked the likeness of Krypto the Superdog a while ago for his son’s superhero-themed charity birthday party, with personal approval from Superman and everything. He had completely “forgotten” about it, like the klutz-brain he is, until he saw a video rating billionaires. The TikTok star mentioned the whole KryptoCurrency thing, and Tim reminded him that he owned the commercial rights.
The whole thing does not look good for Lex. His biggest argument is trying to delegitimize Dent’s capability as a lawyer, but Gotham law lets him practice nationwide after discharge from Arkham. And every time a LexCorp lawyer brings up something he did while not of sound mind, Harvey throws back ten examples of Lex doing evil shit 100% on purpose and only getting away with it because of some legal loophole or corruption.
Bruce, for his part, has fully reclaimed Krypto’s image by posting solely about the dog for weeks and begging someone to put him in touch with Superman so he can pet the little guy again, while nonstop talking about how he's going to get himself killed. "I don't care if it's dangerous, I want to play tug-a-war with that pup!"
He even drew his own (bad, but charmingly so) Krypto design for an anti-NFT campaign. (He doesn’t understand how NFTs work and “accidentally” made something for everyone to download, copy, and spread as much as possible.)
Krypto is now being used as a symbol of anti-corruption, inclusivity, and reclamation for the people. Batman never brings it up to Superman again.
Honestly?? Kinda want more content of Robert “My name’s Beef and I’m naked!’ Robertson being a complete and utter dork and making the team laugh
Whenever Flambae’s mad at him (which only happens every day) Robert will follow him around in his swivel chair on breaks. He acts completely normal about it.
Will use gen z slang just to mess with Prism, because he knows she (lovingly) hates it. “Ate that up. No crumbs left. Good job, diva pop.”
There's a call recording of just her wheezing for 5 minutes.
Gives PowerPoint presentations using an Elmo or Kermit voice. whenever Coop points it out, he switches back to his usual tone.
“I don't know what you're talking about. This is just my voice. Anyway, Elmo is so proud you didn't stab anyone!”
Prank calls Sonar by using a voice impression of HIMSELF to scam him. “What a coincidence, my name is also Victor! Don't I know you from Harvard? How do you feel about vitamins?”
“Dude, that's literally what I was trying to pitch for — Ohh, you son of a bastard.”
Bruce Wayne has a massive bounty on his head at all times, multi millions of dollars constantly hanging above him when he goes out in public. Thus, he has his own personal guard when going to galas or charity events. Is it a conflict of interest that his personal guard is made up of his children and coworkers? Probably. Does he care? No.
Socialite 1: Is that... Nightwing? In a suit?
Socialite 2: It is! Who is that next to him? Red Robin?
Dick and Tim, with blazers and sunglasses over their normal costumes, trailing after Bruce the whole night, trying not to giggle at the absurdity of watching Bruce 'Batman' Wayne nearly spill the entire punch bowl on himself:
At first, the public is concerned that a billionaire can "buy out" vigilantes, but it doesn't take long for someone to just... ask Nightwing to guard them for a night, and he agrees, not asking for payment. This eventually becomes little kids asking for Robin to 'guard them on their way to school' and folks begging Batman to 'guard their dog for the week' (Since when did The Mission become pet sitting???) (Obviously, he agrees, tho the little yippy pomeranian gets taken to Wayne Manor for the week instead, and Ace gets a temporary new friend)
A hotline gets set up so that anyone who feels unsafe can call a number and have one of the Bat Family members walk them home. It gets used a lot by drunk college students, women, and kids who stayed up past curfew.
Scared little kid, barely able to reach the payphone, using their last quarters: Um... I n-need.. Robin.. p-please.. I'm really scared... its really d-dark... my house is far away...
Damian, who is already in the area, beelining towards where the call came from:
One of my fave tropes in Humans Are Deathworlders/Space Orcs is humans being on an alien planet, and because of like,, gravity or bone density, they basically become superhuman - hyper strength, ability to jump absurdly high, or run at crazy speeds.
(Ya'll ever watch that movie, John Carter? It has fun HASO vibes! recommend)
In tf media, humans are always at a disadvantage cause of our size 'n squishiness, or discriminated against because of our biology.
Now I love a good ol' fashioned power shift dynamic, especially with humans and transformers...(≖⩊≖)
Imagining the transformers doin' their thing out in space, being some of the strongest and most advanced around. Being apex predators is familiar territory for them, as not many can compete with them or endanger them.
When they find their way to Earth, discovering it's a small planet inhabited by even smaller organics, nobody even slightly suspects encountering any real threat from the natives - humans by comparison are weak and soft after all...
Now I know I was just talking about humans being superhuman because of biological and environmental factors...but what if, in this scenario, it's the opposite, but for the Transformers?
They come to Earth, only to realize that they are significantly weaker there, making them incredibly vulnerable- even to natural human strength...
