Shockwave What Even Is That Alt Mode?

Shockwave … what even is that alt mode?

He’s so silly

nyooom

Honestly, I can’t wait to play the original The Crew again

You know what you did with that caption

“How the heck d’ya even put these on?! It’s like I’m swimming in bedsheets!” “Very funny. Now quit goofing around before I use your cape to dry my balls.”

Cait Sith trying on his boyfriend’s clothing.

The creatures

It looks like one of the boyfriends could fit in Reg’s bed

Ratchet’s fins get more ridiculous everytime I see them, I love them. The irl car has fins that bend down right? Instead of going straight into the sky?

Proper refs + scale! Austin is the same height as Doc but has a slightly shorter wheelbase. He's also got no sideskirts and is a total cutie when he smiles.

Ratchet was shortened by his father figure and mechanic, Rundown, to lose weight and improve handling. He's still quite a lengthy car. His numberplate says "L8R".

Reg is just enormous but not quite truck scale, and has a lot of old bullet wounds from the wars and peeled paint from decades in high UV sunlight. His tray is made from Jarrah wood and he built it himself.

Twin turbo Ford Mustang

The blorbos, I love them

Didn’t want to spam your ask box, but I realized I was forgetting what I wanted to ask so here it is, maybe. Some of it might’ve been lost.

You mentioned at one point that Ratchet had mobility issues, but not what they were exactly.

Ratchet and Reg are battling to be my favorite, Austin is too similar to me to be my favorite unfortunately.

I can’t help but what to meddle with stories I really like, for instance I want to be a bit of a stalker and send Firestorm a picture of Ratchet in Backwater Downs, maybe with a clue on the back. I feel like that’s a fun idea to mess around with.

Most of Ratchet's mobility issues are in the parts of him that self-repaired instead of being fixed by a mechanic. His Plymouth Fury heritage gives him advanced self-repair, which is what kept him alive (that, and the roll-cage) during and after his crash. The mechanic that fixed him was hesitant to undo the self-repair's work since Ratchet was so precarious. The mechanic also did a lot of jury-rigging work, as Plymouths are a rarity in Australia. Now, his biggest issue is, his parking brake is useless. He can't do big hill starts anymore. Reg often drives behind him so that, if he gets stuck on a hill, he can roll back into Reg and do a normal hillstart. He also slips near cliffs or on beaches, and will roll if he falls asleep on an uneven surface. He can also be physically pushed around even with his brakes on. His left side axles were crimped in the crash and he can't go full lock to the left anymore. He also struggles with offroading, anything more than a dirt track is very difficult for him. He can't race on dirt at all anymore as it puts too much stress on his chassis. His A, B, and C pillars are all dented and were hammered and self-repaired into shape. His eyesight is much poorer than it used to be, and his muteness comes from the same damage. His brain simply can't connect the words and the sounds anymore. The front of his chassis rails are permanently twisted inwards which can feel uncomfortable for him, especially when he's turning hard - again, no offroading. His tailfins are not quite symmetrical anymore and it throws him off his line at high speeds and makes him stray to the right. His headlights also don't work 100% of the time, and his highbeams flicker terribly. The wiring is fucked.

His jaw clicks when he chews. This isn't a mobility issue but it didn't do that before the crash.

Austin I feel like doesn't get the full rep he deserves on here. It's very difficult for me to pack his entire character into a little comic because he has so SO much character. He is motivated by rage for decades and it twists him up inside. He's angry and bitter and anxious and horny and that's his 'good day'. He loves the dead and used to steal parts from graves and upgrade himself without anaesthetic. There is something deeply deeply wrong with him. He's absolutely my favourite because he is so fucked up but he's also so kind and loyal all the time. He would do anything for his friends and partners at the drop of a hat. But he also 100% is waiting for Reg to drop dead so he can take that delicious V10 for himself. And I do mean delicious. Which is to say just remember the version of him you see here is PG rated.

Realistically, Firestorm would never believe a picture of Ratchet (known to him as Ricochet) if he got one. Firestorm's business is perfectly legitimate, but he's not above running illegal stock behind the scenes. His association with Rundown also makes him a lot of enemies even in the criminal underbelly. Rundown has very few allies. So a picture of Ricochet, he'd just take that as an enemies' baiting attempt, albeit one in poor taste. It doesn't matter that the Fury in the photo has Ricochet's funny little twitch in his smile. Doesn't matter that he has matching warbles in his left fender, just like Ricochet had, from Firestorm's first attempt at panelbeating. Doesn't even matter that there's a red-eyed ragtop Hornet in the background, a model of car nearly impossible to find, who has Austin's missing tooth. Firestorm would never take the bait. He might store the photo away and he might lie awake at night, wondering about it, wishing desperately he was younger and more naive and stupid enough to pursue it. But he won't risk his family or his life. He has to make a decision, between chasing ghosts and raising his kids, and as much as it pains him he lets the photo sit in the dark album and gather dust with all the others.

BUT let's play in this for a second. Assuming there's a way to make Firestorm believe this isn't doctored, well, it doesn't matter that Backwater Downs is not even a town name, isn't even on the map. Doesn't matter that Ricochet has been missing for sixty years. Within a month of getting that photo, Firestorm is landing in Darwin International Airport. He storms out, buys a drum of water and drives south into the great flat lands.

Firestorm finding Ricochet is probably the worst way for them to reunite, because it makes Firestorm so incredibly, extremely angry. Sixty years and Ratchet never tried to reach out. Firestorm is so sick and tired of trying to hold his sibs together and he's sick of being forced to watch them drift away, and DIE, from apathy or petty arguments. Also in this timeline, Ratchet feels obliged to explain that he left because Robyn tried to kill him - shot him and everything. That would turn the whole situation into a disaster. The happier versions are when Ratchet comes back to America and reunites with Firestorm. He never reveals Robyn's crime, and he even allows Robyn to apologise to him, though he doesn't forgive her. She did a lot of damage, even if she hadn't meant it maliciously. And Firestorm is so happy to have Ricochet back home, he chooses to gloss over that yawning gap of "why didnt you call or text or write or fax or come home or-" that plays in his head constantly.

Fun fact, when Ratchet reunites with Firestorm, poor Rico gets a "Jr" tacked onto his name. Firestorm called him Junior on occasion, but thisis the first time Rico has to confront the fact he was named after someone that his dad missed dearly. And he hates being a Jr. He immediately tries to race Ratchet for his honour back and he gets his ass kicked. Ratchet then takes him out for beers and ice-cream and Rico Jr decides he has the best uncle in the whole world.