So I tripped and fell into Transformers, and the wiki is edited by Right-Thinking Fans who think captions are for snark.

The canon dates to 1984 (G1). I decline to try to explain 35 years of comics/cartoon/movie/etc toy-selling canon in any detail.

Major canons (per AO3):
Transformers Generation One: Roughly the 1984 - 1992 canon.

The Transformers (IDW Generation One): The IDW Comics reboot of G1 canon, running from 2005 - 2018. The Lost Light run is included in this canon. IDW's 2019 comics are in a separate reboot, which fans may or may not mash into their fic.

Transformers: Prime: the 2010 - 2013 Hub Netwook cartoon series and associated media. The first season is on Netflix. Fringe fans take note, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman show up in the credits as executive producers. This may or may not have had any bearing on the cartoon series' complete lack of shame about the TV Tropes checklist it works through. If you're going to do a quick sample skip to the "One Shall Fall / One Shall Rise" arc. Those fics where Optimus Prime gets amnesia and thinks Megatron is his BFF who saved him from the wicked autobots? Canon.

Transformers (Bay Movies): doesn't exist. Last movie was in the '80s or something? Too bad.

Transformers Animated (2007): The 2007 - 2009 Cartoon Netwook series and associated media. Notable for plucky little young Autobots menaced by big bad Decepticons from half-forgotten history, which plays to the fannish id not at all. Cough.


Major players:
Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots (good guys) (usually) (mostly) (except for Shattered Glass, which is exactly the mirrorverse trope you think it is). Optimus is frequently found in the company of:

Ratchet, autobot medic and sometimes scientist. Flavors vary from early G1 party-loving Ratchet to a cynical, war-weary Dr. McCoy type.

Prowl is sometime ex law enforcement, rarely a ninja, occasionally the Autobot's strategic go-to guy, and always the calculating, logic-driven party-killer of Team Optimus. Often contrasted with...

Jazz, life of any party, an on-his-pedes thinker who absorbs Earth culture, slang, and music. This makes him no less deadly on the battlefield; in G1 continuity he's the go-to tactical guy countering Prowl's patient, logical calculations.

Tiny, good-natured Bumblebee does not let being either small or nice get in the way of kicking Decepticon aft. Bee often quickly bonds with humans who encounter the Autobots. In several canons he's lost the ability to speak "normally" and works around this through incomprehensible-to-humans Cyberton languages and/or pop culture.

Megatron is the leader of the evil Decepticons. Depending on the flavor of canon, Megatron is a tyrant, an ex-gladiator turned warlord, or an ex-agitator for social reform who razed his enemies' cities to the ground and founded the Decepticon Empire. Sometimes a canon poet.

Starscream usually shows up high in the Decepticon hierarchy: Air Commander, second in command, etc. The only things more impressive than his flying skills are his ambition and lust for power, which lead to periodic schemes to overthrow Megatron and declare himself leader of the Decepticons. Sometimes also a pre-war scientist.

Where Starscream blusters and schemes, Soundwave is tirelessly loyal to Megatron and the Decepticon cause. May or may not be able to read minds; in most universes he's associated with the cassettes, variously including Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, twins Rumble and Frenzy, and many others.

Galvatron and Cyclonus don't squeak into AO3's Transformers - All Media tag, but highly relevant to the Astolat binge I know certain people are considering. So! Galvatron is the Decepticon leader who has more firepower than Megatron (because he was built out of Megatron, only better, in some universes) and even less sanity (because the Autobots almost managed to kill him, but merely succeeded in brain damage, in some universes). Cyclonus is the Decepticon second in command who balances out Galvatron's madness, or is crazier than Megatron, or is a sort-of-non-Deception ex-sort-of-zombie on the Lost Light road trip. *shrug* We could get into the backstory, of course - OH LOOK CYCLONUS AND TAILGATE ARE FLIRTING AGAIN.

Ahem.

There are female-identified Transformers as well, but the canon and AO3's biases both tend to leave them kind of on the side.


