Why I Write Transformers Slash
Aug. 30th, 2006 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dunmurderinThis is what happens when you let a former English major read sites like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metafandom and Fanfic Symposium. Those not interested in either discussions of slash, fanfic writing or pseudo-academic ramblings, skip this one.
#0. Almost all the characters I like are male and all the characters around them are male. Who the hell else are they going to snog? -- I mean, c'mon! Sure, I could create OC femmes, but I don't like creating OCs to serve as romantic interests for fic writing purposes. And I don't currently have much interest in writing about any of the Autobot femmes or Nightbird.
#1. It’s fun. By all rights, I should end this essay here because, really, this is the entirety of the reason that I do it. Not because it's trendy, not because it gets me reviews (it generally doesn't -- not significantly). I write Transformers slash because I get a kick out of doing so. I wrote the one non-TF slash fic I did because I got a kick out of doing that (and was surprised as hell that people actually enjoyed it).
As a corollary to #1, there’s also #2. I don’t see anything wrong with it. That doesn’t mean I haven’t seen some stories that were badly done or that I can’t understand that some people really don’t like slash for whatever reason. I have and I do. And I don’t expect everybody who reads this journal to like slash just because I do. But I honestly don’t see anything wrong with writing slash stories about Transformers. Don't like, don't read -- really not that hard.
#3. It’s a fun mental exercise: I’m probably a bit unusual among slash writers in general and Transformer slashers in specific in that I’m not attracted to any of the characters I write about. As I’ve said other places, I like the characters I write about but I don’t LIKE them. Okay, to be fair, Onslaught is a bit sexy but when it comes to TILF, Optimus Prime has him beat hands down (it's the voice, Mrs. Peter Cullen is a lucky, lucky woman). Particularly in the scene in the movie where he does the backflip over Megatron and then shoots him. Or the one scene where he’s surfing on the back of Bumblebee and I think Cliffjumper to avoid the lightening storm. WHOO! That’s hawtsome!
But the real fun, for me at least, is figuring out how things work between Transformers -- not just sexually but psychologically as well. Once you remove genitalia and (more importantly, IMO) the need for organic reproduction from the equation, the dymamics of relationships change dramatically. Not to mention, how does a species that is 'born' more or less adult and can live for millions of years develop emotionally?
The most fun I’ve had writing slash was pairing up the Combaticons and the Stunticons. Not because of the hot mech-on-mech action -- particularly since the story was pretty slim in the smexing area, but because of the fun of figuring out which Combaticon would be likely to be attracted to which Stunticon and vice versa and why in both cases.
Huffer and Pipes are the same way. The attraction there is finding a way to make a relationship with Huffer, the Whinybot 3000, work with anybody, let alone Pipes who finds Earth (or at least her gadgets) fascinating. That and I'm tired of stories that belittle Huffer in particular and minibots in general.
#4. It’s easier than human sex: At least the way I do it, it is. Cuddlesluts, ho!
#5. Because I think the idea that Transformers can’t fall in love or show physical affection for each other is silly. Particularly when instances of physical affection/caring/love (Ariel kissing Orion Pax for one) are canonical. A lot of people point to Cloudburst's remark in #53 of the US comic where he tells the alien queen-hottie: "Where I come from, there are no women, no men...no mates!" as evidence that Transformers don't have genders (which, technically speaking in the US/UK comics, they don't) and therefore don't have romantic/sexual relationships. But what makes me curious is that just a few panels after Cloudburst makes this statement, his partner on this mission Landmine, is getting pretty darned cozy with a few alien hotties. Nothing overtly sexual, but he seems perfectly comfortable behaving like Captain James T. Kirk with the alien hotties of the week. On the one hand, maybe Landmine is a good actor; on the other, maybe the idea of affection isn't as unknown among Transformers as some might think.
It also doesn't explain Skids and his relationship with Charlene (US Marvel #20). Again, there's nothing overtly sexual in that issue but it's not hard to read Charlene's affection for Skids as something a bit more than friends. Particularly during the carwash scene.
Then there's the G1 cartoon, where we have Octane oggling femmes in "Starscream's Ghost." Or Ariel and Orion Pax, who describes Ariel as his girlfriend and who warns the Arielbots off from her in "War Dawn." Or Seaspray and Allana in "Sea Change" and Astoria and Powerglide in "Girl Who Loved Powerglide" (it's in the freakin' title!).
And once you get past G1, the examples get even more blatant: Tigatron and Airrazor in Beast Wars, Black Arachnia and Silverbolt in Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Rattrap and Botanica, Stryka and Obsidian, also in Beast Machines. Not to mention the possibly canonical slash of Energon Mirage's love for Megatron.
