Transtopia Newsletter May 2009, Gold Edition!

Hi all, noticed something different about the Newsletter? Well if not, the banners are all gold now thanks to flix. So why are they now all made of nice and shiny gold-goodness? Well this is the 5th Transtopia Newsletter, and I thought it would be a nice idea to celebrate this awesome fact with something special - and I like shiny gold things.
And yes this time the newsletter is back to it's old standard. So get reading and feasting yourselves on the arty-goodness we have for you this month!

Tell us how you like this new look and we might reuse it for future "gold editions".

And checkout Transtopia for the latest in Transformers art.



How to Showcase Your Work...
The newsletter is your opportunity to show off your work and talent. We rely on your articles, artwork, and customs to make it interesting. Entries will be reviewed on a monthly basis. You can submit your work here:
Repaints, Kitbashes, Scratchbuilds
Fan Art
Fan Fiction
Guides


Newsletter Credits:
Design - Flix
Formatting - Mattyc1007
Fan Art - Mykltron
Fan Fiction - Name_Violation
Editing - hellkitty, Dead Metal




Here are a few of Transtopias many repaints, click the images to see the threads and full size images!









Just a few of the very very cool kitbashes Transtopians produce, and yes click the thumbnails to see the thread and full size images!







Sadly there seem to be no new finished scratchbuilds so we leave you with these awesome WIP projects!




























For this month's featured slot I'm going to talk about Neko's collage of Prowl because I haven't seen any other work in this style in the fan forum.

So why did she choose to work with a medium that most of us haven't used since we were young enough to play with TFs and not be considered weird? Neko felt that interest in the Mosaic project was lessening so she wanted to do something different to grab peoples attention. After doing the art for Be Brave she was so proud of her work that she felt like using this style to portray Prowl, a character that she claims all true fangirls have a soft spot for. With this nugget of information, it seems strange that Neko doesn't even own a Prowl figure. So she took inspiration from IDW comics, particularly the work of E.J. Su, whose work she admires for its clarity.


To create this piece of art, Neko planned the picture with line art before assembling the final piece out of thousands of pieces of paper. Does he look 3D because Neko is a good artist, or is it because she has built him up with so many layers? You decide.

Also checkout her DeaviantArt page.

Send us your artwork!
Art entries are reviewed on a monthly basis for the newsletter. Send your entries here by May 28th for the June newsletter.





Do you have modeling or art tips to share with other members? Why not write a guide? Feature tips from - repainting, kitbashing, drawing, sculpting, and even computer graphics: Send an email to Transtopia.Guide@gmx.de for details.





This is quiet possibly the most touching fanfic I've ever read. It explains one of the mysteries of Transformers, where are all the females. If you have ever pondered the fate of the fem-bots, or are just looking for a good read then check this out. I would definitely give this 9 ruthless dictators out of 10.


Also an honorable mention to Undead Waffles, for an enjoyable read about a zombie apocalypse, and Andy Turnbull for a great Mosaic piece.


Now where are the rest of you? We need more submissions, so get them synapses firing, people!


by NickRyder


Hi all! This is my first (and certainly not last) Transformers fan fiction offering. After reading that post about "whatever happened to the female Autobots" I got to thinking and well... here's my 'short' take on the subject. I'm using the G1 reality with a few minor changes here and there. The title is sorta cribbed from the classic 'last' Silver Age Superman story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?"

Enjoy!


--


Transformers G1

"Whatever Happened to the Female 'Bots of Yesterday?"

By Nick Ryder - 2009

--


Earth - Autobot City


The weather was perfect, clear skies, just cool enough to be comfortable, the perfect day for a drive with the top down.


"Arcee, aren't you going just a little fast?" Carly said with just a hint of alarm in her voice.


"I thought you liked speed?" Arcee replied back with a slight laugh.


"I do, but what you're doing is suicide." Carly reached up to grab her hat that was starting to fly off her head, only for it to be whisked away."Why the rush? I thought you wanted to enjoy the day?"


"I do. I'm just...blowing off steam, as Spike would say," Arcee said as she slowed down and reached out a hand from the back of her alternate mode to catch Carly's hat.


"Thanks," Carly said with a smile. "So what do you think of Earth so far?"


"I love it: so much wide open space, yet still enough buildings and confinement to feel like home," she replied as she roared through a canyon. "I'm glad Elita One approved my transfer here, but I do feel bad leaving my sisters. There are so few of us."


Carly bit her lip as she was about to say something, then she shook her head ."I have been meaning to ask, but from the tone of your voice."


"What is it?" Arcee inquired.


"Whatever happened to the other female Autobots? You're the first female of your kind I've ever encountered. I was beginning to think your creator had favored the males over the females." Carly laughed. "Although I suppose robots don't quite need the disparity as much as we humans."


Arcee put the brakes on. "There were far far more of us females once upon a time," she said as she displayed a holographic screen on the windshield. "And there was a need for the two. Trust me on that one."


She displayed images of older Cybertronians in their pre-war forms, including what appeared to be 'children.' "You see, Carly, our creators decided that it would be useful for us to be able to reproduce. All of us can refashion matter and take elements of ourselves to do things like simple repairs or affect our mass shifting and with creating new alternate modes."


