Time to make an intro post! My main is @icykalisartblog and I'm an adult. This blog is SFW, but I may discuss heavy topics sometimes, so keep that in mind in case you don't want to see discussions of themes like bigotry in media or fandom.
My favorite TF media is currently: Earthspark, G1 (especially the UK Marvel comics), Cyberverse, and Beast Wars
Tags: my analysis (meta) | my art | my gifs | my writing (fanfic) | memes
🎶Have a list of G1 Jazz media recs! 🎶
TF strawpage (in case Tumblr is destroyed for real, I'll add a link to this if I move posts from this blog somewhere else)
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off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?
She is GOOD. She is a good commander, and she is good at her job. I like her as the "no bullshit" type; she's valuable to the Decepticons because she gets stuff done.
She also NEEDS to be disabled; like, you don't understand how much I need more disabled rep in Transformers. I think she's a specifically nice case to explore, given her role AND status as a Decepticon. The "survival of the fittest" guys are NOT treating this woman right. I think seeing her stubbornly trying to claw back any sense of control and normalcy can be very interesting.
adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?
I need to see fandom use her first, but again, I do stick to the G1 side of things.
throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?
Crazy thought? Megaempress.
Ik i'm guilty of loving her, but think about it... Meggy E. would treat her with decency (if she agreed to be loyal, that is) AND they could bond over the fact they were both screwed over by Shockwave.
Evil women on top. That's the agenda.
how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))
🪦
ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?
I do not think about her as much as I should. Though, she sits in the area of my brain reserved for characters I could think a compelling (?) arc for, even if she isn't being rotated.
That being said, she's one of the few 'Cons I'd like to see desert the faction. That means she can't be anywhere near high command, so you've already lost something there. She's better than that anyway; they're losers. Anyway, I love to imagine her coming to terms with her disability and with her value as a person and not an asset of the Decepticons.
weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?
I do think she's more of a lone wolf... Which is why it's fun to imagine her having to wrangle around a team. I mostly just like to see her stressed, so I'd probably pair her around jobbers (think late-G1 Decepticons).
do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)
I don't think Bumblebee is a real rival for her. I mean, he IS. But I think it's more compelling if it is more of an internal conflict between herself from the past and herself now. Destroying Bumblebee is the easiest way to externalize all she feels.
Sorry if this is hijacking your post, but after reading your thoughts I felt like since I don't think I'm ever going to be motivated to write it, I'd share my outline for how the Shadow Striker story about ableism that I came up with would conclude:
In my head, a sequel would take place in the future. Many Decepticons Shadow Striker used to know are dead or have defected. She's sort of faded into the background amidst the rest of the army.
Nickel hatches a plan to kill Galvatron and overthrow him by poisoning the energy supply, and she and Soundwave try to recruit Shadow Striker to their side. But for some reason, Shadow Striker feels so uneasy. She still remembers her encounters with Arcee and how much that Autobot loves life. Shadow Striker also remembers how long ago, she believed in Megatron, and they were comrades. But Shadow Striker tells herself, Galvatron isn't her friend. That thing is a terrible leader. And if Galvatron needs to die because of that, it has nothing to do with disability. Why should she feel like she's acting against her own interests when her disability isn't anything like that, anyway. She's not crazy! And the Galvatron loyalists are also crazy and in her mind, weak. Yet, at the same time, she hesitates, and doesn't want everyone to end up starving again like they were before they had a strong leader....
Eventually, she chooses to go behind the backs of Nickel and Soundwave and address the Decepticon masses. She tells them they all know Galvatron is terrible. But surely they don't want some weak leader and to end up starving on Chaar again. Instead, they should follow her into a new glorious era of Decepticon supremacy! And in her mind she thanks Arcee as everybody cheers her name and she becomes the new top dictator around while the other splinter factions waste their time killing each other. Now, she is top dog and gets to choose who is weak and who to cull. Surely she isn't now replicating the system that was oppressing her the entire time. And somewhere, Arcee is deeply disappointed but ready to fight this new supreme leader of the Decepticons, and Nickel and Soundwave have probably underestimated Galvatron and paid the price.
off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?
Okkkk, so many things; I'll try to be objective.