We’re talking about a race (or a loose confederation of races) that shows every other emotion: hatred, anger, jealousy, friendship, vanity, compassion, sorrow, joy, etc. so why not love? Transformers aren’t just mindless machines incapable of feeling. They’re fully sentient beings, just like humans and if they can feel enough passion to keep a war going for longer than our species has existed, they can probably feel enough passion to make the guys in the next room go "Oh Primus, will you SHUT UP!?!" -- though probably not in ways that most humans would recognize as "sex."
Dun.
metafandom and Fanfic Symposium. Those not interested in either discussions of slash, fanfic writing or pseudo-academic ramblings, skip this one. #0. Almost all the characters I like are male and all the characters around them are male. Who the hell else are they going to snog? -- I mean, c'mon! Sure, I could create OC femmes, but I don't like creating OCs to serve as romantic interests for fic writing purposes. And I don't currently have much interest in writing about any of the Autobot femmes or Nightbird.
#1. It’s fun. By all rights, I should end this essay here because, really, this is the entirety of the reason that I do it. Not because it's trendy, not because it gets me reviews (it generally doesn't -- not significantly). I write Transformers slash because I get a kick out of doing so. I wrote the one non-TF slash fic I did because I got a kick out of doing that (and was surprised as hell that people actually enjoyed it).
As a corollary to #1, there’s also #2. I don’t see anything wrong with it. That doesn’t mean I haven’t seen some stories that were badly done or that I can’t understand that some people really don’t like slash for whatever reason. I have and I do. And I don’t expect everybody who reads this journal to like slash just because I do. But I honestly don’t see anything wrong with writing slash stories about Transformers. Don't like, don't read -- really not that hard.
#3. It’s a fun mental exercise: I’m probably a bit unusual among slash writers in general and Transformer slashers in specific in that I’m not attracted to any of the characters I write about. As I’ve said other places, I like the characters I write about but I don’t LIKE them. Okay, to be fair, Onslaught is a bit sexy but when it comes to TILF, Optimus Prime has him beat hands down (it's the voice, Mrs. Peter Cullen is a lucky, lucky woman). Particularly in the scene in the movie where he does the backflip over Megatron and then shoots him. Or the one scene where he’s surfing on the back of Bumblebee and I think Cliffjumper to avoid the lightening storm. WHOO! That’s hawtsome!
But the real fun, for me at least, is figuring out how things work between Transformers -- not just sexually but psychologically as well. Once you remove genitalia and (more importantly, IMO) the need for organic reproduction from the equation, the dymamics of relationships change dramatically. Not to mention, how does a species that is 'born' more or less adult and can live for millions of years develop emotionally?
The most fun I’ve had writing slash was pairing up the Combaticons and the Stunticons. Not because of the hot mech-on-mech action -- particularly since the story was pretty slim in the smexing area, but because of the fun of figuring out which Combaticon would be likely to be attracted to which Stunticon and vice versa and why in both cases.
Huffer and Pipes are the same way. The attraction there is finding a way to make a relationship with Huffer, the Whinybot 3000, work with anybody, let alone Pipes who finds Earth (or at least her gadgets) fascinating. That and I'm tired of stories that belittle Huffer in particular and minibots in general.
#4. It’s easier than human sex: At least the way I do it, it is. Cuddlesluts, ho!
#5. Because I think the idea that Transformers can’t fall in love or show physical affection for each other is silly. Particularly when instances of physical affection/caring/love (Ariel kissing Orion Pax for one) are canonical. A lot of people point to Cloudburst's remark in #53 of the US comic where he tells the alien queen-hottie: "Where I come from, there are no women, no men...no mates!" as evidence that Transformers don't have genders (which, technically speaking in the US/UK comics, they don't) and therefore don't have romantic/sexual relationships. But what makes me curious is that just a few panels after Cloudburst makes this statement, his partner on this mission Landmine, is getting pretty darned cozy with a few alien hotties. Nothing overtly sexual, but he seems perfectly comfortable behaving like Captain James T. Kirk with the alien hotties of the week. On the one hand, maybe Landmine is a good actor; on the other, maybe the idea of affection isn't as unknown among Transformers as some might think.
It also doesn't explain Skids and his relationship with Charlene (US Marvel #20). Again, there's nothing overtly sexual in that issue but it's not hard to read Charlene's affection for Skids as something a bit more than friends. Particularly during the carwash scene.
Then there's the G1 cartoon, where we have Octane oggling femmes in "Starscream's Ghost." Or Ariel and Orion Pax, who describes Ariel as his girlfriend and who warns the Arielbots off from her in "War Dawn." Or Seaspray and Allana in "Sea Change" and Astoria and Powerglide in "Girl Who Loved Powerglide" (it's in the freakin' title!).