Major pairings:

Best Enemies: Optimus/Megatron

Opposites Attract: Jazz/Prowl

Sleeping with the Boss: Megatron/Starscream

Canon gay: IDW!Rachet/Drift


( Sample fics )

For Yuletide 2018, I wrote:

Rise and Go (1440 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Elene Quen, Joshua Talley
Summary:

He went to Elene first.

---

( How I wrote this fic. Meta, implicit spoilers for most of the Alliance-Union novels. )

I wrote three fics for trickortreatex:

Glow (475 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: VERNON Ursula - Works, Jackalope Wives Series - Ursula Vernon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Grandma Harken (Jackalope Wives)
Summary:

It was one thing for her to tell Eva she wouldn't come into town, but keeping a young apprentice from dancing and foolishness, even a girl with cholla-rib bones, didn't sit right with her.

"Jackalope Wives" and the sequel "The Tomato Thief" are stories set in a fantastic American Southwest, which star Grandma Harken. When scrolling through requests, desertscribe's prompts caught my eye. It also made for a nice tonal change from the canon I wrote for my assignment:

In the Cards (753 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ben Pollard, Jurgen Graff, Meg Kady, Signy Mallory
Summary:

Well, someone has to keep them alive.

I dithered a bit trying to get meteordust's gift started, until I put it in Ben's PoV. After that, the fic wrote itself.

Alliance-Union canon doesn't tell us where the Hellburner team was assigned after the novel. Cherryh has written in the afterword to her ebook edition of Hellburner that they went to Norway, where Mallory was captain. I've fudged this in the name of More Interesting And Plausible To Me storytelling; and who knows, the offscreen OC might drop dead of rejuv failure between "In the Cards" and Norway's commissioning. *handwaves*

Technical Services (576 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sal Aboujib/Ben Pollard
Characters: Meg Kady, Paul Dekker, Ben Pollard, Sal Aboujib
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, crackfic
Summary:

"I'm not IT, I'm a developer, why don't you ever- what did you do to this thing, moonbeam?"

Unadulterated crackfic, for sholio's modern AU prompt. The tricky bit was transferring the characters from Cherryh's fictional 24th century to our current era, without disrupting (too much) their personalities and relationships. Again, Ben PoV, because apparently Ben Pollard is Alliance-Union canon's gift to me when I'm staring at a blank document.

I got three stories, because I am a very lucky person.

Changeling (1182 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Magicians (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Kady Orloff-Diaz, Julia Wicker, Marina Andrieski
Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Summary:

Kady had been sold, once.

Creepy story about Kady, Marina, and Julia; possession, lust, and death, all twisted together. Kady perspective, good focus on her relationships with other women (Penny gets a very, very brief mention).

Little Errands (819 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age II
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Aveline Vallen, Varric Tethras, Merrill (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Skeletons
Summary:

Aveline wishes, for once, that Kirkwall would surprise her and give her a single day of peace. Instead, Kirkwall gives her skeletons.

Aveline gets roped into one of Hawke's projects, because Varric doesn't have a crush on f!Hawke at all, cough, and gets another "only in Kirkwall" memory out of it. Great Merrill, A+ Aveline, classic Varric. The action sequence with the skeletons is really good.

This Is a Lie (This Is the Truth) (1968 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age II
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Varric Tethras, Hawke (Dragon Age), Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Cassandra Pentaghast
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat: Trick, Trick or Treat: Challenge Yourself, Storytelling, Kirkwall (Dragon Age), Ambiguity, Eldritch Abominations, Horror, Night
Summary:

Varric tells a story.

A++ tone control! Varric tries to tell a creepy campfire story, but some people will not stop interrupting. Snark and banter, with good characterization all around.

Dear Trick or Treat writer,

Thanks so much for writing for me! I will be thrilled to receive a story in any of these canons, so please don't read too much into the prompt lengths. If you already have an idea you're fired up to write, please get started! Finding out what other people love about a canon is one of the things I like about fandom. Happy trick or treating!