Jazz is Black; it is very important that no matter what is done to him, he remains black. Even canon wavers sometimes, but that doesn't mean he's NOT black. Also, it doesn't matter what country you're from; observe, educate yourself.
Jazz is competent. He'll always be Optimus SiC (no matter what THEY say); he is Optimus's right-hand man, and he does his job well, fast, and with style. Even if he gets distracted sometimes (also, Scatman Crothers had trouble remembering his lines in The Shining (1980); I like adding a bad memory to Jazz as a nod.)
Jazz loves Earth culture and music. Sounds self-explanatory enough, right? Even if nowadays every Autobot finds Earth beautiful or whatever. Being well-versed in culture is HIS thing.
Jazz hates war. He hates the cycle of violence and what it does to him and the people around him. He remains strong for everyone's sake, but he does get depressed. He's a decent person.
adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?
I know fandoms gonna racist, because... Yt ppl. But there is a second version of Jazz, which has no relation with the original beyond appearance, running around in the #tfjazz tag of tumblr.com and the Jazz (Transformers) tag on Ao3, and he has replaced the original in some people's minds. And it's not recent; it goes wayyyy back, the J/P people created fanon disciples well-versed in their racist ways of old.
Jazz is NOT lazy; he's explicitly written as competent. Jazz does not disturb those around him from doing their job. Jazz is NOT giddy about violence, and do not come at me with that whole "spy" thing; you're using his "spec-ops" function to make him kill w/out blame AND be worse than some Decepticons.
And, most infuriating, it's 2026, Jazz should not speak like THAT (iykyk).
I won't dwell on this, since there are a lot of posts specifically about how the fandom does him dirty, but holy shit, it's a whole 1920s out there.
throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?
Jazz vs Starscream is so unexplored it's almost criminal. THEY'RE SUCH GOOD FOILS. Guy who only loves himself vs guy who everyone can rely on? Disloyal SiC vs Loyal sic? Earth lover guy vs throw Earth in the sun guy?
how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))
"Who is the idiot driving a Porsche in these fucking streets??"
"OMG JAZZ TRANSFORMERS"
I don't think we'd be friends; he's like my cool black uncle from the big city.
ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?
Oh, boy, how I love seeing Jazz getting emotionally tortured. I'm glad canon does that (or used to). I just need to see him crack under pressure or bottle it all up until he's numb. The scenarios I imagine with him are usually quieter than what I make them up to be; he's a very private person, so I think he just cries a few tears, wipes them, and jumps into action again.
weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?
Well, I don't think he's a guy of many friends, like, REAL friends. Sure, everyone likes him, but is he really anyone's first option?
I enjoy him with Optimus; even if they differ on some things, I think Jazz is one of the few people who see OP as a person and understand his story and what made him what he is (or try to; I think Elita was the only one there since day 0). I also REALLY enjoy thinking about him and Bumblebee having a weird friendship; granted, I like my Bees jaded... but idk, I think they'd see each other in ways no one else can.
Also Marvel pr0wl, but I don't talk about him here.
do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)
I'm so sold on Aroace Jazz (happy pride month!) BUUUT, I need to see him feel unfit for it (yes, even if they're Cybertronians, Jazz has issues). I like imagining he feels that if he found "the right person," he'd finally feel... Idk, alive? Cleansed? Complete? Something.
Also, autistic Jazz is real in this house. Down with only-autistic Prowl. Idc if you're "relate" to him. I enjoy a Jazz who has to learn how to respond to people in the "correct" way and has a special interest in earthly culture.
If you had the opportunity to, how would you rewrite TFA along with a hypothetical fourth season for it?
I think this is a question better posed to somebody who is a TFA fan but off the top of my head:
More integration of the unique setting. Optimus's team is in a future Detroit with futuristic technology all built off of Cybertronian anatomy basically—this sci-fi Motown—but I don't recall this really being that plot-relevant outside of new characters coming to life due to the Allspark shards as the premises of individual episodes... but I didn't feel like the characters brought to life with those contributed a lot to the themes of the show. Characters like Sari's robot puppy and tutor should probably have interactions with the Autobots too.
