iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

My unhinged mutant digital drawing process with my own reference photo. I use an obscene amount of layers, still hit or miss with sketching, and do a lot of colour blocking then carving for shapes. Also years ago I spent a few days making custom brushes of TF insignias.

040

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"How can you be certain it's Sunstreaker, My Lord?" Megatron's hands creaked, his claws digging into the seams of his palms. "I can see his signature."

151

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Prowl says Sunstreaker Spider Georg is a War Crimes Outlier and should not be counted.

193

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Reverse Division Sideswipe is gonna get a new pet bed that isn’t an inflatable flamingo or giant croc he begged for! Though, Bayverse Sunstreaker treats him more like a lizard in his (shut down and empty) aquarium tank that he does dog spa day videos with.

183

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

This is why I got carried away drawing Bob the other day. I’m figuring out the shapes to make a tiny model of him that fits in this backpack — it actually fits on Sideswipe, though I’ve replaced the straps with leather and clasps.

021

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Also the ball-gagged happy face is not what I bought this nail art stencil for but it is an unexpected delight. If I can only get my nail polish to actually lift on the stamper, Bob’s backpack will be successfully graffitied with Sunstreaker’s doodles.

120

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Nail art supplies seem to be the correct size for making TF chain and leather lingerie, also for Bob’s back spines. The corset laces I had on Sideswipe’s thighs were also for nail art.

140

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Am I about to add flashes of triboluminescence when Transformers bang in the dark? Yes. Yes I am. My WIP writing exercise list, I did not expect this when I discovered the word adularescence last week, I was just checking what colours quartz flash when struck together or crushed.

140

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus’ insides.

000

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I especially like the acute or long term sections that can help guide the escalation of an emotion.

100

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I’ve used them for years as part of my emotional editing process. They probably seem pretty basic to experience writers but they help unsticky my neurons.

100

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I still recommend these two books for when you are stuck repeating the same character emotes in a draft and need to start editing them out. The one on the Emotion Thesaurus helps jog my brain for variety, and the Emotional Wound Thesaurus helps dig deeper if a scene still feels too shallow.

152

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This was not what I was supposed to be doing, but I’m counting it as details I can use for writing Bob in the scene I was supposed to be finishing. I’m convinced his horizontal maw behind his slotted battle mask is an industrial metal shredder.

054

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The too big jokes write themselves.

151

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I ruined my nice black background with photo fog, which you should not be like me and inhale because it’s butane so do not combine it with sparklers or other pyrotechnics indoors. And I like using Sideswipe’s black light reactiveness so his red doesn’t get swallowed in blue lighting.

101

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

For Tarn and Sideswipe I had a background on a laptop. So I replicated warm lighting for the forges and cooler lighting from the left to match. And so their hands had light for a spark I had Sideswipe hold an LED ball. Dodging and burning separates subjects with lighting that is already there.

101

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Someday I want to do a zine of toy photography posing, composition, and lighting. But today is not that day. So here’s the photo I took with my phone before edits, and the behind the scenes set up with fishing line. And let’s talk lighting and effects.

194

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I have wanted this for ages and finally did it this evening while my laptop panted and begged for mercy. Without text, the reference, and Autobot version.

020

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Air Commander Sideswipe. 👁️👁️

22310

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Past me’s plot to make me laugh worked because I went to grab Sideswipe for pose references and I forgot I left them like this in my office closet.

062

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm sad I haven't been able to give this scene a home yet for Sunstreaker/Prowl

“Your ego is distorting reality.”

“My ego is proportional to my competence, and supported by <i>your</i> analysis.”

Prowl came up short. That was part of the concluding statements. “When did you read my recommendation?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters!” Prowl said. “I had it in my hand when I entered my office, and you did not activate it. I finished my revisions — in my quarters — the night before my morning-cycle meeting with Optimus. It was sitting right there —” Prowl pointed at his berthside table. “Which means you have been in my quarters while I am sleeping.”

“If you already know, why bother asking?”

“Do you have any concept of privacy?”

“Of a split-spark sort, yes.” Sunstreaker said. “Though, I imagine our definitions of how much unedited access I am entitled to have to your thoughts and emotions may slightly differ.”

“Slightly?” Prowl balked. “You’re incredibly invasive to the point of being a stalker.”

