(no subject)

Hey guys, I’ve got a little fic rec for you. (It’s a xeno story, so if that’s not your jam go ahead and tune out now.)

In the TF stories I enjoy, the bots are obviously analogues of humans, with some key differences. (The ability to transform, obviously, but also the ability to share thoughts/emotions or having extra appendages, stuff like that.)

But in a story where there are humans involved, I really like it when the Cybertronians’ alien-ness is played up. For example, a story I chose as one of my recommendations for the Transformers Iacon Lit Festival was Cultural Exchange, in which the whole point of the story was anthropology (cyberpology?) of the differences between humans and Cybertronians. Another story I’m subscribed to that I’m intensely interested in where it’s going is Division by @balloonarcade. (The most recent chapter where Sol finally “meets” Sideswipe made me grin in delight.)

Anyway, if there’s a moment in a story where when the human has that “holy shit, I’m talking to an alien” realization - especially if it’s a Cybertronian they’ve been talking to forever and are friends with - I am all in.

I’m also going to add here that I am a huge fan of how IDW is handling Thundercracker and his relationship with Marissa. It’s clear they’re good friends, and the little scenes like this make me go “aww:”




So when I stumbled across a story tagged with Skywarp/Thundercracker/Marissa I immediately thought “what’s all this then?” I read it and now I’m here giving it as a recommendation: Working Through It by Trinary.

From the A/N:

Sometimes you need to see a lady and a giant robot double-teaming another giant robot while they all recover from lifetimes of war.

And the interfacing is spark and plug-and-play, so from Marissa’s POV it’s very alien and weird, and you get lots of her thoughts as she goes “WTAF am I doing?” The story also plays up TC’s bad writing and how he has a hard time translating Cybertronian concepts onto human characters.

Oh my gosh. So many good lines in this story!

The screenplay falls open where Skywarp’s big fingers creased it. Marissa starts reading, and she’s looking at… Okay, it’s a sex scene. A sex scene involving Susan, Josh and Ciel, whoever that is. She guesses that explains trine.
Or, at least, it starts out like a sex scene. There’s a lot of talking, kissing and touching, though the way they’re touching is strange. Something about lines and repetitive movements?
A few pages later, she’s staring in mounting horror at the Lovecraftian lovechild of erotica, a technical manual and grotesquely detailed torture.

and

She hopes she hasn’t killed them with sex. It’d cause a nuclear-scale diplomatic incident. The paperwork alone would be horrific.

But this is the part, the kind of realization that really does it for me when I’m reading a story of humans and Cybertronians:

It hits her, from time to time, that she’s dealing with aliens. Sometimes they seem almost human. Sometimes she gets comfortable. Sometimes, it’s just her, Thundercracker, and Buster playing fetch. Then, suddenly, it’s like, oh yeah, they’re massive, ancient death machines from space, and the top of Marissa’s head draws level with Thundercracker’s knee. He or Skywarp could kill her without meaning to. Without even noticing.

Because that is what I find fascinating: actual alien aliens and how humans would react to them, get along with them (or not) and maybe more.

So, if that’s your thing, I highly recommend this story! ^.^