In human culture, red is a very intense color. It symbolizes incredible passion for something, but that passion can be either love or anger/hatred.
My theory is that this is because of our blood. You may have heard this before, or maybe you haven’t. Either way I’m going to explain my version of it for those of you who haven’t heard of it.
Our blood has iron in it which makes it red. When we experience love, or see something rather erotic, blood rushes to different places in our body and turns our skin varying shades of red. If visible, this sends the signal to other people that we are aroused or appreciative.
Conversely, when we experience anger, embarrassment, or even hatred, our heart pumps faster and we can blush out of anger (in stories, when writers describe someone angry, they might mention that the character’s face turned “beet red” and that they were “fuming”). For some of us, when we are hurt by someone, we want revenge. Our primal instinct is to lash out and inflict bodily harm with the intent is to draw blood. (However, you might not be like this. A lot of this is based upon things I’ve seen and heard) Upon seeing blood, we become more excited and continue attacking.
Both beautiful women at fancy outings (💃) and crazy warriors on the battlefield (😈) can often be depicted in red to draw your attention. A woman dressed in red can be seen as bold and attractive. The warrior who wears red face paint and/or red armor, can be seen as intimidating.
In conclusion, if the color of our blood is red, then we will associate red with the ideas of intense emotion.
Now to the point I would like to discuss…
Aliens.
I’m going to go with Transformers for now. In the original series our large Autobots and Decepticons bleed pink energon. PINK. Freaking PINK.
How many of them have pink armor?
Most famously, Elita One/Ariel and Arcee.
If we take the previous argument about red and apply it here, and replace “red” with “pink”, you get a different perspective AND possibly begin to understand what colors might mean for different species.
In human culture, we perceive pink as a very feminine color, representing innocence and youth in girls.
In the G1 continuity, pink is technically a bold color for cybertronians.
(Now imagine Megatron in hot pink. You laugh, but for cybertronians he’d been considered terrifying)
In the Aligned Continuity (I’m thinking of Prime in particular), energon is blue. Now bots and cons painted blue would be perceived as dangerous/bold. (In order of the amount of blue on them, Arcee, Breakdown, Dreadwing, Ultra Magnus, Optimus, and Smokescreen).
Now into other universes, such as Star Trek.
Vulcans have green blood. Now while they currently keep their emotions in check, a long time ago they didn’t. Wearing green might have been a very bold thing to do.
(For all of you Spirk shippers out there, think of Kirk wearing that green shirt. You guys could probably work this into your argument of “How to tell if a Vulcan is attracted to you”)
So for anyone who writes fanfiction or original stories, you don’t have to take me seriously, but you could take this idea I’ve brought up and use it. I know I’m going to.
Tag: cybertronians
Why did Cybertronians evolve to have alt-modes in the first place?
Brilliant question friend! This question has been debated
about by Cybertronian philosophers, scholars, and scientists for millennias!
No really though can we get a really manly-looking transformer and just cast a female VA for them and have no one ever comment on it in the whole show, that voice isn’t ‘inappropriate’, the VA doesn’t throw their voice to be androgynous or boyish, that’s just the bot’s voice, no one even remarks on it or questions it, not even the human characters, no one calls them he or she, just ‘they’
or the other way around, a femme with a masculine voice
or just one that doesn’t even have a gendered body at all, and speaks in more than one voice
like come on guys for a species that doesn’t ‘have’ genders you suspiciously seem to have only two genders (barely)
*sees opinions about the origins and differences in culture and programming between Autobots and Decepticons*
*trying to keep my big mouth shut so unsolicited headcanons don’t come pouring out*
hnnnnngh
“NO SHARE OPEN THE FLOOD GATES let us swim in the glorious tide of headcanons”
“*grabby hands* Headcanons should be shared! You might inspire people and start a whole new thing. ^_^”
“Go ahead and say them!”
oh god
(I apologize in advance)
ok so it’s always sort of been my headcanon that Autobots and Decepticons are distinctly separate. Not necessarily called Autobots and Decepticons, but definitely a species split in two, if that makes sense. The origin of their split depends on the universe of course. Some universes they just naturally developed, divergent or covergent evolution for lack of better terms. Other universes, Decepticons were purposefully developed for warfare… or more accurately, defense.