More women characters. Blackarachnia is introduced as if she's going to be a major antagonist and then appears very little. Arcee is in a coma and serves mainly as motivation for Ratchet, a man. TFA is sometimes compared to the Teen Titans show that had a similar art style and I think it needed to take cues from that in terms of how many major women there were and how they had relationships with each other. Something I think would have been interesting is if Blackarachnia eventually tried to convince Sari that they should team up, for example. (The Teen Titans show also did a good job of highlighting each of its main characters as well, and I think TFA often did a poor job of balancing the screen time and development of each of its main characters.)
The elephant in the room: I don't know if this would even be fixable, but we need to address the things I find really offensive about the show... like the Sumdac family. They shouldn't be portrayed by white people (especially not a white guy doing a stereotypical accent) first of all, but also Sari's name really irritates me. To me, it seems like the writers picked something they thought "sounded Indian" and so they named her after a sari and that's it. Also, their ethnicity is never explored from what I can remember, which isn't helped due to Sari being a robot, right? There are also other characters in TFA like Blitzwing who to me reads as an offensive caricature of DID that I have no idea how it would be possible to improve.
I think the show did an okay job of trying to explore the theme of characters who are outcasts in various ways being heroes, but the amount of time the Autobots go around catching criminals like superhero cops and even hang out with the police chief and Bumblebee turns into the guy's car... IDK. I think something would need to be adjusted there, especially when the police chief hates machines but Sari is a machine and yet this never comes up?
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smokes cigarette. oplita is at it's best when it's between an elita who clings to an outdated version of optimus and an optimus who loves earth more than he loves elita. and the physical distance is necessary. but no one cares. they only see a man and a woman. coughs hacks shrivels and dies
comes back smoking larger cigarette. jazzprowl is at it's best when its between two friends who work together using their strengths to cover the others weaknesses that both know and recognise due to a shared history and immense trust. but no one cares. they only see racial caricatures and enemies for no reason. coughs coughs hack hack shrivels and dies
Love your analysis on Transformers Earthspark. It's one of my favorite Transformers continuity after Transformers Animated. Now, I want to voice my ire that some people say that Earthspark is pro military and not a good example of healthy family dynamics. It really make me go 'B*** are we watching the same show?! It ain't even promilitary at the slightest.'
Oh, thank you! Earthspark is by far my favorite Transformers show so I'm always happy to see other people who are fans of it! I've never heard the claim that the show is "pro-military" before but I wouldn't really be surprised... even though the military group was villainous and hunting down the heroes and had to be dismantled. This idea would fall into that pattern I saw a lot with the Earthspark hatedom throughout it's run... it's the most anti-racist TF show, but people claimed it was racist. It's the most pro-immigrant TF show, but people claimed it was anti-immigration. It stars a very healthy family, but people claimed it was an unhealthy one or even cult-y. It stars more complex women than most TF series, but people claim it is misogynistic. ...All the while continuing to be fans of Transformers content that's objectively exponentially worse in these regards. Since the show is great I do still hope Earthspark will get its flowers one day, since TF fans often hate innovation and then come around to it later, though the way people have acted was so alienating I personally wouldn't be able to forgive.
Now that I'm thinking of it, I still don't think this show is recognized enough for starring a healthy family including mixed Blasian kids with a Black mom and Filipino dad. I think that's really valuable but sometimes I feel like this gets glossed over even though it's core to the show and impossible to miss.
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Recently, I had a wild idea for how I might've had Nightbird, one of the most underutilized G1 characters, appear in the Skybound comics continuity.
Arcee's "vision quest" to become Magnus being only one panel really bothered me, so what if instead we saw her vision quest in full and Nightbird was featured in there as the representation of all of Arcee's worst impulses and insecurities? Looking somewhat similar to Arcee, but having all this weaponry and being stronger and more agile. And Arcee struggles because if she loses to this shadow self of hers she's not going to be worthy of being named Magnus... but then right as she's about to lose she has this moment of realization like, "Wait, you only exist to torment me? And represent everything I'm self-conscious about? That sounds awful. I'm so sorry. You should get to live as your own person!" And this compassion is SO shocking to Nightbird that Arcee overpowers her and hugs her~
And later, after Arcee has become Arcee Magnus, Nightbird would still be buried in her mind. And Magnus, since she's so compassionate, would have a frame commissioned for her even though the other Autobots would fear that Nightbird would be a threat to them. And she probably would be, and resent her origins, but Magnus would declare it the right thing to do anyway.
