caiusbackup (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
caiusbackup) wrote2011-02-19 06:35 pm
caiusbackup) wrote2011-02-19 06:35 pm
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(no subject)
As a small step towards remembering how to express myself non-fictionally, a new meme-like thing:
Give me a topic, preferably a fannish topic that I would be likely to have something to say about, and I will attempt to write you a few paragraphs of meta on what I think about the subject.
Give me a topic, preferably a fannish topic that I would be likely to have something to say about, and I will attempt to write you a few paragraphs of meta on what I think about the subject.
no subject
Or, your notion of what femmes 'are' (if that makes any sense) in the TF universe.
Cybertron under Shockwave
The most important thing about Cybertron under Shockwave was the severe, severe energy shortage. Obviously it wasn't a complete lack of energy; the planet did stay alive for four million years, but it was a near-constant struggle for everyone alive and active on the planet to obtain and conserve the energy they needed to live, to fight, and to do anything else they might want to do with their lives.
Because of the energy shortage, Shockwave didn't have the resources to do much in terms of directly ruling Cybertron. Generally I have him with the technology to monitor the rest of the planet, but he would be extremely constrained in his ability to do much about either Autobot resistance fighters or rebellious and disobedient Decepticons.
He did, however, have more resources than almost anyone else--and a genius for using them that few could match. So while Shockwave was constrained in his actions, everyone else was much more so, and in general (because Shockwave was absolutely ruthless in deciding who was a waste of resources) the remaining Decepticons knew that following Shockwave's lead and staying on his good side was their best bet for survival. Or they died.
There were several groups of Autobots active during that period: Elita's group, Ultra Magnus' group, probably a few groups of the Autobots who showed up in season 2, and others who we never see in canon and quite a few who didn't survive the four million years. Even more than the Decepticons, they were constrained in their activities by the lack of energy, and they wound up spending more time scavenging and fighting with equally desperate bands of Decepticons over energy than mounting any sort of organized war effort.
I believe that there was also probably a relatively high level of informal cooperation between Autobot and Decepticon groups; sometimes they were just plain better off cooperating or trading than fighting, and the breakdown of centralized authority meant that it was easy to make private deals with bands from the other side. And, conversely, Autobot bands no doubt wound up fighting each other over limited resources; as did Decepticons, but that's less surprising!
And, in it all, Shockwave did everything he could to keep things running. And in Megatron's absence, if that means he had to make on occasional deal with Autobots, than so be it. I'm rather intrigued by the Dreamwave canon where Shockwave formed a government of all Cybertronians; obviously that was a different Shockwave, but I think this one has that in him, in slightly different circumstances. Probably too in love with Megatron to do much with it long-term, though.
TF gender
That said, in most Transformers fiction, if not necessarily most Transformers canons in-universe (it's relatively easy to assume that both TFA and Beast Wars have a fairly even gender distribution), female Transformers are a small minority; it's more a problem with the canon than with the fans asking the question. So I'll put the real-world gender issues aside from the moment and try to answer the question on an in-universe personal-canon level.
The answer, there, is that I don't really have one; I'm really, really opposed to there being a canonical answer to this, because so far Transformers canon has given us "a female Transformer was created to appease earth feminists" and "a female Transformer was created by a mad scientist and his victim is a homicidal maniac because of it". (Or so I gather; I haven't actually read Spotlight: Arcee, because I suspect it will make me really angry.) Given that, I'm really pretty okay with no explanation.
(And, whoops, so much for leaving IRL gender issues out of it. Anyway.)
In terms of fanon--I write the females as having the same parts as the males, sexual speaking. In G1, often I treat it broadly as a frame type/specialty; judging from the canon evidence, G1 femmes are mostly guerilla warriors. Except on Paradron, where they appear to be medics, but, then, everyone on Paradron is a pacifist, so clearly there had to be some shifting of specialties. And on Junkion, where they're television addicts like everyone else.
The other way I look at it is that it's a matter of gender identity, part of a TF's base programming or spark; the term 'femme' actually tempts me to refer to the males (or some of the males, anyway) as 'butches', and consider TFs to be essentially a bunch of lesbians. Which would be fun, but isn't anything I've ever actually written.
The other thing I've not-actually-written, gender-meta-wise, is the converse to Spotlight: Arcee, in which a mech is turned male by a mad scientist and freaks the hell out of it, because he was gender neutral before and suddenly everyone is calling him he and it's all very traumatic. Meanwhile all the humans are terribly confused, because they already thought he was a guy...I should actually write that at some point, but I keep getting distracted by Galvatron/Cyclonus porn.