062

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

My temporary fuzzy assistant for the summer.

040

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I'm going to need my mouthguard in while writing Sunstreaker/Prowl today before I chew up the inside of my lip. I can sense it.

“This is entirely unprofessional and inappropriate!” Prowl whipped the door closed, but before it slammed shut — it stopped.

Damp, black fingers caught it. Curled around the side of the door, dripping remnants of cleanser. Armor separated. Knuckles visible beneath. Creaking indents stressed the cybersteel — crushing the edge.

The door swung back open, wind gusting past Prowl’s face as it barely cleared the push bar on his bumper before banging against the wall. Sunstreaker stalked forward, a heavily armored silhouette backlit by the harsh white task lighting of the washrack. Yellow optics burned from beneath his helm — fixated on Prowl, visually stripping him to pieces with a focused look of targeted determination only ever witnessed when Sideswipe kept dodging out of Sunstreaker’s reach.

“What part of the past few days gave you the impression I intended to be anything but unprofessional and inappropriate about this?”

353

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Former Decepticon Tactician Sunstreaker saying good things about Starscream, while also insulting him.

“His input is valuable when it comes to establishing air superiority and enacting highly technical solutions, but his ego and scientific background gets in his way when problem solving: making the solution more complex and resource intensive when a simple coat of paint and a tarp is all that’s needed.”

161

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

A snapshot of some of the fucked up MegaSun written in Oodi (Helsinki Central Library: felt like meeting a celebrity, the architecture!!!)

“And if I bring you back a piece of his armor, you can assure me it will not find its way into your mouth?”

Sunstreaker’s audial filled with the static of a lost connection, and shoulders dropped as he looked at a point on the wall, close to the floor. He stared at the intersecting lines of the heavy, brutalistic, art deco details riveted and welded across every unfamiliar, angled wall of this place.

Swallowed whole, drowning in the static. That’s what it felt like, the mech he was had been eaten by the war and now he was stuck in the internals of a monster made of memories he would never recognize.

Ribs, he thought. The repetitive detailing jutting vertically between each wall segment looked like ribs. As if the Decepticon flagship Sunstreaker was supposed to feel at home in were the internals of a massive —

A familiar touch — Megatron’s claw — traced down the side of his jaw, applying enough pressure to guide Sunstreaker back out of the static left where a lifetime of memory should be.

“This compulsion you’ve developed needs to be closely monitored before a more serious complication arises, you understand this,” Megatron said, firmly. “I cannot have you hiding anything surrounding these urges to consume objects that ignite a strong emotion in you.”

“I don’t see you complaining when it’s your transfluid I’m swallowing,” Sunstreaker muttered. “I can’t burn that for energy, but you let me suck that out of you like I’m syphoning fuel.”

“It does not cause a painful obstruction in your fuel tank like an Autobot trophy I drag home for you would.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big piece of armor,” Sunstreaker said, unable to explain why he wanted even a sliver of it to analyze that particular red colour. “Just enough for a paint reference. A small token to remind me of your affection for me when you aren’t here.”

“A small token of my affection?” Rephrased that way, Megatron sounded as if he were considering it, now. “Stripped from an Autobot?”

“It would be more of a challenge to cut off a small piece than rip off a large chunk.” Sunstreaker returned his hands to Megatron’s chestplate, renewed desire flaring inside him on the cusp of getting his way. He teased a finger up the central seam, tracing the path over Megatron’s spark. “A better demonstration of your skill: anyone can drag home a corpse for me to pick apart for an art study. Or do you think you can’t manage to cut off a teeny little piece for me?”

“Do not think I do not know what you are doing.”

“Why I’m giving you a way to impress me after every battle I’m not allowed to attend,” Sunstreaker said, moving his hips in a slow seductive circle in Megatron’s lap. “Just think how thrilled I’d be with a collection of Autobot paint swatches. The entire set.”

“An entire set, now?” Megatron rumbled. “What greedy thing you are.”

032

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Time zone two! Blessed my favourite cafe in Munich with MegaSun plots, then did some worldbuilding for Mirage Purchased Elite Personal Guard Sideswipe in Kaon from their gladiator slave pits as a souvenir (missing the fine print about Sunstreaker). Sunstreaker is legally his (problem) now.

