#transformes rescue bots

I got inspired by @whatwooshkai 's "I'd Rather Be Dead" fic and have been pondering about scenarious of Heatwave getting dragged underwater by voices and everything. So the urge to draw something related to it was big.

I love this fanfic so much, I am such a sucker for horror. Can't wait for an update on the next one. It will be a feast.

Greyscale:

WIP screenshots:

And ofc, the initial sketches:

So remember this post? About Mr Steve Blum Heatwave Burns the Firetruck Bot Guy? Well, as I’ve said in a reblog of that post, it goes deeper. We got two parts to this, but I’ll keep them brief.

To start, take a look at these screenshots and tell me what you notice. Or better yet, tell me what you remember about each of them.

The first screenshot is from the season 3 finale, specifically the moment that the quantum crystal gets fucked by Zeus, which then activates the Reactaline and sends the island straight to Antartica. Of course, Heatwave is the one to hold the damn thing before dropping it.

Our second screenshot is from Spellbound (a personal favorite of mine), where Heatwave trips, sends a rock down the cliff, and destroys Boulder’s phone. Of course, it’s Heatwave that nearly falls and is inadvertently responsible for foiling Pinch’s plans. Had he not fallen, the town would’ve been hypnotized for who knows how long.

Then there’s Sky Forest, where Heatwave says something along the lines of “Something feels wrong” right before the forest turns into a scene from The Happening 2 Electric Boogaloo. Hat drop, mic drop, down to the millisecond he says it, things go wrong.

Heatwave has, without fail, either been the catalyst for something happening or has predicted something. It doesn’t happen every time he’s on screen, but it’s frequent enough to take notice.

Here’s a screenshot from A Vigilant Town. It was established previously that the team had no idea what kind of security the underground vaults have, yet Heatwave, unprompted, pulls the fire extinguishers out and starts spraying the ground. He knew there were laser tripwires while the rest of the team (and Cody, who was the only one to get a glimpse at the vaults) didn’t. Dude had a hunch and went for it.

Then there’s his ability to gain a third form first try. Yes, the other bots do it later in season three, but that’s most likely a case of the infamous Aligned Continuity Unicron Singularity Calamity (tm), or a continuity error for the uninitiated.

Optimus even admits that this shouldn’t have happened. In his own words, very few have been able to do what Heatwave just did. It’s like Dave from down the street suddenly became a pro body builder on instagram overnight. It’s just impossible.

Yet Heatwave does it with little issue.

He even predicted Even and Myles in The Haunting of Griffin Rock. “Perfect for an ammeter thief.” A smaller example but definitely suspicious when looking at Heatwave as a whole.

Whatever is going on with Heatwave, it’s supernatural to some extent. Is he psychic? Is he a prophet? Does Optimus recognize his potential as a prime? Does he know something that Heatwave doesn’t? Is he planning something for him beyond the Training Center?

BUT SPEAKING OF FUTURES we get to Verne. And we get to the second part of this theory spitball.

Ever the mystery, Heatwave apparently has some magical destiny that the other bots don’t, one that’s important to Cybertron’s and Earth’s histories. The show completely leaves it unanswered, leaving everyone scratching their heads, and only adds to Heatwave’s weirdness.

Except we do see what Verne was referring to. We do get to see Heatwave make history…alongside his students.

Enter Citadel Secundus.

When Citadel starts transforming, the recruits are obviously freaking out. The ground is moving and they have no idea why. Heatwave, meanwhile, is calm. While it’s part of his job, he isn’t concerned about the situation in the slightest. Hell, he doesn’t even brace himself, he just stands next to the recruits like it’s a normal Tuesday. Then he drops the bombshell that this is a Titian.

Heatwave and the recruits have rediscovered a fucking Titian, a race of transformers thought to be completely wiped out. Metroplex was the last Titian that any Cybertronian laid eyes on, and he died sacrificing his energon to fuel the Arc in WFC. (Which is wild, considering that the Rescue bots do the same thing for Griffin Rock, but that’s for another post).

It fits perfectly. It explains why Heatwave is singled out from his teammates as having an important magical destiny. His teammates weren’t there when Citadel was woken up! It also explains why Verne was most familiar with Heatwave compared to the others. Heatwave would’ve likely shared Citadel’s story with Optimus and Cybertron after RBA. Hell, Heatwave even calls it a historic event, one that hasn’t happened in eons.

