Jonathan Anubian | Shay

I had a big fanfic in a previous fandom where one of the big reveals was the involvement of a kind of infamous villain, whose presence was built up to and foreshadowed through the whole fic until his reveal without ever mentioning his name, so that the name drop would be a gut punch. It worked especially well because of who the villain was and his presence in that fandom space specifically (it's very complicated) and if it was an original story this reveal wouldn't work at all the way it was written in the fic. Because if you don't have a predisposition to think about that character and his relationship to the hero in a very specific way, then just seeing their name won't do much to you; the reveal and the recontextualisation it pushes upon you hinges on your previous knowledge of the source material.

I think it's an interesting tool fanfic authors are given. One of my favorite fanfic of all time is partially a re-imagining of its source material's canon, and something it does is introduce antagonists much earlier in the story or deepen npcs' stories. It then works to evoke a tragic irony that again wouldn't work if you didn't know the source material, and it's something the author obviously has a lot of fun with.

We can also talk about specifically using formatting and using a site like Ao3 to convey the story - in that, you can take advantage of HTML/CSS. A chapter of one of my fics wouldn't be the same in print unless I heavily adapted it. it should have been by SidneySussex is a masterpiece that simply cannot be absorbed anywhere but on the web.

[Afterimage]

Walking with little Arcee and Cliffjumper, now named Ace and Hopper, the femme looked at her group nervously. Rivet had a scowl on her face that made her look all the more stern but with the little prankster twins happily chirping away at one another in her arms it kind of ruined the effect. Uplift was tossing the Wrecker twins in the air, one at a time, and catching them, her optics bright with amusement. Meanwhile Rebound was taking up the front, holding Outburst and Dusty protectively to her chest.

“We’re almost there. Afterimage, can you take them please?” Stopping the femme held out her two sparklings, her face an emotionless mask but optics sharp with focus. “Remember the plan.”

“Right.” The plan where if they were ambushed by the Decepticons she would take the sparklings and run away as fast as she could back to the Temple and warn Pacer or Jive. To be fair, warning one was really warning both of them. So it didn’t matter which femme she found first. Taking Outburst’s servo in hers she let Dusty hang off her neck, magnetized to her back for safety.

Rivet had found the function earlier when checking their frames for any possible issues. Afterimage hadn’t even known that function existed! But she had seen creators with their sparklings before at the raceway, and she’d always wondered how they never dropped the little bitlets. Magnets, apparently!

As they came over the top of the last ridge she could see the Nemesis in all its terrifying glory. Hesitating a moment she took a deep vent to calm herself before falling back to walk next to Rivet.

“Do you think it’s a trap?” She asked the femme quietly, knowing the medic had her reservations about bringing the sparklings to the Decepticon Warlord’s flagship.

The femme vented harshly, letting out a small growl. “No… or at least not the kind of trap you’re thinking of.” She said through clenched dentae. “They might try to capture us, but I don’t think they mean to-“ she glanced at the saprklings and clicked her glossa in irritation. “They won’t send us back to the Creator. But they might keep us as hostages.”

Chapter 15! Is now done and posted!

The Riven half of the new trophy icons for the Classic PS1 re-release! My favourite world to draw, and super fun getting to draw some alternate universe Gehns for a couple of the bad endings.

(The Myst trophy icons)

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Lounging gladiator 💠

gladiator soundwave is my favorite but it's rare to see art of him… so i wanted to pour all my effort into appreciating him 💞

DOOM ETERNAL

Also your office look so cute!

I have a headcanon from a Crossover series with Star Wars about paint colors, but not for this series.

Some of my favourite Headcanons for Praxus come from "Nor is he Early" by ObliqueVion and "Winged Inheritance" by WandersUnderStarlight.

Both amazing stories, both fantastic authors!

In my Protection Protocol AU Praxians are different because of their Doorwings, yes, but also their social structure. Instead of being competitive, like the Vosnians, they prize 'unity' and co-operation, as well as efficiency. Those outside the norm are often shunned as being 'disruptive to Praxian cohesion.' Although they are a bit more lax outside of Praxus.