In a majority of the TF universes, Cybertron has been attacked by invaders in its past. And for reasons I’ve yet to fully dissect, I really really like the idea of a weaponized class of Cybertronians fed and supported by a civilian class. I love the whole concept of co-dependent Cybertronian cultures. Civilian class bots needed weaponized bots for protection, weaponized bots needed civilian bots for energon, goods, etc.
Now, in a system like that, you’ve basically got one really specialized class (Decepticons) and a generalized civilian class (Autobots). That explains the way their war tends to play out – with Decepticons unable to adapt and be self-sufficient enough to create the goods and fuel necessary to survive, while the Autobots who have a much more varied set of skills, non-specialized programming and alt-modes, are better able to adapt to new roles… including the role of soldiers. They’re not as good at that particular function as Decepticons of course, but they can do it and their civilian functions. It’s a skill set that most Decepticons lack… and without any allies, Decepticons are forced to rely on their tried-and-true methods of conquering and plundering to fill that gap in their resource gathering.
Of course there are exceptions. Warpath and Powerglide are two Autobots who I consider to be part of that weaponized class for… obvious reasons. And while I can’t think of any G1 Decepticons I’d consider more civilian (Swindle?) I’m sure they’re there too. Factions are choice, programming is not.
But it’s my headcanon that Cybertronians, as a species and society, literally cannot function properly without both sides cooperating. Militarized mechs need something worth protecting (i.e. not a dead planet) and need the thriving economy and all that comes with it that only civilians are really equipped to build. Civilian bots, while they can fight, don’t enjoy it in any great capacity and are reluctant to eliminate threats, and a little too eager to shrug off their duties in that regard. Guard duty? Patrolling? Routine defense maneuvers of any kind? No thanks. (While weaponized mechs don’t exactly enjoy these things either, they’ve got a higher tolerance for it… and a much healthier respect for orders.)
Yeah. I’m an idealist and kind of romantic. I just want everybody to get along. >_>
It also doesn’t help that I am a sucker for cross-factional relationships.
(More because I can’t stop)
This whole interdepence thing is also kinda why the war (in most continuities at least) isn’t as brutal as it technically should be. Sure, there’s been plenty of killing on both sides. But it really seems like most deaths occurred at the beginning of the conflict… and most of it was indirect violence. Building sabotages, bombings, etc.
Of course most of this was from the Decepticons (though the Autobot-run government at the time did retaliate with violence of its own, but I digress). The thing is, I… don’t think the Decepticons are ones for indirect anything. Think about it. These are bots built and programmed for defensive – and later offensive – campaigns, and the way most Decepticons talk about Cybertronian superiority, had a lot of success in those. When we see Cybertronians on other planets, it’s pretty clear that Cybertron has a reputation for not only being massive dickwads, but friggen powerhouses that are able to wipe the floor with most other species.
So really, while there are brilliant Decepticon strategists, the bulk of their military planning was probably in positioning everyone just right to completely smear whoever their opponent is at the time. Make sure they can’t get a counterattack going, that sort of thing. Given how overpowered Cybertronians are compared to the rest of the galaxy/universe…? Their strategies probably involved just… waves of brute force repeatedly battering the opposition into submission.
So we see some of this strategy come into play during the early stages of their civil war. What’s the best way to take down your opponent (in this case, the entire structure of oppression on Cybertron)? Take it out at the knees, demolish it completely, and completely crush the smallest lingering resistance. BUT rather than use their usual smash-and-burn techniques… we suddenly see a lot of sabotage, an uptick in the use of spies, and a lot of attacks from afar (planted bombs, assassinations of specific mechs, etc.)
[Quick note, this doesn’t apply for canons like IDW where as far as I can tell this wasn’t necessarily a military thing but more of a marxist “rise against the elites who keep you down” thing. This is just me rambling about STUFF.]
My theory is that this is a combination of practicality – in the beginning of the war they didn’t have enough bots for full frontal assaults – and sentimentality. The Decepticons hated the system, not the bots within it. Unless they were the politicians who reinforced that system. But you can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs, so they did what they had to and hoped that the rest of Cybertron would see that they were right.It didn’t work out that way.
