Key points on Sunny and Hot Rod adventure time

Sunny and Rod’s Magical Adventure time is actually me playing with those two characters, but it grew and grew and now I have this whole universe in my head that I sometimes paste into comics so you guys can enjoy them.

However, I am terrible at storytelling, (I’m sorry guys! I know some of you are curious about what goes inside my mind about this story, but I do not have many writing talents. I actually tried several times, but failed), I can’t give you the writing story you deserve (and this is probably the one time a picture is not worth a thousand words, cause I feel that I could have finished earlier if I could write their story ) and because of that here they are the main points in my headcanon that you might need if you wanted to :

1. fully grasp what I am talking about

2. b) come up with your own fanfic ideas (cause honestly, at the rate I’m going, I’d have kids leaving for college by the time I finish… )

This headcannon is based in two main subjects:

1. The Bay movies (cause I like the designs and most of the story happens under the understanding Sideswipe appears in the second movie but not Sunny because Sunstreaker is lost in space)

2. Karategal’s and Litahatchee’s ideas about younglings (so you have ideas like a “floating island that functioned as a nursery for the younglings but was destroyed by the decepticons” and “younglings are practically extinct”) found in FF.net (you can see their accounts here in DA: Letohatchee and Karategal) 
   

And the plot is simple:
Sunstreaker got separated from his twin, and in order to fin him, he needs to trek about several solar systems; in on planet, he happens to find a young cybertronian named Hot Rod.

And while the destination of Sunny and Hot Rod is very obvious (Earth…after hopping around several solar systems… ) they might encounter adventures, some funny, some tragic and some that might propel the plot (or what little there is of) forwards.

In any case, what I know about this world is the following:

What is a youngling/sparkling?

A sparkling is a recently created Cybertronian. There are actually several ways in which you can create a Cybertronian— like the Dinobots in G1, the X-bot and Dewbot in TF1, or the ‘hatchlings’ in RotF— but these bots are actually pretty defenseless and still learning to manage their bodies, so you might think of them as a baby who is just learning to crawl or walk.

A youngling is a sparkling who has learned the basics or has already basic programing for their designated career in life, but still has a long way to become a full grown mech or femme.

Why was Hot Rod alone?

The way I imagined the whole backstory, Sparklings were mass generated in Cybertron, and then cared for and raised in designated areas until they were old enough to join the population. These ‘colonies’ were full of ‘children’ protected by an army of caretakers (similar to a human school, where the rate caretaker/students is about 4/20), mostly femmes, though.

Then one day the Decepticons attacked and under the command of Megatron, they wiped out those colonies: very few femmes that were there survived, and with a few exceptions, all younglings and sparklings were wiped out.

Somehow, one of Hot Rod’s guardians managed to escape with Hot Rod in a small pod (I imagine there was fire, and explosions and so much confusion that these unnamed guardian couldn’t rescue another youngling, only Hot Rod), but he was so injured that he didn’t last longer after they crash landed in a desert planet.

And that’s where Sunstreaker found Hot Rod.

Why did Megatron decided to kill the younglings?

I don’t know, terrorism: what a better way to break the morale of the autobots than killing the young.

Isn’t that like shooting himself in the foot?

Well, yeah… essentially there are no more new mechs, so the whole race is dying out. But it probably looked like a good idea at the time.

Why did Sunstreaker keep Hot Rod with him?

Cause he’s actually a kind sparked fellow!

Initially I'm sure taking Hot Rod along was supposed to be a business transaction. Hot Rod would provide a ship and guidance to leave that planet and Sunstreaker would leave him with the first autobot camp he could find.

However, it’s not just dropping Hot Rod with the next Autobot suited to take care of youngsters, there are other issues that prevent Sunny from leaving Hot Rod to his fate: there are literally zero younglings like Hot Rod, aging and growing at their pace. The most you have now are younglings like Bumblebee who were created in secret and had to grow up too fast (like if you ask any autobot in the brass, they’ll tell you BB is older than he actually is) or sparklings like the ones created by the Allspark, but they don’t have the coding necessary to be considered ‘autonomous’ and so were pretty easy to pick and reformat.

Hot Rod is therefore a rare thing and a lot of characters would go far to get him: from Decepticons who would want to reformat him into their cause, to Autobots who would not hesitate to snatch Hot Rod, reformat him and keep him as their “child” and of course, bounty hunters who would sell Hot Rod to the highest bidder.

So the story is not only Sunny being the “designated caretaker because there was literally no one else for the job” but also he’s the “one mech army” who acts as Hot Rod’s bodyguard. You all know Sunstreaker battle prowess: nothing will harm Hot Rod if he stays with Sunny.

Ok, Rod and Sunny are now together looking for Sideswipe, is that all the do?

…Cause, you know, Sunny has a second mouth to feed and all… maybe Hot Rod ‘managed’ all those years by harnessing solar power, but in order for him to ‘develop’ he actually needs energon? (cause really, I stuck Hot Rod in an organic planet for years, somehow I have to make up for not leaving him with energon to live)

The solution is: Sunstreaker and Hot Rod actually commandeered a decepticon cargo ship. The navigation logs told Sunstreaker where to go to find energon sources, like processing mines, small trading sites or delivery points.

