#tfrb humanisation

Ages

Heatwave – 34

Chase – 28/29

Boulder – 26

Blades – 24, soon to be 25

Drinking / Drinks of Choice

Heatwave – Heaviest out of the four but blame hegemonic masculinity and the low bar to jump over for that. He’s not a heavy drinker just, as I said, the heaviest out of the four. His drink of choice is beer (domestically and publicly) but he can be persuaded into a cocktail or two when out. Typically, aside from beer he will have a dirty martini or a whisky.

Chase – No, he doesn’t drink. Heatwave tends to offer him a beer and he’ll take it but it’s barely drunk and then Heatwave has to finish it off. At formal events he might have a half flume of champagne, martini, or whiskey, but that is rare as hell. He likes to remain aware. He has had to drag a drunk Heatwave home a few times from certain events, and undresses him to get into bed etc. He’s a good boy (man?). (He might… if Heatwave was to ever ask him out on a date, indulge in some wine – wine isn’t too bad – if Heatwave shares the bottle with him. But that’s… never happened. So.)

Boulder – If Heatwave offers then he’ll have a beer but it’s not his preferred choice. At formal events he will have some champagne but his drink of choice is cider. He likes anything with fruit but mainly cider. Send this man back to the orchard.

Blades – Cocktails. Fruity, elaborate, colourful. He loves the presentation. He just loves loves loves these things when there’s umbrellas and straws and rubber ducks and magic ice cubes. (Bumblebee watch out, your wallet is done for.)

Smoking (🚬)

Heatwave – If he starts out as a cybertronian and is transformed, no, but if he starts out as a human then yes. Tends to use nicotine patches or gum though due to long shifts. Also wouldn’t be a heavy smoker.

Chase – How dare you even suggest that he is affronted– Heatwave put that out. PUT. THAT. OUT. HEATWAVE. *sigh* Well, this is his life now.

Boulder – No, not for his health but because he’s too environmentally conscious.

Blades – Has had a drag, but nearly threw up. Doesn’t like it, is too health-conscious but most of the worry he feels from it is FOMO. He likes the smell of it on others’ clothes when mixed with deodorant or cologne.

Recreational (any, but specifically 🍁)

Heatwave – Has done it in the past, not the biggest fan. Has also done a bump only once, years ago. Don’t tell Chase.

Chase – NO. ..Heatwave did what?

Boulder – Has probably done it the most out of all four, but he wouldn’t classify himself as a stoner. It’s not regular. Would prefer edibles than to smoke but whatever’s available is available when he’s in the mood, you know.

Blades – No. Is too scared of a bad trip or it being laced but as I said above any bad feelings about it is because of FOMO.

Sexual Experience?

Heatwave – Yes. One night stands with both guys and girls and a girlfriend or two in the far past.

Chase – No. He’s… only interested in one person and not really interested in anyone else as of now.

Boulder – Yes, all casual / between friends.

Blades – …no… he wants a boyfriend though! And had one as a teenager than didn’t go anywhere!

Race/Ethnicity

Honestly, I just think they’d reflect the races & ethnicities of their English/Original VAs. So not much to say on that just that that’s the way I go with it.

However, I think Chase hardly tans. Heatwave tans like crazy however and has a lot of tanlines consistently. He’s darker than Chase, but they’re both white.

Blades goes through a lot of pigment changes (aka seasonal pigmentation) throughout the year, specifically in December where he deals with dreaded ✨ winter paleness ✨. He doesn’t like it because he thinks it makes him look kinda dead and has considered tanning beds – yes, he’s complained about this to Bumblebee, and yes Bumblebee has reassured him he looks lovely.

Oh, and the other bots too, I guess.

(ETA: How could I forget that because Boulder has a layer of fat over his muscle [bear – he’s a bear] he has some stretch marks and dimpling/cellulite in certain places. He’s so lovely.)

Hair

Heatwave – Going a little grey, but not much, mostly at the sides. You have to be really close to see it but once you do it’s not unseen. Natural hair colour is brown / dark brown. He doesn’t style it – he usually wears that fuckass helmet anyway.

Chase – Oil black. Thick, will start to go grey at the temples in a few years but it hasn’t started yet. As for how he styles it, think Minegishi from Manly Appetites or Hideyoshi from A Man and His Cat.

Boulder – Around the 3C to 4A or 4B mark but it’s hard to know for sure because he keeps it cropped to the shortest it can go without shaving it off. It probably doesn’t get too long naturally anyway, but he does this for the sake of convenience. If he was in a different line of work, he might grow it out more.

Blades – His hair is also black and maybe it’s silky but I genuinely have no idea how he’d style it. His holoform keeps muddying a clear image of him in my head so out of the four I really have a hard time visualising him.

Facial Hair (& Body Hair, not detailed but it’s easily assumed by what I say about the facial hair)

Heatwave – Can grow it but it’s mostly stubble/short around the jaw, cheeks, and upper lip; he doesn’t get much on his neck and when he does he tries to keep up with grooming because it gets itchy there. Will only really shave when there’s a formal event.

Chase – Can also grow it but not as much as Heatwave. It’s also hard to tell how much he can grow because the moment he gets a shadow he’s shaving it. He keeps himself so cleanly shaven, he nearly always smells like aftershave.

Boulder – Yes, he too can grow it. It’s full. But whether or not he shaves it or not is dependent on mood. He doesn’t look too different with or without it, so it’s not really a surprise when he suddenly appears shaven after a while of having one.