Only problem is, it’s really hard to justify what you’re doing when you’re looking right at the Cybertron you’ve been programmed to protect while opening fire on it. So, the indirect dismantling of Cybertronian society.
So now, with both sides entrenched, there’s not really an indirect way to clobber the Autobots. They’ve gotta play this campaign like they did against alien enemies… and that is extremely hard for a good chunk of the Decepticons.
It was the absolute worst when Autobots started bringing minibots onto the field. How the frag do you shoot at that? It’s so small! It’s so vulnerable, what is it doing out on the battlefield? You can’t take that seriously – and then it shoots your engine out and goes screeching off on its itty bitty wheels while honking at you rudely.
Basically, it’s adorable and kind of hot and that was when Decepticon leadership started having trouble with bots having vivid fraternization-with-the-enemy fantasies.
It wasn’t more than a morale problem until some geniuses decided to
kidnapliberate some cute sassy minibots and brought them into the base. The minibots in question were surprised and pissed off to varying degrees – the ones that didn’t outright escape or get rescued/traded wound up stealing valuable intelligence before they beat it out of there, leaving a trail of broken-hearted Decepticons.
*sees opinions about the origins and differences in culture and programming between Autobots and Decepticons*
*trying to keep my big mouth shut so unsolicited headcanons don’t come pouring out*
hnnnnngh
“NO SHARE OPEN THE FLOOD GATES let us swim in the glorious tide of headcanons”
“*grabby hands* Headcanons should be shared! You might inspire people and start a whole new thing. ^_^”
“Go ahead and say them!”
oh god
(I apologize in advance)
ok so it’s always sort of been my headcanon that Autobots and Decepticons are distinctly separate. Not necessarily called Autobots and Decepticons, but definitely a species split in two, if that makes sense. The origin of their split depends on the universe of course. Some universes they just naturally developed, divergent or covergent evolution for lack of better terms. Other universes, Decepticons were purposefully developed for warfare… or more accurately, defense.
In a majority of the TF universes, Cybertron has been attacked by invaders in its past. And for reasons I’ve yet to fully dissect, I really really like the idea of a weaponized class of Cybertronians fed and supported by a civilian class. I love the whole concept of co-dependent Cybertronian cultures. Civilian class bots needed weaponized bots for protection, weaponized bots needed civilian bots for energon, goods, etc.
Now, in a system like that, you’ve basically got one really specialized class (Decepticons) and a generalized civilian class (Autobots). That explains the way their war tends to play out – with Decepticons unable to adapt and be self-sufficient enough to create the goods and fuel necessary to survive, while the Autobots who have a much more varied set of skills, non-specialized programming and alt-modes, are better able to adapt to new roles… including the role of soldiers. They’re not as good at that particular function as Decepticons of course, but they can do it and their civilian functions. It’s a skill set that most Decepticons lack… and without any allies, Decepticons are forced to rely on their tried-and-true methods of conquering and plundering to fill that gap in their resource gathering.
Of course there are exceptions. Warpath and Powerglide are two Autobots who I consider to be part of that weaponized class for… obvious reasons. And while I can’t think of any G1 Decepticons I’d consider more civilian (Swindle?) I’m sure they’re there too. Factions are choice, programming is not.
But it’s my headcanon that Cybertronians, as a species and society, literally cannot function properly without both sides cooperating. Militarized mechs need something worth protecting (i.e. not a dead planet) and need the thriving economy and all that comes with it that only civilians are really equipped to build. Civilian bots, while they can fight, don’t enjoy it in any great capacity and are reluctant to eliminate threats, and a little too eager to shrug off their duties in that regard. Guard duty? Patrolling? Routine defense maneuvers of any kind? No thanks. (While weaponized mechs don’t exactly enjoy these things either, they’ve got a higher tolerance for it… and a much healthier respect for orders.)
Yeah. I’m an idealist and kind of romantic. I just want everybody to get along. >_>
It also doesn’t help that I am a sucker for cross-factional relationships.
holy fuck
are you me
Robot Lingo
I imagine “get rekt” has a much different meaning on Earth than it would Cybertron.
Like for them it’s probably “get wrecked” as in literally crash. Like it’s a legitimately rude thing to say.
So imagine human friend jokingly says “get rekt” and their Cybertronian friend is absolutely horrified and offended. I thought we were friends??? Why would you say that???