Stuff I Like: people working together to overcome obstacles, snark and snappy dialogue, banter, darkfic, place as character, postapocalyptic, N Times Characters Did A Thing. Solving love triangles with OT3s. Worldbuiling. Food descriptions! I have a bulletproof love of competence, including competence at being villainous, and characters finding connections and trusting each other. If crossovers and fusions are your things, go for it - I am a fan.

Do Not Wants: PWP, bloodplay, coffeeshop AU, high school/college AU, explicit descriptions of sexual assault, cross-generation (May-December) ships, cheating and/or infidelity, violence much more intense than canon-typical levels.

Gen or Shippy? Add "in bed" to any of the likes and no not wants and ship away. I am in favor of consenting adults enjoying each others' company and quirks (and kinks).

( Alliance-Union )

( Dragon Age )

( Fringe )

( The Magicians (TV series) )

( Sense8 )

If I were writing Star Trek: Discovery fic, which I am not (yet) the working title would be "Would You Light My Candle (And Burn This Whole Building Down)" or maybe "O Mimì, tu più non torni" and somewhere in there someone would have to make me cut any and all Downbelow Station references in beta, because Stamets is not having a good month, but poor Ash is winning the woobie contest hands down. I am not looking forward to - oh, who am I kidding, I am desperately curious to see how Michael takes $ridiculous fan theory if it's anywhere near true.

It has been a really stressful month - I moved! I worked at least one extra shift a week. And now my hard work is paying off: I will be in LA at Escapade this weekend. If you're in the LA area and would like to meet up, I have a car. If you'll be at Escapade and would like some face time, comment or PM. I would love to put faces to names and meet new people.

So there is a worldbuilding exchange. Someone else already has nominated "Worldbuilding: Azi-Cit Transitions (Alliance-Union)" so I will be there with bells on. This may be the exchange most relevant to my interests since crossovering.

Nominations close January 23rd/24th depending on your time zone. Signups close January 31st for most of the continental US.

Readers who have read Cyteen, and maybe Regenesis, some worldbuilding questions.

1.) How does final tape work? Canon says the general plan is that some fraction of azi will get final tape, become CIT, and generally do all the things CITs do. The only time we see this in canon is Ollie. (I was about to mention 40,000 in Gehenna, but the azi get tape for a new Contract, not final tape. That the Contract is pretty much "have some kids, good luck" doesn't get them out of second-class status.) So, does an azi apply for final tape? Is the offer made by a Supervisor? Are they ordered to take it? Is there a transition period?

2.) How does Cyteen's voting system work? Emancipated adults are in a Bureau; everyone votes for representatives within their Bureau; there are nine Bureaus. Why does State get to be a Bureau; and Science? Do you have the option to change Bureaus? And how do professions get assigned? For example, if you're a researcher in a Defense facility, are you Science, or are you Defense? If you're an office manager for an independent journalist, are you Citizens or Information? (It says early on that Citizens is "labor and farming and small business". Define "labor" and "small business" for me.) If you're retired military, working, as, say, civilian law enforcement, are you still Defense, or do you vote in a new bloc? If you're a merchanter, do you get to vote in Trade elections? (And in that case, can you have dual citizenship / voting rights in the Merchanter's Alliance?)

3.) Anyone who wants to assess the Expansionist/Centrist positions in Cyteen versus Regenesis, with attention to any retcons, go wild in comments.

Going to the movies is becoming a family holiday tradition. Last winter there was a mass outing to TFA. This winter we had made plans to see Rogue One, before the news about Carrie Fisher's passing broke. And then we went to Rogue One anyway, and while people's gifsets had hinted at spoilers, I had no idea what I was getting into.

I also watched the Sense8 Christmas special. I like Sense8, but it's kind of an adorable hot mess. (The women's center? Really? That... isn't the spot I'd pick for a hideout.) And also very bad at writing Riley.

Happy holidays to those who celebrate, happy Yuletide to those who fic, and see you all in 2017.