"Makes sense." Carly agreed.


"When the war began...that is when things got very...very bad for us female Cybertronians. At first it started out simply: a campaign set out by the early Decepticons advised that it would be useful for our continued existence and sustainability if Cybertronian couples would limit the number of protoforms they create. Some even advocated a one-protoform-per-household advisement." Arcee brought up a few images of the propaganda posters used in that campaign.


"Sounds a little familiar," Carly replied. "Go on."


"It was all a scam. Cybertron was able to produce and sustain enough Energon for up to four or five times what our population was at that time. We had even begun colonizing other dead planets and moons to create new colonies, research facilities and energy plants. Then, Megatron came around. At first everyone fawned over him. Suddenly we had an 'energy crisis.' Which was felt far and wide. No one really knew what happened to our energy reserves, nor did it seem like we were producing enough." Arcee displayed the decline of certain Cybertronian cities. "First the ruling council decided to combine cities on Cybertron and start conserving energy. But the drain continued. Then Megatron and one of Optimus Prime's predecessors, Templar Prime, debated fiercely over the next step: the immediate cessation of new protoforms. Templar fought and fought in the Council, but ultimately the Council ruled in Megatron's favor. Female Cybertronians would have their reproduction matrix deactivated. This did not sit well. A few of the female Autobots had felt that if they could not reproduce, they would not keep their forms. And had retrofits to be male Cybertronians. Some deactivated themselves. Others openly defied the orders."


Carly sat in rapt attention. "How horrible."


"It gets worse. This was only one of the fronts Megatron took in his quest to rule all of Cybertron. It was revealed that the Decepticons were acting as energy terrorists. The council expelled Megatron from the Planetary Security Panel, but it was too little too late. Megatron slew Templar Prime and half the council. One of the remaining council members, Sentai, took the Matrix of Leadership and became Sentinel Prime. He declared the Decepticons and Megatron enemies of the state. The Autobot Elite Guard was formed to combat them. It was then that we became two races. Us and them. The female Autobots fought alongside their male counterparts and for a time, it seemed like things were getting better."


"But they weren't, right?"


"Not by a long shot." Arcee displayed an image of over 12,000 Autobot skulls on pikes in what was once a city. "Twelve thousand Autobots died on the attack of Omicron City. Ninety percent of which were female, as Omicron City was one of our protoform-protectorate cities. The female Autobots that defied the sterilization orders went there to raise their protoforms. That is where I was born." Arcee sighed heavily as she paused for a very long time. "My mother was the Captain of the Elite Guard for Omicron City. My father was the Captain of the Sky Corps. I was only a protoform, but I remember transforming and running away--the first time I used my alternate mode. When I returned with my father, my mother...my mother was dead."


"Oh how horrible, I'm...I'm so sorry," Carly said as she put her hand on Arcee's console. "Truly."


"Thank you, Carly, it has been a long time since I have thought of my parents," Arcee replied and continued her story. "My father sent me away both to recover from the injuries I sustained in the attack and to keep my safe. I protested, but father could be very convincing."


She displayed a video log of a fierce Autobot and Decepticon battle. "It was nearly three cycles before I saw him again, but it wasn't in the way I expected. Starscream and his Seekers had attacked one of our major energy collection cities. My father tried to repel their attack, but it wasn't any use. The Decepticons had mastery of the air, far more than we did. My father was a brilliant pilot. But they had no regard for life, theirs or ours. I was arriving on a shuttle when one of the Seekers crashed into us. Luckily father taught me how to fly shuttles as a protoform and I learned how to do some basic piloting of larger ships while I was away."


"So you saved the shuttle?" Carly asked. "That's amazing."


"It was: I was so proud. Even though we had lost fifty protoforms and females in the attack, more than two hundred remained," Arcee said. "My father transformed and went to meet me, partly to admonish me for coming into a hot war zone, and partly to congratulate me. I was about to ask him if he needed my help, when the shuttle, still full of Autobots, exploded behind us. My father was impaled by the debris. Leaving me alone, holding his spark-less form in my arms. I cried out so loud, that I burned out my vocal processors for nearly a half-cycle."


Arcee started to drive again, this time going to the edge of a cliff. "I went to Paradron and that is where I was recruited by Elita One to be one of her operatives. I refused at first, as I was undergoing training to be a medic, but she appealed to the parts of me that came from my parents. I told her that I did not want to be a warrior, so I became part of the support staff."


"So that's why you stay back at the City." Carly snapped her fingers.


"Well, I am a maintenance-trained technician, as well as communications specialist. That was how I found out about Megatron and Shockwave's plans to cripple the Autobot's reproduction abilities. He had a massive campaign to make us female Autobots extinct. A virus tore through our ranks, through our recharge stations. We lost most of our ranks through that virus. Then Shockwave and Soundwave lead attacks on the bases that had the highest concentrations of female Autobots. It was decided by both Optimus Prime and Elita One that we go underground. But it was too little too late, yet again. When Prime and Megatron both left a nearly Energon-depleted Cybertron and came to Earth to be considered lost for over a million years, only a handful of new protoforms were birthed. Energon was so scarce that many protoforms died within cycles of being created, as did many other Cybertronians that direct conflict didn't kill. Energy loss did them in."


