#tinyironfist

Sorry about not getting to this sooner, Tumblr just now notified me that this question was in my inbox.

Also I’m not exactly sure what you mean here? Like…are you asking which of the two is more empty of cities and the like, asking which has more area populated by farms, or asking which would be more of a stereotypical “backwoods hickish” place equivalent to the stereotypical US south?

If you mean either of the first two options, I’d say the prairies since there’s a lot of big, flat, open farmland out there.

Heh. Well to be fair, it’s not difficult to be better than RID 14… (full disclosure, I stopped reading after 14 so I have no opinion on 15 and 16.)

I just didn’t like the pacing of this issue. Also the timing: using this flashback to focus on Rodimus’ childish jealousy when he made such strides in the last issue and the accompanying short story… and there’s a few other little things I didn’t like about it, but mostly it was the pacing.Though I have noticed in the past that jumping around in time is not one of Roberts’ strong points as a writer. Issue 12 had similar pacing issues but I think they were much more prevalent in this issue.

That episode was written by David Wise.

Religion: Although Brainstorm is an atheist, he acknowledges that mythology may at times contain hidden truths and thus invests a small portion of his time in the research of seemingly-supernatural occurrences, those eerie and eldritch enigmas that no other scientist would dare approach.

The more mystery and mysticism surrounding a particular concept, the more his curiosity is piqued, fueling his determination to not only find an empirical explanation for the phenomenon but also a way to utilize it in the creation of something original, awe-inspiring, and - as is often the case - completely terrifying.

In addition to Cybertronian legends, those of alien origin are also fair game. When first visiting a foreign planet, most scientists will scan for scientific data and stop there. Brainstorm goes a step further and peruses the archives for information of a more metaphysical nature. This technique has proven to be especially helpful when investigating civilizations still in the early stages of technological development, where the line between ineffable magic and academic fact is blurred and kinda squiggly and really not a line at all; it's more like a non-Euclidean game of Tetris.

Speaking of non-existent lines, Brainstorm makes no distinction between ancient myths, superstitious quirks, and religious doctrine. He almost never speaks of religion in a sociopolitical context but if he were to give his honest views on its presence in prewar Cybertronian culture, he would say that it was all just another ignorant system of arbitrary rules, created to oppress, stifle, and undermine true creativity and genius.

Perhaps the real reason he devotes a small portion of his time in breaking taboos and utterly obliterating superstitious misconceptions is, quite simply, because they annoy him and he enjoys fucking them up.

Then again, the same could really be said about his disposition toward any set of rules or laws. Like the laws of gravity. Or that bullshit about how 1+1 always equals 2. He already owned the law of conservation of mass during the Annual comic, after all.

Love: Brainstorm loves Chromedome, who is his oldest, closest (not to mention only) friend. Anyone else he'd loved in the past is probably dead.

He finds Whirl and Atomizer (and in an AU, Ambulon) amusing. If things were different, he might consider pursuing a deeper friendship with them, but as things are now, his attention is elsewhere, primarily on his inventions.

He's apathetic to most everyone else on the ship, but if they ask him for a favor - like they need new legs or a new holoform generator or something - he'll do it. And he'll do a good job. And he probably won't eat or sleep until it's done. Once in a while, someone thanks him and that makes him happy but it is a transient, insubstantial happiness, the sort which in the end always leaves him feeling frustrated and empty.

For non Lost Light bots, I like the silly idea of Wheeljack being every science-bot's grandpa. Tiny Brainstorm blowing up an invention and crying and Wheeljack hugs him and says he's a real scientist now! More realistically, adult Brainstorm probably respects Wheeljack a little but is glad he's not there to steal his spotlight.

Then there's Perceptor. Brainstorm pretends he feels the same sort of apathy for Perceptor as he does for most everyone else. He insists that Perceptor is the one who's obsessed with him.

In truth, he views Perceptor as his most respected colleague and most immediate intellectual equal. Brainstorm doesn't let other people's opinions bother him but if there were an opinion he took seriously, it would he Perceptor's. He is the only one even remotely qualified to criticize or judge Brainstorm's work and that is exactly what he does. Brainstorm can deal with that. Perceptor may be almost on his level but he's still pretty much wrong about everything ever, so yeah, whatever. What Brainstorm cannot handle at all is when Perceptor is dismissive or ignores him.

Since Perceptor only seems to pay attention to him when Brainstorm is doing something dangerous, people might say Brainstorm's more likely to do something dangerous when he's around but I do not think that is the case. He'd do those things anyway. And loudly joke and brag about them while he does. When Perceptor's around, all that changes is that he talks more loudly to make sure the other scientist notices.

Anyway, yes, Brainstorm will deny both having a crush on Perceptor and hating the guy. I think he himself doesn't really know what his deal is but perhaps there is some sort of love woogling around in there somewhere, except instead of the type of love you represent with a cute red heart symbol, it's an octarine non-Euclidean Tetris game piece. Am I taking this metaphor too far? Too bad, it's my new favorite metaphor and I'm going to use it all the damn time now until I forget about it.

Conjunx Endura: He's had only one Conjunx Endura in his lifetime. If it's some random other bot who died or if it's memory-erased Chromedome, I'm not sure. I think the entire concept of "Conjunx Endura" has come to mean less to him. He's probably never really been comfortable defining his relationship with anyone.

In a less serious business direction, I think he's fine just having a sexy harem for now~ In an AU where the Lost Light just goes on silly fun space adventures in space where no one dies, I like him developing a Conjunx Endura relationship with Atomizer because it'd be fucking hot! Do I need another reason? No I don't but if I did I'd probably find a way to relate it to that Tetris metaphor again.

Sparklings: I like the idea of him building Deathsaurus and it's like those adorable tiny Deathsaurus comics I translated ages ago except with Brainstorm instead of Megatron and he's surrounded by the Lost Light crew.

It'd be cute, but I don't think it's likely Cybertronians start out tiny and grow like that, so I'm not sure where he's going to find the materials to build an entire freaking Deathsaurus...