#protodon

Hooks and Protodon watching @cuppajj create Thalamhan: 👁👁

‘Every once in a while, stories of humanoid insects big enough to kill a grown man start to circulate.’

Very quick scribble of my still unnamed gryphonfly boy

I don’t have a set height for him just yet, same with Hooks, but they both might take advantage of ‘mass displacement’ frequently so it’s possible neither have a set height, but do like to stand taller than the average mech.

Anyway, onto Protodon. His name comes from ‘Protodonata’ which was the old outdated name for the extinct order of ‘Meganisoptera’, giant prehistoric flying insects that greatly resemble todays dragonflies, with only a few differences that aren’t very obvious to people who aren’t experts (like me, I’m just a casual enjoyer of prehistoric animals). Because ‘giant dragonfly’ isn’t technically correct, they are called ‘griffinflies’, and because Protodon resembles modern dragonflies than he does griffinflies, I have started calling him a ‘gryphonfly’ (totally same but different), for fun. In a way, I think it very much matches his name, if that makes sense.

And like dragonflies, Protodon is a voracious predator. Insecticons seem to often be labeled as a separate species to other mechs, but cannibal might still be a correct descriptor for him and Hooks, as they do seem to prefer other insecticons over mechs with vehicle modes. Protodon is less picky an eater than his partner, as he has a faster metabolism and needs to eat more. If there is no cybertronians around to hunt, he’ll even eat organic creatures, though they’re less fulfilling, meaning he has to eat much more of them to get even a fraction of energy compared to what he can get from another cybertronian. Even a minibot (often considered more of a light snack than a meal) provides much more energy than, say, 200 mule deer.