Re: TF gender
Re: TF gender
(And it makes TF fangirls describing themselves as femmes kind of confusing, sometimes.)
ETA: Though one of the things I do like about it is that it emphasizes gender rather than sex, which makes more sense to me for mechanical beings.
And my ideas of TF gender aren't stable enough for me to properly wrap my mind around Starscream being femme from an in-universe perspective. (As opposed to an out-of-universe perspective, where I can certainly see that he was designed to look and act more feminine than, say, Megatron or Optimus.)
no subject
You write Cyclonus/Galvatron extremely well, and the reasons for their D/s is spelled out by Unicron's manipulation. I'm thinking a broader spectrum beyond that pairing. Nothing specific; I'm just interested to know what you think, fannish or IRL.
no subject
I'm happy to talk about how D/s and other related dynamics play out (in my headcanon) for particular characters or pairings, though, if you have some in mind.
no subject
no subject
Rodimus!
Aside from that, I mostly don't find Hot Rod very appealing. Sure, he's young and cute and reckless and probably a totally awesome babysitter, but it's when he becomes Rodimus Prime that he becomes interesting to me. Suddenly he's got a huge responsibility that he didn't want and really isn't dealing with so well, is depressed and reckless and slowly dealing--and having some degree of actual character development, although G1 isn't very good at that, really.
And more importantly from my perspective, it gives him delicious issues that work so very nicely for putting him in the berth with Galvatron. Or Cyclonus. Or preferably both. He's still reckless (and now depressed) enough to do it, he's tough enough to take it, and he really wants someone to take the decisions away from him and make him hurt delightfully for awhile.
Or, alternately, he can stay (or get sent back to) the Autobots and get cuddles! Or get tied up really awkwardly by Magnus. Or get stories and spankings from Kup! Or sexy threesomes with Arcee and Springer, not that I ever write that but other people should.
So, yeah. Rodimus is a fun nexus of kinkable issues. Perfect for porn!
Re: Rodimus!
His issues are pretty kinkable, aren't they? I've never managed to wrap my head around him and Magnus. Ultra Magnus is a fascinating character, but I can't help seeing him as totally vanilla. And my headcanon Rodimus sees him more as a Grown Up with Capital Letters than as a sexytimes partner.
Re: Rodimus!
Like putting him in the berth with Galvatron. *predictable!*
I see Magnus as pretty vanilla and also pretty subby, which means he and Rodimus are kind of a trainwreck, but the kind of trainwreck that I kind of adore. Magnus trying to give Rodimus what he needs, even if it's, like, a whipping, is really hot to me, and I'm also fond of them fighting over who has to top. (I haven't really written it in fic, but I do RP them a lot in chat.)
My headcanon Roddy sometimes thinks of him as a sexless Grown Up superior and sometimes (as Hot Rod) thinks of him as a hot forbidden challenge who he should totally seduce. :D
Re: Rodimus!
Re: Rodimus!
(...and now I have a bizarre image of Magnus trying to convince Roddy to apply to college and MAKE SOMETHING OF HIMSELF. And not drop out and start a heavy metal band like Springer did!)
Re: Rodimus!
(And maybe hanging out with a medic will convince Hot Rod that driving really fast to the top of tall things and jumping off of them is not a viable career path)
no subject
So um, in the interest of thinking of something odd and interesting: Scourge!
I don't really feel I got much of a sense of his character or even his function from canon, soooo... what's his deal in your opinion?
Scourge
Mostly he seems very willing to follow Cyclonus' lead and hide behind him as much as he can. We see in Starscream's Ghost that, even with the Sweeps, he's not much of a leader; the Sweeps will obey Cyclonus far more readily than their actual leader.
The major exception to this is when he puts the Matrix in his chest and becomes superpowered, but that seems a fairly natural reaction to a high shiny object and, well, to becoming drunk enough on power not to care about the risks anymore.
As for function, he's a tracker, although you don't see much of that in canon; sometimes in fic I see him during surveillance, sort of like Soundwave (or the bit in Surprise Party where the Unicronians are watching Daniel Witwicky's birthday party from their base). I haven't really gone there with him, though I would rather like to do something with him and the Sweeps as scouts.
On a narrative level, he's useful for having a perspective on Galvatron and Cyclonus that's closer to them than the other Decepticons, but sane enough and far enough outside their dynamic that he's not caught up in the overpowering emotion of it all.
Re: Scourge
And I know he's a tracker, I just never thought I saw what that was supposed to *mean* in canon. (Which always saddened me. The Tracker and His Huntsmen sounded so slagging badass when Unicron said it...)
Re: Scourge