koilungfish (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
koilungfish) wrote2010-06-13 05:40 pm
koilungfish) wrote2010-06-13 05:40 pm
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Unfinished Fics: Pride & Empire - Taste of Empires
Unfinished Fics #10
Pride & Empire: Taste of Empires, SLASH
After posting him to the edge of nowhere, Megatron visits Starscream with intentions that Starscream understands better than he does.
Pride & Empire: Taste of Empires, SLASH
After posting him to the edge of nowhere, Megatron visits Starscream with intentions that Starscream understands better than he does.
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Thank you :)
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(Anonymous) 2010-06-13 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)I dunno if you're still reading in this fandom, but if you are you may want to check out the crimson_optics comm. They tend to write MT/SS much more in line with your characterization than the SNADthors on ff.net. Some of them have a masochistic read on Starscream that they take a little far IMO- there's nothing in canon to indicate that he likes being hurt, just that he tolerates it to achieve other overriding goals like irritating Megatron- but not all of them, and they share your views about what Decepticons find attractive. And some of them write Megatron POV.
I do think the Decepticon social structure couldn't function if people weren't at least temporarily okay with being fairly bested; a hierarchy couldn't be stable if everyone besides the top guy felt it was illegitimate because they're not on the top. They've got to be able to switch between dominant and subordinate modes without making themselves totally miserable, or it wouldn't work.
Especially because at least some of these leadership challenges have to end with the former superior surrendering and the former subordinate accepting the surrender. Otherwise a) they'd suffer such enormous internal attrition rates that they'd have nothing left for the Autobots and b) all the talented people would get killed off by their terrified lower-level commanders before they had a chance to challenge them and move upward. The level of carnage you often seem to advocate would actually wind up ossifying the hierarchy and stymieing the growth of the meritocracy; hardly what Megatron is after.
Of course, Starscream's a special case, which is why Megatron is attracted to him and not Reflector, but I do think you err on the side of dastardliness a bit. (Also Megatron only being attracted to people who can and want to kill him explains his fixation on Prime, but how can we account for UK Comic Megatron/Ravage under this model?)
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I'm not reading in this fandom, no. I'm out. I have been to crimson_optics in the past. I don't recall what I read there but apparently it didn't compel me to join the community.
Yes. A lot of 'cons aren't aiming for the top spot - e.g. Skywarp, Kickback, Long Haul, Ramjet, Carnivac, and so on - and even the most ambitious of 'cons will drop their plans for the sake of the cause, such as Starscream giving up his shot at Megatron in MTME to shoot Mirage. It's not all knives all the time, it's a few guys with knives some of the time. Megatron and Starscream are one example of an interpersonal dynamic; the Constructicons are another.
Yes. Note the issue of the comics where Shockwave beats the tar out of [already weakened] Megatron, then hauls him up in front of the rest of the 'cons and orders them to swear loyalty to him. Megatron then joins in the pledge of allegiance, very weakly, *without being prompted*. Note also Scorponok keeping Starscream on as one of his troops after Starscream showed up and tried to destroy him, or the High Council electing Thunderwing High Commander even after his failures on Earth.
If by "the level of carnage [I] advocate" you mean the kind of cutthroat viciousness as shown between Megatron and Starscream here ... well, they're Megatron and Starscream. They're fighting for the top spot, and it's a pretty equal competition. Their relationship is not the same as everyone else's. They're the sharp end of the spectrum.
Very easily. Ravage is a very lethal individual and killed, if only by inaction, his previous leader - the Autobot Overlord. Note again in "Two Megatrons" - Megatron, upon being attacked by Ravage, says "Don't make me destroy you". This after he's been very careful not to deactivate other Decepticons on his way in. It does rather imply that Megatron perceives Ravage as an opponent he would have to destroy to defeat.
Also, who are you and are you the same person who's been commenting anonymously on my other posts?
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(Anonymous) 2010-06-16 05:25 am (UTC)(link)Well, the bit with the closet, and Megatron and Starscream getting buried in garbage as they try to fight/make out. Obviously there was some serious political discussion too, and we didn't have The Other Man/Woman Whom The Lead Is Dating Who Is Wrong For Them. Actually, that raises an interesting question about how Decepticon romantic comedies would be structured- would the tension be picking between two suitors like in human ones, or some sort of hierarchical issue? I've always thought the coalescence and sorting of that Useless/Gloryhog trine had the look of a traditional Decepticon story resolution- instead of winning the girl in the end, the hero wins a second-in-command.
