*devstalks you*

Word on this. If comics can get away with breaking canon, why can't fan writers? And what about fandoms like Godzilla, where there are thousands of "canons" to play with? The only series of movies of more than two films with any continuity is the Heisei era!

Then there's Transformers, which has different versions of itself. Armada, G1, G2, RID, Animated, Cybertron, Energon, live movieverse, etc...and when the original material has crappy female leads, what do people expect us to do with little pieces?

I do have a favorite het pairing I write in TF--movieverse Optimus/Mikaela. I feel like Mikaela got so underrated in the movie--Sam runs the Cube, but Mikaela drove into the fray when SHE DID NOT HAVE TO. Sam did what he did because he HAD to...Mikaela did her thing out of bravery. I admire that in her and so does Optimus. They can be more open to each other than with the people around them of their own species. I had fun working out the human sized bot holo Optimus uses to interact with her on her level. I don't think I've seen anybody else do that yet. It's so much fun writing Optimus being a big dork.

My favorite moment of them:

Lightning illuminated his angled visage. His hologram did not reflect the damage to his real body.

Aesthetically, he was pleasing to look at. But it wasn't his appearance that captured her. Part of her attraction to him came from his voice...in fact his voice intrigued her from the beginning. Then there was his optics. What made his eyes--those robotic, alien, yet beautiful eyes--so deep and alluring? They weren't just cameras that read movement like Honda's ASIMO robot...they penetrated her. He gazed at her like she held the world. Like she meant something. And there was the fact that he wasn't hanging around with her to gain status amongst his peers. He liked to be with her, not be seen with her.

Mikaela sucked in a breath. She had a million things she wanted to say, but didn't know how. Words seemed too cumbersome. Defining her feelings proved impossible. A million unspoken things hung on the water droplets clinging to her eyelashes. She squeezed his metal hand and pushed her emotions out in a single, whispered word.

"Thanks."

Optimus' mouth and eyes softened into a smile. He patted her hand, "You're welcome."

The rain lightened from a downpour to soft patters against the windows.

Then his engine rumbled to life and amusement trickled into his smile. He slowly winked one eye shut, "Watch this...I'm going to drive myself."

"You can do that?"

Moving back, Optimus did exactly what he said. He pressed the gas pedal with his foot, grasped bottom of the steering wheel and eased the truck--himself--into motion.

The radio popped on. Haunting piano and guitar chords rippled from the speakers. Old music--seventies--and Optimus tapped his fingers on the wheel in time to the lazy, relaxed beat.

Waves of nostalgia washed over Mikaela. She knew this song because her dad always played it when he worked on cars.

The lyrics emerged like smoke. Optimus opened his mouth and sang along when the song reached the chorus, his deep voice finding perfect harmony with the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"...'cause I'm as free as a bird now...and this bird you cannot change... Sing it with me, Mikaela... and this bird you cannot change..."

Mikaela jumped in with him and turned the song into the strangest three-part harmony she'd ever heard. Optimus revved his engines and...looked utterly ridiculous trying to play an air guitar. He met her eyes and his mouth plates quirked into something she could only describe as a smirk.

After all the tension, the fright and the stress, Mikaela guffawed. She decided she liked this side of Optimus. He seemed so approachable and friendly, nothing like the unimpeachable, emotionally distant being he was when they first met. And she doubted he'd ever act this way around anyone besides her. She...freed him...somehow.

Optimus tipped his head back and laughed as the song ended. "I don't know what it is about that particular song...I often play it when I'm alone. Does it have any significance to you?"

"Yeah," Mikaela gazed out the window. Laughing so hard left her relaxed, "It reminds me of my dad. And sometimes..." She looked at him. It was dark inside his truck cab, so all she could see was the glow of his optics and the street lights playing off his chrome body. "...so do you."

"I'm honored," he said gently, meeting her gaze.

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...anything written above this was said about as gracefully as a space shuttle crashing into your face.

~*~

Peter Cullen kissed me at Botcon 2009!

Word.

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Bwee!

I find this fandom even more insistent on canon pairings than I have ever seen elsewhere. No other fandom I have been in is so pushy about keeping canon pairings in the slash section of the fandom as Transformers.