And once you get past G1, the examples get even more blatant: Tigatron and Airrazor in Beast Wars, Black Arachnia and Silverbolt in Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Rattrap and Botanica, Stryka and Obsidian, also in Beast Machines. Not to mention the possibly canonical slash of Energon Mirage's love for Megatron.
We’re talking about a race (or a loose confederation of races) that shows every other emotion: hatred, anger, jealousy, friendship, vanity, compassion, sorrow, joy, etc. so why not love? Transformers aren’t just mindless machines incapable of feeling. They’re fully sentient beings, just like humans and if they can feel enough passion to keep a war going for longer than our species has existed, they can probably feel enough passion to make the guys in the next room go "Oh Primus, will you SHUT UP!?!" -- though probably not in ways that most humans would recognize as "sex."
Dun.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-31 12:36 am (UTC)#4. It’s easier than human sex: At least the way I do it, it is. Cuddlesluts, ho!
So in your fics there's no sex (be it 'interface ports' or 'spark bonding' or even 'human organs under the armour' or whatever else it might be called?) I personally don't mind either way, I'm merely curious.
And to clarify your question you asked me earlier, I don't care for slash fiction, but I have nothing against people who do like it. That being said, it bothers me when some people can talk about nothing else but slash at times (which I compare to a guy who cannot stop talking about lesbian porn all the time) and so I'll exclude myself from that conversation if that's a possibility.
For the record, I don't consider you posting your fiction here, some of which is and some of which is not slashy, to be anywhere near the point where I feel any need to remove myself from things. Neither is making an intelligent discussion on the topic of why you care for it. :)
re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 02:04 am (UTC)In my fics, sex is generally a question of tactile stimulation, hence the cuddlesluts remark. Not of any particular orifice or body part, as with humans but of different areas that vary from design to design and according to particular special features each TF might have (Wheeljack’s audial flaps, Vortex’s rotors, etc.) which may mean that for Transformers homosexuals are those attracted to members of their own design rather than members of their same gender. And heterosexuals are those attracted to different designs. (I’m unlikely to ever term it that way in a fic because it’d just be confusing).
I do have vague nibbling in the back of my mind that what I’ve shown so far isn’t the be-all/end-all of TF sex in my world -- any more than the Missionary position is the be-all/end-all for humans -- but it’s the method that most of the characters I write prefer. Mainly because I’m writing about characters who are still immature or inexperienced and therefore less likely to know of other methods. Or, in Huffer’s case, characters who are partnered with inexperienced characters.
I don’t use spark bonding, largely because I’m stuck in a mostly G1 mindset where sparks don’t enter into the equation. Interface ports -- unless the usage has changed in the 7 years since I last paid attention to such things -- always seemed to be simply a euphemistic term for human-style genitalia. And the idea of “they’re really human under their armor!” has pretty much always left me cold and struck me as something of a cop-out.
Dun.
Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 10:59 am (UTC)Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 05:53 pm (UTC)1. I need to find and rewatch that episode.
2. Autobot Phone Sex = for the win.
Dun.
Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 06:22 pm (UTC)Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 06:38 pm (UTC)Dun.
Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 07:13 pm (UTC)Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-08-31 08:43 pm (UTC)Re: TF Slash
Date: 2006-09-01 12:53 am (UTC)Ratchet: "...Same thing I've been wearing for the last four million years..."
Prime: "...oh..."
Ratchet: *sighs*
Dun
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-31 01:00 am (UTC)re
Date: 2006-08-31 01:12 am (UTC)Dun.
Re: re
Date: 2006-08-31 01:15 am (UTC)Re: re
Date: 2006-08-31 01:56 am (UTC)Beware!
Dun.
Re: re
Date: 2006-08-31 02:24 am (UTC)Re: re
Date: 2006-08-31 10:17 pm (UTC)*...*
*...heeeeeelp!* :O
Re: re
Date: 2006-09-01 12:31 am (UTC)*pauses, thinks*
...nope, you're doomed. ^_^
Re: re
Date: 2006-09-01 01:07 am (UTC)Dun.
Re: re
Date: 2006-09-01 12:43 am (UTC)Dun.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-31 04:38 am (UTC)Now that you mention it...
Date: 2006-08-31 04:56 am (UTC)Dun.
Speaking of icons...
Date: 2006-08-31 08:10 pm (UTC)Starscream would be proud.
Re: Speaking of icons...
Date: 2006-08-31 09:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-31 08:47 pm (UTC)re
Date: 2006-09-01 01:00 am (UTC)Which made me go "SQUEE!"
Dun.