And like jokes about being trash also. A human saying “I’m such trash” and Bot friend is like “WHO TOLD YOU THAT I’LL FIGHT THEM”
Not to mention frag,scrap, etc. are just regular words here (for the most part. i think there was one word also considered rude in some places?).
Basically just imagine all the miscommunication that must happen…
Have a Transformers Headcanon
Ai’ight folks I’ve seen lots of fanarts of Cybertronians blushing and they’re cute. So fragging cute I love them all.
But they bring a headcanon of mine to mind so I’ll share it with you all.
Cybertronians don’t “blush” like we do their facial plating is too thick to show a change in energon flow even if it’s flexible. Instead, they have energon surges and the lights on their bodies glow brighter. Humans would probably miss it but they’re likely just as confused like “why in Primus’s name are you changing color???”
Random headcanon
I think Cybertronians who have been around the galaxy a bit can recognize what planet someone’s been to based on their alt mode and kibble.
Like they’ll see the style of someone fenders or blades and go “Ah, how are the Vok doing lately?”, or “Don’t you think Earth creatures have the best rotor craft?”
I think once Cybertronians start returning to the planet, there will be a lot of different styles, and some will be really exotic, from planets not many people made it to, while others will be staples. Once the space bridges get up and running and Cybertronians get out into the universe again, some people might import stylish alien vehicles to scan. Big cities might have boutiques where you can browse all sorts of beautiful machines from all over the universe and adapt your appearance.
Okay I’m not sure if it’s been asked but “romance”?
Ideas of romance vary a lot by citystate.
Courtship in Vos involves a lot of push-pull: acid remarks, pretended disinterest, and teasing that borders on cruel. From the outside, it looks downright mean, but seekers can communicate volumes with the movement and position of their wings, and can pretty easily distinguish someone signalling “go away” from someone signalling “come chase me”. Still, Vosian romance is not for the faint of spark.
Praxian courtship, by contrast, is very slow-moving, intellectual, and formal, befitting a city renowned as a (rather old-fashioned) centre of learning and culture. Physical intimacy doesn’t usually enter the picture until the relationship is already fairly serious. Expect to be taken to museums a lot.
The courtship of the Towers nobility in Iacon is basically a more languid version of Vosian romance. It’s like a competition to see which half of a courting couple can act more indifferent to the other (while also sneaking in steamy glances and teasing one-liners so the object of their affection realises they actually are interested. Just, y’know, in a deniable way).
Polyhexians have a reputation for being hot-blooded and wildly flirtatious. In Crystal City, they prefer the indirect approach, full of poetry and a lot of long-distance wistful sighing.
The joke about Kaon is that if you actually sit down to drink a cube with someone before fragging them, that’s romance. If you manage to exchange more than ten words while you do so, that’s true love, and if the other mech actually pays for your drink, Pit, that’s practically a sparkbond.
There’s some truth to that, sure: Kaon is full of warbuilds and pitfighters, and warriors don’t tend to beat around the bush when they know, far more vividly than any Towers aristocrat, that any given night might be their last. But warriors can be a sentimental bunch, too, and there are traditionally Kaonite romantic gestures that would put all the sonnets in Crystal City to shame. This is where you’re most likely to see lovers pledging to die fighting side by side, or one wearing the other’s token into battle. And when a Kaonite loses their beloved, there’s no quiet, dignified grief. They’ll scar their face, smear the vial of their dead lover’s innermost energon over their plating like war paint, and head out for revenge.
Now that’s romance.
your headcannons give me life o_o
Thank you!
This makes me have ridiculous headcannons about Megatron in his Origins four-parter, with his face-paint and proto-Decepticon insignia on a chain.
Oooh! That maybe those were gifts/energon from a former lover?
Seekers have wind tunnels for when they can’t fly. Essentially, they’re just giant fans, but for whatever reason, the artificially made wind is very beneficial health-wise.
Seeker sparklings can go stand and stretch their little wings/winglets in front of them to build up strength when it’s too dangerous for them to fly or if their wings aren’t fully developed.
Grounded seekers can flare their wings out and feel the rush of the wind. It has a calming effect that helps them cope with not being able to fly, and doubles as a physical therapy for injured wings.
Cybertronian Database 