This next part is purely speculation on my part, but Heatwave’s reaction almost comes across as familiarity, like he’s seen a Titian transforming before, hence why he isn’t afraid or cautious. He knows that a Titian wouldn’t harm them.

We can use this to roughly pinpoint when Sigma 17 left Cybertron. It likely took off before the Rust Plauge, as that was when the Titians took off and colonies and Space Bridges were established. It also had to have been before the plauge because they’re still allowed to travel in space, and they likely used a space bridge to get to the Quintessa Quardrant.

Now if this is true, that would mean that Heatwave would’ve been around the same time Orion Pax was, since he was still an archivist when space bridges and the other colonies were established. He could be around Optimus’ age!

Been too long since I’ve done one of these and this has been in my drafts for months now sooo here you go!

Shoutout to @zeondraws for making this chart cuz I’ve been dying to talk about Heatwave’s design inconveniences for a while now but wasn’t sure where to start.

I knew Heatwave’s optics had changed over the show, but I never realized that his entire face changes. Even during my binge of the show, I didn’t notice it until Zeon brought it up on Discord with me.

Like…the same people who bitch about Steven Universe not having consistent character scaling would have a stroke at this. And the thing is that I can’t tell if I like the cleaner look that season 4 gives him or not. In any case, let’s look into this.

So we don’t really have a definitive answer for why this happened, but I have a good guess for it. Basically the show got tossed around between Atomic Cartoons, Vision Animation (collaborating with Kickstart Productions and Moody Street Kids) and DHX Media. All of this passing the baton resulted in minor inconsistencies like Heatwave’s face and optics. We can even see it with Blades’ feet. The pattern under his feet in season one doesn’t match up with the pattern in later seasons.

Now as interesting as all of that sounds, it’s pretty boring compared to the crackpot theories that I love to make…so let’s fix that.

Tldr; I think Heatwave is sick.

It would explain why his optics are dull, since Boulder referenced optics as a sign of illness in season two. It would also explain why he suddenly got nerfed in later seasons. If you look through the show, you can see that he’s getting weaker. In Too Many Kades, a rock dents his armor when previously such an injury wouldn’t have happened. He’s been pelted by rocks before, so why is it now suddenly an issue?

My personal headcannon is that stasis isn’t something that you can stay in for as long as you like without consequence. After a thousand years or so, your body begins to deteriorate. Think muscle atrophy. While the others were mostly spared from this degenerative condition, Heatwave got the worst of it (likely through dumb luck or maybe even his genetics. Maybe he’s vulnerable to stasis deterioration or something).

My Heatwave one is way too chaotic tho

After friends introduced me to pureref, I could not draw something without having enough ref pics for it. One picture is never enough for me, I want to understand it-

Also it is always fun to see how I improve drawing something specific. Seeing first sketch vs a very recent sketch. Enjoy some of my ugly works.

Look this is how I drew RBA Blades for the first time (My urge to turn anything into a bird is always very big)

I keep the first sketches away from eyes because I find it so cringe, but I gotta document my progress. In comparison to this drawing below one can immediately see the difference. (Inbetween these two sketches I did a ton of sketchbook drawings of RBA Blades in different poses to memorise him clearly)

Also have some more sketches I find "too ugly"

This one even features the first sketch of Calamitas, I found it ugly so I just left it there and started a new drawing. It worked out tho.

Now I have another one I find ugly, because of the colour combo

This was more like me messing around and trying to understand colour a tad bit more. Like how mixing works.

I forgot if I ever shared this

There was another sketch on this page, but I didn't like the pose. I want to draw weird horror/fantasy stuff most of the time. But this dragon version didn't click with me. Like, how do I make him creepy

I think I am stuck with dragon Blades, but I think I need to look at more dragons or interesting animals. Maybe some insects or fishes. Or some rare mammal

Diva.

I was angry that day, he's holding Heatwave's head

I. Love. This. Stupid. Bird. LOOK AT HIM!!!!! MY SON

This one is also experimental. Whenever I have "WIPs" I don't think to myself "I have way too many" I simply discard or keep one or two wips to work on later. If a wip becomes too old, it's usually better to redraw the idea (if I wanna tinker with it some more)

Another test dragon

What was the idea here??? Why is Blades on his knees???