Orca Loving Gal

Knockouts face IS naturally a metallic grey, like most Cybertronians. But since he cares so much about his appearance and looking stylish at all times.. he is upholding an old practice of having perfectly polished face paint. Something no one in their right mind would worry about now-a-days. Their planet has been ravaged by war, mountains of bodies lay in both the Cons, AND the Autobots wake. And Knockout has the nerve to be concerned about looking presentable??

I thought it would have been fitting for Knockout to paint his face, no matter how immature it made him look to the Autobots. And then I thought, why stop there? Imagine if there were these beautiful decorative pinstripings that you could have painted on your face plates. Perhaps for special occasions? Having someone professionally paint your plates could also have been very expensive back on Cybertron.. it could have even been a symbol of your social status..

So after all that brainstorming, these drawings were born! I imagined that Knockout would use gold paint for his pinstriping, though as you can see I haven't really decided on a pattern.. - -;

After I was done drawing Knockout and was getting ready to post, I started thinking about Breakdown..

I was thinking about the fact his face plates were orange, while basically everyone else I can think of has a shiny metallic grey. Maybe Breakdown has his plates painted too..? But Breakdowns face- while yes its bright orange- looks very metallic and appropriately shiny to me. So I figured that his orange plates were natural. Maybe discolored faceplates are a rare birthmark of sorts on Cybertron..?

Now, while I don't headcannon Breakdowns face plates to be painted, who's to say they cant be pinstriped? Knockout and Breakdown seem to be genuine friends in the show (at least in my AU they absolutely will be) so imagine how neat it would be if Knockout would paint these bold designs on Breakdowns face for fun? Imagine how much it would annoy Bulkhead to see Breakdown looking all dolled up. Is he even taking their fight seriously??