"So that is why there appear to be so few of you even now," Carly said. "And why it seems like there are so few young Autobots."


"Exactly. Megatron may have lost, but we took the bigger losses. Soundwave, before he was lost with Megatron, had abducted and brainwashed a number of protoforms, which he turned into his minions. The 'Con you know as Rumble was actually one of my friends protoforms. I used to take care of him during the wars. Frenzy was one of Chromia's charges who ran away because he wanted to see more action. Just as we recovered him, Soundwave captured him. There is nothing left of Fry and Ramses as I knew them."


"I always did wonder about those two."


"They were so cute as protoforms. In the time that Cybertron was ruled over by Shockwave who stockpiled and rationed out Energon, making us resort to subterfuge and theft to keep our rapidly dwindling ranks from dying off. Roaming death squads killed off so many Autobots, those that would not defect to the Decepticon side. The bodies of the dead were used to build weapons and add fuel to the Energon creation matrices. In time, Elita One's team was one of the few remnants left. Shockwave had captured a few cells and those that were not too far gone, he kept in stasis, primarily for reproduction of new Decepticons. Predaking was one of those new forms. Sparks from living, yet badly damaged, Autobots were kept in storage for re-implantation in new Decepticon frames and reconditioning."


Carly sat in silence and felt her stomach.


"Are you ill Carly?" Arcee asked as she scanned Carly.


"The story. It's just...upsetting. The thought of so many dying so senselessly." Carly wiped a tear away.


"I know. Although, there is hope. In the past few years our kind has been able to stave off the decline. Just this past year over 100 new protoforms have been birthed," Arcee said as she drove past a tree where a nest of baby birds was being fed by their mother. "It may take time, but I think in time, things will turn around. Once we have Cybertron fully secured, things can rebuild."


"That would be wonderful." Carly smiled and wiped away her tears.


"I see that you are also creating your own protoform," Arcee said with a chuckle. When were you planning on telling Spike?"


"Tonight. As soon as he and Bumblebee are finished with their work, I'm going to have dinner with him and tell him I'm carrying his child," Carly said as she reclined back. "I hope what happened on Cybertron never happens here."


"Same here, sister. Same here," Arcee replied and turned around quickly and roared back toward Autobot City "Let's get back. I have a date, too."


"Ohhh?" Carly winked. "Who?"


"Some new kid: Hot Rod. Moonracer set us up. He sounds cute."


"Next generation, hmmm?" Carly laughed.


"Oh Primus, no! I haven't even MET him! I'm not merging my spark with his until at least...a few dozen cycles!" Arcee protested.


"Hmm hmm...," Carly smirked.


"I hear he's had dates with a number of female Autobots, so eh...I'm not hoping for much."


"Well, Spike had a few girlfriends besides me for a while, but he chose brains and beauty over beauty and mechanical skills," Carly said with a wink. "I'm glad you came here, Arcee. Finally feels like I have someone I can connect with."


"Same here: you're the first human that I've felt a friendship with. Ever need help, I'll be there for you. And your protoform," Arcee replied.


"We call them babies, but thank you," Carly said as she looked out the window and saw the sun setting in the distance.


"I thought this is what men called women?" Arcee quipped.


"Some men. It's slang, I guess. I hate that term," Carly said as she made a disgusted face.


The dashboard started to beep. "Spike is trying to contact us."


"Put him through," Carly replied. "Spike, I take it you boys are done with your work."


"We sure are. Can't wait for you to see what we did. So when will you two be back?" Spike inquired as Bumblebee pulled the comm up to his level.


"I think Spike wants to know how fast Arcee can get you back here," Bumblebee said with a smirk.


"Before you know it," Arcee replied and started to go faster.


"Whoa! Little warning, Arcee...," Carly said as she gripped the wheel.


"Ha-ha. Drive carefully, Arcee, that's my wife you're driving. See you in a little while then. Love you, babe." Spike said as he closed the channel.


Arcee chuckled. "He called you 'babe.'"


"I know." Carly rolled her eyes. "I'm training him. That's another thing we human females do."


"Cybertronian, too. Why do you think Prime is so nice? Elita One trained him early on."


"I had a feeling they were an old couple, the way they talk to each other." Carly laughed. "He still loves her."


"As does she. Maybe someday, when Cybertron is at peace, they will be together," Arcee said with a feeling of hopefulness in her voice. "Carly, this drive did me some good. Talking about the past makes me all the more hopeful for the future."


"Me too," Carly agreed as she saw Autobot city on the horizon.


"After all, hope is the only thing our enemies cannot take from us," Arcee said as she pulled into the City and transformed into her bot-mode. "Hope for the future, hope for our kind."

[/quote]




Send your entries here.





Hey Transtopia folks - Burn wants to interview you. How did you get into Transformers? Why are you addicted to kitbashing? What was your first repaint like? What do you do with your spare time?

Don't keep Burn waiting any longer he's getting bored at work. Send him a PM here.