I mean, even when you're deep in a P/J fic, it is not unusual to get of Optimus/Elita, or Ironhide/Chromia thrown in. I know I always come back to OP/E1, but that's the pairing that bugs me so badly, since my continuities of choice are G1 and movieverse (and can I say something about how people throw all their G1 pairing assumptions into movieverse? How many movie fics are there that at least imply Optimus used to be with Elita, or just outright bring Elita into it?).

Fanfic is not about sticking to canon like glue, if itwasn't for writers like you and Abyssal, who vary (sometimes widely) from canon for a good story, then fandom would be boring.

I will admit, Optimus/Mikaela is not up there in my favourites, as far as pairings go, but you write them sweet, and dorky!Optimus is always a good thing.

--
- Sister Merryweather Kyla Sardinia of the Church of the One-Winged Angel of Latter-Day Summons.

Praise Mother and pass the mako!

^_^

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- Sister Merryweather Kyla Sardinia of the Church of the One-Winged Angel of Latter-Day Summons.

Praise Mother and pass the mako!

Word...and I think the slashers who give slash a bad name are the ones who go around bashing anybody who doesn't write their OTP. The ones who insist that Optimus HAS to go with Megatron or that Ratchet HAS to love Ironhide. And they do it to the point of bashing fics that don't write those pairings.

THOSE make us all look bad.

And again, word up about Elita. Especially in movieverse fics. I don't knock it if people bring her in, but you'd think them trading Arcee for 'Hide might say something. Maybe she'll show up in the sequel.



--
...anything written above this was said about as gracefully as a space shuttle crashing into your face.

~*~

Peter Cullen kissed me at Botcon 2009!

Yes, well people who are insistent about pairings like those don't get much appreciation from me.

Ratchet and Ironhide? I saw it to start with, right after I first saw the movie, but I came to find it boring and think they are better in other pairings (I happen to be fond of Ratchet/Wheeljack). Do I hold it against the R/I shippers? No! I just don't read R/I fic!

Optimus and Megatron? Not half as interesting as Megatron/Starcream, and even then I only really ship that in G1. Armada? Your writing has influenced me to O/M, but both movieverse and G1... well I don't read movieverse O/M, but G1 depends on the premise.

I don't mind that femmes exist, it's just that I am not interested in them, so Arcee showing up in this, that and every other movieverse fic? I don't really care, but I just wish there were more fics pairing Optimus with other people instead of having him morosely emoing about whether Elita is alive or not.

I guess the real problem I have is that these pairing presumptions seem to block people from being creative and from writing something different from the norm.

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- Sister Merryweather Kyla Sardinia of the Church of the One-Winged Angel of Latter-Day Summons.

Praise Mother and pass the mako!

To the last point...amen. Just...yes. I love to leap out of the box.

Maybe fear stops people. Maybe they're afraid everybody will hate their work unless they go with the trends. Fear kinda makes it fun.

--
...anything written above this was said about as gracefully as a space shuttle crashing into your face.

~*~

Peter Cullen kissed me at Botcon 2009!

Or some of us really DO like those pairings that seem to be trends, too, you know? XD

I will be the first to admit I find Ironhide/Ratchet more to my liking and that I tend to look at Prime as 'single, not interested, thank you'. But then I also do that with Sideswipe, and to a degree with Prowl (Jazz is the only character that can click it with him for me, for example.)

Myself, I don't care about going x or z way in terms of 'airings to try'. I don't pair for the sake of pairing, if they 'speak to me' I do them. Hence why I love my Smokescreen/Chromia pairing. XD I feel sometimes it's the way the characters 'sing' to each person.

As for Elita in movieverse, well, she was brought up in the prequel comic and the released toy, so people tend to assume she's naturally going to be Prime's girl.

Sometimes I pair Prime to Elita, sometimes I pair him to Starscream for a friend, I could pair him with virtually anyone, I suppose. But most of time, he speaks to me in a 'not in a pairing plz' kind of way. Odd things. =w=

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Dark the Moon...
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"Until We Are One"

Ignore the random cookie monster that posted almost two months later =w=; followed you here from my alarms, kekeke.

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Dark the Moon...
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"Until We Are One"