What if Earth metals are stronger, denser, and more versatile? Whatever Cybertronian bodies are made of can't compare to it, and for the first time, they're the squishy ones.
Bullets don't just bounce off their armor anymore- they penetrate. Their armor no longer qualifies as armor. Getting hit by bigger artillery, like tanks n' rockets, now can be severely debilitating or fatal.
What if Earth's gravity is heavier than Cybertron's, making the bots slower, sluggish, and more susceptible to certain environments and conditions? Humans, by comparison, are seen as quick, agile, and absurdly adaptable.
What if Earth's rust is way worse than the type of rust Transformers have dealt with before? With how much metal is incorporated into human civilizations, rust can be anywhere.
For the bots, junkyards are biohazard wastelands. And what if the bots themselves are more prone to oxidation while on Earth because of the oxygen and high moisture content? Maybe even long-term exposure to oxygen can have negative effects on transformers, their general health becoming compromised in ways they haven't yet encountered.
Now the transformers aren't at a complete disadvantage here- they are still very big and strong, and could definitely still do damage to man-made environments and humans themselves. But they can no longer act as recklessly as they do, because now there are physical consequences to being careless.
Bigger bots can still take a hit and come out alive, but smaller bots are unfortunately more vulnerable.
Getting hit by like,, a train might just KO them, due to the force, speed, and metal density. If it's a big enough vehicle, cars could ram and knock a bot off their feet, maybe even mangling their legs in the process.
There are so many little factors that could be detrimental to the bots that I could ramble about, but I wanna turn the focus onto the most underestimated threat to Transformers of Earth...humans...
Yes, a 10-ton space robot would absolutely body a human. The same way a human can step on an ant and kill it. but if there are enough ants...if their teeth are sharp enough, and if they're angry enough, ants can become a PROBLEM
Bugs are a really good comparison to humans on how, if we're motivated enough and have support in numbers, we can be an absolute menace to other creatures bigger than us.
Given how human teeth are strong enough to bite through or deform some metals, and in some cases, even eat metals (like that guy who legit ate a whole fkin plane), and with the bots' bodies being made of softer stuff than earth alloys...ya feel what I'm putting down here...?
Humans are scraplets ◉‿◉
As a transformer, the last thing you want is losing track of a human, only to feel them climbing onto you, hanging just out of reach, biting your plating and wriggling in deeper like a termite to tear at wires and squishy protoform.
One bitey human is bad enough- but now imagine a group of rampant, angry humans swarming you, biting, tearing, bending, and snapping anything they can get hold of. Humans, when we fear for our lives or the lives of our loved ones, we go fuckin feral. When weapons aren't an option, our own bodies become the weapon.
For Transformers, it's not just human militaries they have to stay cautious of, but just humans themselves.
Which, ultimately, makes allying with humans actually really beneficial. Their ace up their sleeve, so to speak, is a human.
"It's dangerous to go alone. Take this...his name is John."
It also adds a new interesting angle to transformer x human pairings.
Human: "This robo titan could crush me in it's metal hands. But I love and trust them not to do that." (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
Transformer: "This squishy scraplet could maul me from the inside out with it's mouth bones. But I love and trust them not to do that." (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
I have so many ideas for this concept and how helpful humans could end up being for their bot buddies.
Like, because transformer plating being more susceptible to damage than Earth metals, I love the thought of humans with a talent for welding coming up to their bot buds like,
"Hey, I made you some armor!" (ᵔᗜᵔ)
The armor:
Transformers entering their medieval armor era be like,,
Anyway,, this is getting kinda long,, so ima stop here and think of some more ideas for later (¬ᴗ ´¬ )
and yea...my knowledge on outer space ecology, and physics is severely limited, sooo pls excuse me for talkin' out my ass with these headcannons that might sound super nonsensical to anyone that actually knows how irl shit works (๑•͈ᴗ•͈)
I welcome all the smart peeps to correct me on practicality or add their own ideas to the mix, cus I'm mainly running on imagination and vibes (∗´ര ᎑ ര`∗)
still obsessed that a serious reputedly cold-hearted military captain like kudou is goin around wearing this pretty little purple ribbon in his hair all cause his wife made it for him. mans in war meetings in his cute purple hairtie because he loves his wife so so so much. lbr miyo could probably fix a seam in his uniform with a pink flowery design and he'd refuse to take it off.
Y’all are SPOILED with this romcom manga/anime renaissance!! When I was a teen we had to make due with crap like “vampire night” where the love interests were #1 her brother who tries to kill her, and #2 her adoptive brother who tries to kill her!!! Even anime/manga that aren’t romantic in genre still show HEALTHY relationships!! We walked and fought for SCRAPS so y’all could RUN and get healthy mc’s who aren’t related!! 😭😭😭
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