recharging : what the hell is even happening???

notwhelmedyet:

so i have reviewed my understanding of recharging in transformers mtmte and concluded I have no clue what the heck is happening

things I’m pretty sure are true

it’s like sleeping, you have to do it, you can have dreams whilst recharging

but does it have something to do with electricity?

supporting details:

nautica electrocutes the personality ticks by punching a ‘recharge socket’

panel of someone pointing out a recharge port
panel of nautica punching a recharge port
panel of skids pointing out that the personality ticks were electrocuted

not supporting:

every other instance that I can recall?

is it how they refuel, hence they’re hooked into energon lines?

supporting details:

When Tailgate attacks Megatron in his sleep we can see the fuel lines he and Ravage are hooked up to

panel of Megatron waking violently, fuel lines visible
panel of Ravage waking, fuel line and port circled in pink

Cyclonus says he doesn’t need a drink/fuel because he’s just recharged

panel of Cyclonus saying just that

Optimus refers to recharging as ‘topping up’

Panel where Optimus urges the team to 'top up' before the battle

not supporting:

Cyclonus, Rewind all shown recharging with no feed lines

Panels of Cyclonus waking up, no fuel lines
Panels of Rewind waking up and falling out of bed, no fuel lines

what are all the glowing monitors for?

? why is this one orange

orange monitor in Megatron's room

? why is this one red

red monitor in Whirl's room

? why is this one blue

blue monitor in Getaway's room

i’m starting to think there is no explanation

how the lost light crew shares information

notwhelmedyet:

notwhelmedyet:

Say you’re a bot on the Lost Light and you wanna tell your friend something. Lucky you, you’ve got a lot of options!

Hook up a brain-to-brain cable and share info directly from your brain to theirs

this is a cerebrostream of supercompressed visual data

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Meet up in person and talk – in Neo-Cybex, Old
Cybertronian (if your friend is Rewind, Cyclonus or otherwise super
ancient) or Hand (if your friend is Drift, Getaway or otherwise speaks
Hand)

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Engrave your message onto your body and stand in front of them (character limit fairly low)

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Send info from your brain directly to theirs over the internet (what could possibly go wrong?)

This is called a remote upload, but you’re gonna need to get your friend’s neuro-coordinates first.

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Put your information on a datastick. Give it to your friend and have them plug it into their head. Problem solved!

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Alternatively, they can take the data stick home and look at your message on the console in their habsuite.

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Write them a memo. Send it. (This is basically email)

May seem kinda stodgy unless you’re sending official ship’s business. Rodimus never reads these.

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Write them a message and send it. (This is basically texting)

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Comm them. (This is basically calling, I think)

now with extra bonus communication method: acquiring paper and writing that shit longhand!

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Program a message into one of your datapads and have someone deliver it. (Great option if you’re shy!)

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Inter-Autobot Radio

Only gonna work if you and your friends are autobots, though. I think that all autobots within range who are monitoring the frequency will be able to overhear. What is the range? who knows

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Subspace Messages – a great option if your friend is on Cybertron whilst you’re in space.

Upside: you get to wear awesome headphones that make you look like you’re a podcaster/professional radio host. Downside: subspace communicator frequently broken, you need their personal hailing frequency.

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Just get some paint and write them a friendly note on their door! Note – you may be cited for vandalism.

yeah, a nice, friendly, fun message between pals. Just like the example below.

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Assemble a video for your friend, give it to Rewind and ask him to project it for your friend. (you may have to buy Rewind a drink, he’s a busy guy. But if you’re talking history or old cultural shit he’ll probably do it for free)

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did I miss a thing? I probably missed a thing.

things I haven’t seen evidence for in mtmte but come up in fics: actual telepathy (that’s only soundwave, right?), empathic field reading, transmitting messages via visual glyphs telepathically

weirder options:

You and your buddy join The Big Conversation, AKA Decepticon Reddit and pretend to be Cons. Talk there while doing your best Decepticon impression.

Become a mnemosurgeon. Inject into your pal’s mind and have a conversation inside their mindscape, just like pals do.

Is your friend Drift? Tell him a story by modulating your optic colors.

Is your friend Rung? Make a new edition of his favorite book with the words of your message selectively removed.

Is your friend Red Alert? Whisper to yourself what you wanted to tell him. He’ll hear you.

Have you considered coded messages on digital clocks?

Time phone.

Become DJ at the next dance party and use the playlist to send a message to your pal.

Sabotage your life-support equipment such that the medical readouts display your message.

Bang a gong.

New banner up in Swerve’s

Submit your message to the Lost Light Insider. However, first you must discover who writes the Lost Light Insider.

Tell Swerve whatever you need to tell your friend, but inform him that it’s a secret.