Note the issue of the comics where Shockwave beats the tar out of [already weakened] Megatron, then hauls him up in front of the rest of the 'cons and orders them to swear loyalty to him. Megatron then joins in the pledge of allegiance, very weakly, *without being prompted*.
...After Megatron asks Shockwave to kill him so he doesn't have to face the humiliation of surrender, because US Comic Megatron is kind of a whiny brat. And then he lets Ratchet free all the Autobot prisoners because he'd rather regain control than win the war. So possibly a better example would be how Shockwave yields the leadership after a period of co-rule because he thinks Megatron's strategy is better, but I take your general point.
If by "the level of carnage [I] advocate" you mean the kind of cutthroat viciousness as shown between Megatron and Starscream here
I mean how in the majority of your stories the conflict resolution strategy of first resort seems to be murder, and there's never any concern that people might get scolded for this. Off the top of my head- the one where Skywarp and Thundercracker have some sort of romantic misunderstanding, the one with the TV series, Starscream's commanding officer here. Megatron vs. Starscream is a special case (and they do both accept surrenders rather than killing each other), but presumably Shipshape could be rehabilitated with a sound beating and a stern injunction to pay more attention to the Autobots than to the floor.
It does rather imply that Megatron perceives Ravage as an opponent he would have to destroy to defeat.
But a generally loyal one, all the same. Wouldn't that be a turn-off?
Also, who are you and are you the same person who's been commenting anonymously on my other posts?
Loooong-time lurker (like, from the Padded Cell era) and fan of your work. I never got around to getting an LJ, but since you generally seem to like feedback and you're departing fandom, I figured this was the last chance to comment on your fics and you deserved that much of a sendoff at least.
are you the same person who's been commenting anonymously on my other posts?
Well, I can't speak to all your posts, since if non-me anonymice commented I wouldn't know. But these recent ones, yes. I could sign posts, if that would help. (Or go away entirely, if you don't have the energy to deal with feedback for a fandom you're leaving anyway. Your call).
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Agreed.
A lot of it comes down to the [Koiverse] Decepticon norm that someone stupid/weak/whatever enough to get killed, at least by a peer, deserved it. Someone who gets killed by an inferior *really* deserved it. Getting killed by a superior is another matter. Indeed, the concept of murder probably isn't anything like what we perceive it as for them. After all, they can build new 'cons at crazy rates, and the more valuable, experienced/talented 'cons are going to be much harder to kill than the less valuable ones.
Killing Deathline wasn't Thundercracker's first line of resort; he's tried to persuade and pry Skywarp away from Deathline, he's taken secret revenge by hooking up with Shorestray, and only killed Deathline after deciding that this wasn't a short-term thing that Skywarp would get over. Killing Deathline was a revenge matter for the Killbreaker crew - he'd kicked a huge hole in their reputation, shown their fans the man behind the curtain, and all over some gambling debts - and, yes, they went to considerable lengths to track him down and capture him, but at least by Decepticon standards, what he did merited their actions. Shipshape's another matter - Megatron notes here that there are issues with the hierarchical system, that it needs attention, and that the system he envisaged when he created Decepticon society doesn't work right yet.
As you please. I don't really see Megatron and Ravage as slashy.
Hello again then, and thank you. Please do stay, and sign your posts. It'd be nice to think of you as someone more than Anonymous Dude #18.
I cant!!!
Thank´s
Re: I cant!!!
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Very rarely is Starscream background as the leader of Vos ever used for... anything. People usually make a bigger deal out of him being a scientist.
I can so see Starscream saying 'me me me.' I also like the idea of Starscream vowing to hammer Megatron, since he's usually annoyingly subby in fics.
...and then mistaking Megatron for a sex doll and Shipshape wanting a piece of that? BWAH.
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Because it's from the comics, and not many have read the comics.
Of course. He is Mr Ego. And yeah, no mewling uke Starscream here.
Fetishists: they come in all flavours and places.