Blades – He cannot grow it lol. A little bit of FOMO, mostly when he’s teased about it. He also tries to encourage Heatwave to clean up because “ew gross”.

Formal attire / mindset & Fashion

Heatwave – His closet is just cargos, fireproofs, and white t-shirts. For the formal stuff: he owns literally one suit he barely touches and that Chase made him put in a dust jacket. He finds ties uncomfortable and the moment the main ceremony or hour (whichever comes first) is over it’s off and the top button is undone. He can manage tying a tie but Chase or Blades (usually Chase) has to do his bow ties.

Chase – Owns a few suits for varying formal occasions as well as business casual items for his off-days. Takes pride in them, actually. He usually is in his police uniform but also has a few button up shirts and trousers for office / desk-work, which as a human he has a fair bit off. Overworked paperwork filling during unpaid overtime king. He also has glasses for paperwork but usually wears contacts.

Boulder – Likes dressing up for formal events but isn’t too pressed about them. Can tolerate ties and bow ties but if he has the option to he wouldn’t wear them (man has a naturally thick neck, RELEASE HIM). Also likes patterned button up long-sleeved shirts and jeans combos and then some floral shirts in the summer, worn open over vests or T-shirts.

Blades – FASHIONISTA. Wardrobe is nearly falling over from the weight inside. Boulder plans to build a new one for him. Tries to orchestrate all the formal dressing up (he’s the one that’s like “chop chop time to get ready!”) and in that regard Heatwave is his worst nightmare and Chase is an angel from above. Boulder is neither extreme, so he’s a little overlooked but still appreciated in this regard.

Household Chores

Heatwave – Will accuse Blades and Boulder of leaving everything to Chase but he’s arguably the biggest culprit of that. Chase gets stern with him and Heatwave, whipped in denial, gets sheepish and adheres. He can cook but it’s usually with protein and size in mind, thrown together, and isn’t exceptional in terms of taste. Is also careless with his knife skills like even slices? Never heard of her.

Chase – Think Ice Bear from We Bare Bears or Zane from season 1 of Ninjago. He cooks, cleans, shops, changes all their bedsheets, feeds the pets if there are any. Makes everyone’s breakfast and packed lunches and reminds them to drink water. Even takes out the trash because Boulder is usually with Graham, though when he eventually snaps and shows some frustration, Heatwave starts doing that when Boulder isn’t there. I think the reason in canon Chase was bad at cooking was because he was a Cybertronian – as a human with a palette and with his canon perfectionist traits he’s a phenomenal chef & good enough baker (when it comes to pies and crumbles) let’s be real.

Boulder – Usually is the one to take the trash out. Isn’t that great of a cook as he doesn’t have enough practice but he’s good at baking. He also gets Chase a lot of recipe books, thoughtfully.

Blades – Dusts and cleans his own room but will do the rest of the place if asked nicely by Chase. Like Dani, he’s terrible at cooking. But unlike Dani, he knows it and panics. He hates cooking by himself – it stresses him out. He will help as much as he can, though.

Tattoos

Heatwave – If any, then patchwork on one or both arms. Maybe one on his pec, who knows. But I can also see him having none. He probably does have a few though…

Chase – No, not unless the whole “autobot-Decepticon insignia” thing is translated to tattoos. For all intents and purposes, let’s say it doesn’t and that he has none. He won’t verbalise his disapproval of tattoos to people who already have them but doesn’t see the point in them and will try to talk people he knows out of having them if they’re considering it and they ask him.

Boulder – Like Heatwave I can take or leave the idea of him having any but if he did it would be a shoulder/breast piece.

Blades – None unless the insignia thing translated. He has considered getting something small on his wrist or something just to try it and say he’s had it done. (Think of that scene from Friends with Rachel and Ross but with BumbleBlades.)

Piercings

I can’t imagine any of them having any but I do find it funny if the guys find old pictures of Chase and see that he has face piercings. That would be such an interesting concept to cover.

Miscellaneous

Chase wears driving gloves and has a frilly pink apron for when he’s cooking (like Zane lol).

He won’t let Boulder do the shopping because the one time he did he came back with a bunch of potted plants that were about to die and went over budget to get them.

In the same vein, Blades just gets too much confectionary and needless stuff, but Heatwave has the opposite problem where he’s too minimalist and cuts out things “they don’t need”.

When vacuuming, Chase has to tell everyone to lift their feet up, usually Heatwave.

Chase usually reads in his limited spare time.

Chase has a picture of the team on his desk but usually focuses on Heatwave when he’s struggling to finish and it’s super late.

Chase inspires Heatwave to limit his smoking (which due to his working hours was already limited anyway) and then quit. Additionally, Chase had to stop Heatwave from smoking inside so much. (“If I see a single ashtray on this coffee table again, Heatwave…” & “If it’s raining and you have to do it then take an umbrella!”)

Chase wants Heatwave to quit and has nagged him early on in their friendship / the whole team having moved in together, but little does he know Heatwave’s now doing that for him.

Despite his hatred for smoking, he likes the smell of it on Heatwave because it’s so distinctly Heatwave (that and actual smoke) and when he does the laundry he has admittedly sniffed one of Heatwave’s t-shirts… it never happened again! It was a violation of Heatwave’s privacy! As an officer of the law, he — (🫩)