#tf protoforms

1) Newsparks

Newsparks come from the mantle of cybertron, and flow up into the care of their own like magma. These “hotspots” tend to appear wherever cities already are and resemble lava rivers that take up shop in old, gaping magma chambers. This is where they still rely on blacksmiths (like Anode from IDW1) to bring them energon, monitor the school for any newsparks that might need extra help, and build whatever sort of infrastructure the newsparks need to transition into their second stage. During this stage, they are often tagged for medical records.

⭐️ It’s at this stage when Photon imprinted on Optimus. Yes, he looks a lot more like Megatron cause he spent a lot more time in his care, but whatever’s gained here certainly isn’t negligible.

Fun Fact; Adoption!!! It’s at this stage that if conjunx endurae or an aspiring sentry want to mentor a charge, (family planning basically) they wait around the newsparks and hope for a sparkling to crawl up and pick them. Less commonly, there’s foster/hanai/adoptive sentries, who work with blacksmiths to bond with a sparkling who needs extra help and care and wouldn’t be able to pick a sentry on their own. (cough cough Soundwave, Rumble, and Frenzy cough cough)

2) Ores

Properly developed transformation cogs finally allow them to grow. A group of healthy newsparks called a school will crawl out of the magma chamber and go explore. You don’t want to touch them here, they can be incredibly hot, and rely on melting any metal they touch to consume it and grow. (Full grown cybertronians don’t melt easily though, so don’t worry about sentries) Blacksmiths often conscript help to construct ways to get the ores someplace they can explore and learn/collect data without accidentally imprinting or interfering with everyday functioning. Seeing an ore for a transformer is like seeing baby turtles crawling on the beach, they’re sooo rare and cute!!! But don’t disturb them. They’re doing their thing. This is where they learn the most basic aspects about the world around them.

⭐️This is where Megatron found him and accidentally became a dad. In really shortened terms, the Matrix basically supercharged him and so he went off on his own, but crashed. Megatron found this cold little baby looking thing and it became Photon Nex. (Below, you can see this so-so first draft of a comic script from really early in his development where i was mostly throwing stuff at the wall to see if it stuck. Anode’s knowledge might shed some light on why this happened. After that, the inspiration from idw1.)

3) Protoforms

Their processor is growing and the traits dictated by their cna/coding are coming in. Still scorching hot, they tend to collect data while awake, then heat up to grow their mass and connect complex circuitry while in recharge. They grow really fast, it’s scary. They don’t start socializing just yet, the packs they traveled in earlier was more for safety, so now they start splitting up. Any bots nearby tend to keep an eye on schools from afar so any protoforms that aren’t doing as well don’t rejoin the well too soon.

⭐️This is riiiight about where we see Photon in the comic. You can see he’s starting to resemble something humanoid and grow kibble and whatnot.

4) Prototypes

Look at that, they’re entering their awkward teenage phase!! Along the way, they start to socialize and interact with others more meaningfully. Things tend to change slightly about each of their modes each time they transform, that’s normal. They’re still a bit warm and pliable, but safe to touch. Though they might be a little more cocky and irritable. This is where the alt mode and frame color solidify and can be properly recorded.

5) Transformer time!!!

Looking sharp! Nanites iron out the internals, now proper engines, cables, and tubing, into the complex systems of a cybertronian bot! Plating becomes more polished and refined, and they’ve wrapped up their final upgrades.