It also allows me to move them from planet to planet with a more or less specific destination while keeping them away from the main autobot/decepticon territory.

Where does Mirage get into all this?

There have to be more characters!

Mirage is working his espionage gig, scouting the places where the Deceptions are secretly processing energon to fuel their army.

That’s where he finds Hot Rod and Sunny; our protagonists were following the Decepticon shipping routes found in their ship logs and Sunny decided that it was in the Autobot’s best interest to ‘neutralize’ the Decepticon’s source of energon.

Who else is going to show up?

So far, I’ve introduced Mirage because I think that out of all the mechs under Optimus command, Susntreaker must have had a couple of allies, and Mirage is my most likely suspect.

Also, Mirage is pragmatic enough to let Sunstreaker keep the youngling instead of coercing Sunny to leave Hot Rod with more compatible (read “nicer, friendlier, more patient, less warmongering”) mechs.

I think I’d also add Wheeljack because he can construct a bigger (and better, sleeker, more battle resistant!) exoesqueleton for Hot Rod.

Sunny doesn’t strike me as the mech fit for caring for a youngster…

No, not really. The way I see it, Sunny is emotionally stunted. As a former he probably understands the intricacies of emotions and sensibility, but he has not used them for so long that maybe he’s a little bit rusted in the “caring” thing; he can only connect with his brother and the rest of the people are incapable of reaching Sunny, or Sunny is incompetent at connecting with them; either way this has made Sunny a recluse in his own group. Eventually he’ll learn to reconnect and be a caring figure towards Hot Rod, but I imagine the beginning is kinda rocky.

On the other hand you have Hot Rod, who can make Sunny smile but who has been living in the wild for a long time; he has no manners, cannot understand social cues, is completely ignorant of the basics of Cybertronian culture and since he’s sort of a ‘teenager’ he’s both emotionally clingy towards Sunny and also likes to question every decision made by Sunny; he wanders away from camp when he wants, he never stops talking, and he makes difficult questions (such as “why do the decepticons and autobots keep fighting if they are almost extinct and their planet is in ruins?” or “what does that mean the you and your twin are ‘one spark split in two’? does that mean he’s like your soulmate?”) when Sunny wants to recharge.

Still, raising a child means getting out of your comfort zone, so there’s that.

So is Sunny a good or a bad parent/guardian?

He is...but he's probably also a bit overwhelmed.

the thing is it’s hard for him to show gentleness after such a long time of behaving as a narcissistic sociopath. And Hot Rod is young and reckless, so caring for him would probably be trying to even the most patient of mechs.

Why can’t they just head their ship towards earth and be done?!

Cause they are looking for Sideswipe and they don’t know Sideswipe is on earth.

Where is this story going?

So far, I have these points as part of my plot:

• Along the way our duo finds Predacons (who are a wilder, less organized branch of Decepticons) who do not hesitate to try to reformat Hot Rod. This is mostly because:

  • I want to Hot Rod to learn the danger of straying too far away from Sunny by putting him in a life threatening situation.

  • I need Hot Rod to learn how dangerous Sunny can really be (like Sunny goes to the rescue and makes a bloodbath).

  • I need a group that are “the villains” but are too stupid/insubordinate to inform the Megatron and Co. they found a youngling.

  • I also want Hot Rod to eventually kill someone but I love the decepticons too much to make them my “casual kill”

     

• Mirage’s research led him to the energon mine where he met Hot Rod and Sunny. Eventually he will leave Sunny and Hot Rod to continue the energon trail, which will lead him to find Megatron’s whereabouts (who was currently working for “the Fallen) and thus, the autobots stationed in earth.

  • Mirage reveals to Sideswipe (who’s already on earth) that he’s seen Sunny in space (he refrains from mentioning the youngling though)

     

• At some point Sunny and Rod detect Optimus’ message (from the second movie) to go to earth…sooo, I’m assuming that message had directions and Sunny knows Sides would eventually make his way to Optimus too.

   

• this part is still something I'm thinking of including or not, but I don’t like Lockdown (or at least his movie version) and I don’t like the fourth movie. So I’m using this headcannon to change that.

  • Lockdown manages to kidnap Hot Rod, But sunny comes to the rescue!

  • Movie!Lockdown is huge! And since movie!Sideswipe is actually small and fast, this Sunstreaker is actually not much bigger.

  • Sunny almost dies! …until Hot Rod, who was stuck inside Lockdown’s monster ship, escaped his cell and manages to distract Lockdown, giving Sunny enough time to kill Lockdown and allowing the “dinobots/guardians” to escape.

  • Either Sunny uses the new ship to reach Earth faster or Lockdown was already heading there, either way Sunny and Hot Rod are in the last strech of their journey.

  • And then BAM! No more fourth movie.

     

• The hardships are not over! I actually want Sunny and Hot Rod to arrive at a moment when there’s a battle going on, or maybe a big battle is about begin and they have to prepare for it?

  • …maybe Sunny and Hot Rod heard another message, this time from Megatron, telling all decepticons to go back to Cybertron because there’s a master plan in effect and soon they’ll all have  anew planet to inhabit. (you know, the plot of the 3^rd movie)

     

• Eventually hugs and cuddles and a youngling in the midst.

Aaaand that’s it, that’s all I can tell you about it, because honestly, I’m discovering it myself too!