Tag: seekers

brandxspandex:

So given the confirmation that Starscream and the other Seekers were from a mass produced line of physically identical cold constructed bots, I wonder if Starscream’s desire to lead and have attention and adoration at all stems from feeling like an unremarkable one of many. If as individuals the Seekers were treated as identical and expendable, it would make sense that some of them would develop a desperate desire to be special, and have others recognise their uniqueness and importance. 

Eat like a bird

tyrantofthefirmament:

This phrase is hilariously wrong when taken to mean what it usually means. Birbs are hungry little things, since they have fast metabolisms and they burn a lot of calories when flying. Many birbs eat as much or more than their own weight each day. If humans ate like birds we would die.

The reason I was thinking about this is that was writing a headcanon about how Starscream can eat a hilariously large amount of Energon. I figure all Seekers carry and use more fuel than other frame types, because they burn it so fast and shoot it out the back of their engines when they fly. Military Seekers like Starscream fly a lot and refuel a lot.

So I looked up some numbers. Now the energy content of Energon seems like it would be higher than gas or jet fuel, so Cybertronians could carry less fuel than their Earthly equivalents, but lets just use these as ballpark figures for the sake of proportion. The results were hilarious.

An F16 weighs less than 10 tons, and carries 3.5 tons of fuel! By comparison a truck similar to Optimus’s style weighs over 17 tons without the trailer, and holds less than a ton of fuel. Their weight can more than double with a loaded trailer but at least in TFP, Optimus almost never pulls a trailer and it’s safe to assume most Cybertronian trucks don’t often do that.

It’s worth noting that Starscream is only about 60% the size of an F16, even in jet mode, so he’d weigh like 6 tons and carry 2.1 tons of fuel, fully fueled. Still, imagine him eating more than twice as much as a big bot like Optimus in one sitting.

Even an Abrams tank, which weighs a whopping 68 tons, carries a measly 2.1 tons of fuel, so Starscream could eat as much as Megatron in his old frame before he converted to a flyer. It’s probably safe to assume Megatron can carry a lot more fuel now, but he doesn’t have wings for auxiliary tanks and therefore probably has somewhere in between his old fuel capacity and that of an actual Seeker. Plus I doubt he weighs 68 tons anymore. If OP weighs around 17 tons, maybe Megs weighs somewhere in the mid 20s?

Anyway yeah, these numbers are only vague approximations when carried over into Cybertronian frames rather than Earth vehicles, and I’m sure the high energy content of Energon means they can all carry less weight in fuel, but it’s fun to think about. The gist of it is that Seekers are hungry little dudes XD Also big Seekers like Dreadwing and HUGE Seekers like Jetfire would be like bottomless pits and use so much fuel! I think even though they would eat a tremendous amount, it wouldn’t stand out as much somehow as a little wisp of the Seeker who’s all wings and legs sitting there and downing twice as much fuel as the giants sitting next to him. Somehow I think it also has to do with Starscream’s general shamelessness – bigger, more reserved Seekers like Jetfire might eat a similar amount to other people they’re eating with, and fuel themselves more throughout the rest of the day. Also, if they’re in a lab more and only fly a little, they could make their fuel last much longer than an active Air Command soldier or scout who flies all day, which is why Starscream would often be hungry and eat Jetfire’s food ^^ (The fact that he still did that even when he was working on science and not scouting or sparring is mighty suspicious though)

How are seeker trines made in tf: matrix?

tfmatrix:

Staggers back to my computer I liiiiiiive

A Seeker Trine refers to a very common form of gestalt bonding* that’s generally found among fliers who are built for two primary purposes: speed and enhanced sensory awareness- Seekers!** Now with a bunch of history that nobody asked for but I felt needed to be included anyways.

*Gestalt Bonding differs from other kinds of spark-bonding in that members of a gestalt can typically trade overt information or communicate via their bond.

** “Seekers” refers to a range of different frames, but they all tend to share a fairly standard appearance and selection of altmodes and also meet the above criteria. Seekers tended to be incredibly plentiful because for one- they tend to be very useful and relatively power-efficient for fliers, and for two- because Vosnian cold-construction facilities put out seekers like a McDonalds puts out french fries.

That being said, Seeker Trines are initially a cultural aspect. It was considered standard (for lots of historical/cultural reasons, including the fact that 3 is a particularly fortunate number among Cybertronians) particularly in flier-heavy societies to form three-part relationships, both professional and otherwise, and that carried over into military tactics- units were generally grouped into threes. This provides stability and also makes for a nice triangle shape when flying. Very aesthetic.

Earlier in Cybertronian history, Seeker Trines generally weren’t gestalt bonded, but might be amica or conjux who fought together, however gestalt bonding in combat kept proving advantageous- this meant that a unit could trade information instantly and be aware of one another on a spark-deep level, making for uniform behavior and tactics.

Once mass-production became the name of the game, the prospect of creating artificial gestalt bonds with cold sparks opened up a whole new array of possibilities, and it became standard for military seeker units to come pre-bonded and in a convenient package deal. The newely-created constructed sparks are kept in close, continued contact immediately after creation, before they have settled, thus bonding together prior to being placed in prefab shells.

The major seeker trine in TF:Matrix; Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp, is created this way. They have been linked together since moments after creation, and it would take incredible effort upon all their parts to break that link prior to their deaths. They’re pretty much stuck together, even when they don’t like it.

Other forms of gestalt units are created this way, or even made by splicing a single cold spark into multiple sparks, and naturally-forming gestalts do occur (as well as artificially converting mature sparks to part of a gestalt) but the sheer amount of cold-constructed gestalt units, Seeker Trines included, overwhelmed any of these. Trines are some of the most notable, however, as three individuals allows for enough balance that losing one member will not disrupt the function of the other two (as opposed to a two-mechanism gestalt, where losing one tends to render the other incapacitated at best) and it’s also a small enough amount of individuals that they don’t get distracted by their own gestalt, allowing them to stay present in the moment.

For reasons not entirely known, cold-constructed Seeker Trines tend to have particularly strong bonding, possibly an effect of Vosnian construction tactics/pre-programming or mandatory training, and thus they were one of the most commonly purchased form of military cold-constructed through most of Cybertron’s latter history! Seeker trines were everywhere. If they were lucky enough, they paid off their “construction debt” after a time and were free to pursue non-military aspects, but this was particularly rare and it was, unfortunately, in many territories of Cybertron entirely legal to maintain a military contract over them for the duration of their entire functioning.

Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp are an excellent example of how a Trine can function at near-peak efficiency. Despite their differences, their frequent squabbling is more performative than anything else, and their way of relieving stress with each other. In combat, all three tend to operate in unison, processing information between the three of them. Starscream is ultimately analytical in abstract, while Skywarp is action-based, and Thundercracker tends more towards caution and planning. Between the three of them, they can quickly figure out the most efficient way to get a job done.

(It should be noted that, though, as far as Seeker Trines go, they were expensive custom models. Part of a run that was being used to test the capability of creating cold-constructed Outliers – individuals with unusual abilities; IE Skywarp’s ability to transwarp/teleport over distances, Thundercrackers sonic stunning ability, and Starscream…well, we can cover that later.)