Listen to this playlist on YouTube! As the story continues I might add more songs to this one day:
"Damned Soul" RIVALS // "Time Moves Slow" BADBADNOTGOOD // "The Greatest" Cat Power // "The Next Time You Say Forever" Neko Case // "Ghost" The Indigo Girls // "Don't Let It Show" cover by Benatar Giraldo // "It Doesn't Matter" Skunk Anansie // "The Way Life's Meant To Be" Electric Light Orchestra // "pink lightning" Purity Ring // "Didn't We Almost Win It All" Laura Branigan // "Gross" Penelope Scott // "Say It Then" Happy Birthday Mr. Baskets // "God Loves Only You" Skunk Anansie
After months of work I’m ready to introduce my first batch of stickers!
They’re available in 2inches here and 3inches here!
I’m super excited to share these with you! If this goes well I’ll show my medic stickers too.
Here are some example photos with dice for reference!
If I may ask, how did you read the marvel UK comics?
...
🏴☠️
(I'll be copying and pasting some of an answer I gave to someone else who asked me this once.)
To find the comics, search for “Transformers Marvel UK comics read online” or something like that in a search engine, and you can add a number afterward for a specific issue. The UK comics run includes all the US stories, but with lots of unique material as well. To read the stories in the annuals, you can look up something like, “Transformers UK annual 1985” and find them all that way.
Very early into your read, I recommend reading the story “State Games” from the 1986 annual. This story gives the origin of the War and many major characters.
Then, once you've read UK issue #120, read “Vicious Circle” from the 1987 annual. I guess as an ad for the annuals, issue #120 leads into this story with a cliffhanger.
Once you've read to UK issue #290, read “The Magnificent Six!” in the 1991 annual, a story that closes out the Earthforce arc from the comic.
Once you have finished all the comics, read “Another Time & Place” in the 1992 annual, the story that ends this UK comics continuity.
The letters pages etc. are optional but often fun and recommended by me and are on TFWiki.
If scan quality is bad, check to see if there are scans of reprints available, which there are for some stories like “Target: 2006,” or check to see if it’s a story that’s in both the UK and US comics. I know I had to switch to the US comic scans when I ran out of UK-exclusive comics when I got to #290.
I want to also say to anyone interested in the Marvel comics that even though I really love a lot of the lore and characterization and bizarre funny things in them, there’s also plenty of bad, too. Approach these comics critically like you would the Sunbow cartoon, knowing that while it can be really fun, there’s also negative elements (particularly regarding women). With that in-mind, have fun reading these comics in which the Space Bridge was a literal bridge made out of a tortured guy and Optimus Prime blew himself up because he didn’t save some NPCs in a video game.
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I may not be the right person to be saying this, but I think this is pretty gross. I don't like that the showrunner of Cyberworld is posting an edit for views teasing various MLM pairings when, if I may be blunt, MegOp or StarOp or whatever is absolutely never going to be explored. Far more importantly, there will not be any queer characters in this show. I know people often joke about the term "queerbaiting" but this is clearly it... hinting at gay stuff in ads for a series to get attention with no intention to actually have anything in the show. Not to mention the downplaying of the obvious romantic implications of the love song and pink hearts with the "Palentine's?" in the title of the edit (presumably to avoid putting off as many people as possible).
AND...
Why are we having the sole woman of this show's cast being teased as the romantic interest of multiple men in an ad like this (and she has romantic feelings for Wheeljack in the show itself for certain) before even one other woman character is introduced? To be clear, I have nothing against women and men being in romantic relationships (clearly I ship various pairings like that including Oplita), but why is 100% of the (extremely minimal) representation of women so far in this role?!
I think this is especially irritating to me when the show right before this one, Earthspark (which was still running when Cyberworld came out!) had around a 50% female cast, with women and girls in all kinds of roles with all kinds of characterizations. I'm aware that Airachnid is probably going to be in Cyberworld at some point but that doesn't really appease me... that just suggests to me that the franchise is backsliding into the "one good woman and one bad woman" zone that TF One was in.