071

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I ordered this on a whim just to see if it would print too dark and it makes me laugh. My alt text version for it was too long. I’ve yet to figure out how to say “personality disordered, ass works great though” in short clever text form.

0115

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

“And have you reconsidered your allegiance?”

2125

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Spent my breakfast figuring out where Megatron’s quarters are on the Nemesis. Sunstreaker on Megatron’s turret is covering a plot point note. I needed to make sure the straight line orientation toward the aft of the ship works.

A very rough pencil side view of the Nemesis from Transformers Prime. Sticker of Sunstreaker saying Skill Issue is covering a plot point note I needed for orientation of Megatron’s room.

Can I translate some of my hand writing? Oof. Okay.

Right top corner down says: June 9, 2026 vague layout in box form to find more geometric shape of quarters. Nemesis exterior. Flight deck. Can view a little into the bridge. Bridge because the bridge has windows looking down. Looks like state room kind of crown shaped this is Megatron’s room. Lots of pointed parts that likely hold a lot of weapons and defense. Take this shape to reverse engineer the interior.

130

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I spent some time last week studying the art books (pdf) for Prime and Fall of Cybertron because I needed Nemesis schematics and aesthetics for my MegaSun porn. The Decepticons go hard in Kaon with a city wall made of sculpted heads of fallen Autobot heroes.

Quote. Aesthetics are higher than ethics. - Oscar Wilde

171

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

“So you can obey orders,” Megatron rumbled. Sideswipe grit his teeth through his tense smirk, his spike clearly speaking for the moans he kept choking back. “Hard to translate this motivation to the battlefield.” Megatron chuckled, leaning in to pull the chain at Sideswipe’s neck. “Is it, now?”

3102

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

We don’t gate keep the robot cum props in this house. It will slowly drip through the shoot and need reapplying, but what’s photography without a panic at Sideswipe to hold onto his cum because Tarn’s dick is falling off again.

1101

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Have a crash course of what can go wrong with focus stacking in photography: something (*ahem,* Megatron and Tarn's spikes) moved between shots. I can't compile it into a single in focus shot without motion blur. The results of an animated gif instead, however. Hilarious.

183

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

NSFW parts are still in progress. I might reshoot it. Tarn and Megatron’s heavy spikes kept drooping between takes because I used museum glue. 💀 I should turn those parts of the focus stack into an animate gif. Anyway, the reference meme.

070

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

*slips this outside my door because someone said they were waiting patiently outside it for MegaSun.* Anyway, timezone 1.

Sunstreaker looked directly at the leader of the seeker trine — held his boiling red glare - and closed Megatron's interface panel for him. Still maintaining optic contact with the seeker, Sunstreaker rose up on the tips of his pedes, brought his lips close to the base of Megatron's audial,
"You were right. I do like an audience. Especially when that audience is seething with jealousy."

At his whisper, the gravity of Megatron's attention drew entirely back to Sunstreaker.

Red optics drenched in satisfaction traced Sunstreaker's path — trapped in the gravity well tugging them along as Sunstreaker returned in a lithe, teasing step back across the threshold into their quarters. He leaned against the doorframe in perfect poise, wiping a thumb at the corner of his mouth.

Sunstreaker finally looked away from the seeker. Dragged his satiated gaze deliberately down and back up Megatron's frame. Smiled.

"Don't die," he said, loud enough to carry up the corridor to the jealous seeker and his deeply uncomfortable trine. Ran a single teasing finger down the centre of Megatron's chestplate, tracing the welded scar there. "But if you do, make certain your spike is recoverable. I find I'm quite attached to it these days."

Then he stepped fully back into their quarters.

The door slid shut between them, cutting off Megatron's booming laughter and whatever screeching response the red seeker was making.

275

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Given Sideswipe's tiny stature next to Skywarp, Megatron, and Tarn... it's very clear what I have to photograph with this couch.

1225

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Megatron filling the holes in Sunstreaker's memory with their epic love story -- and editing out Sideswipe as a complication in Sunstreaker's life, who Megatron despised -- while also filling Sunstreaker's *ahem* other holes.

“Were we already together?” Sunstreaker asked, haunted by all the holes inside him. The ones that were harder and even more painful to fill. “When you spared me in the ring?”

That familiar strong hand claimed its place on Sunstreaker’s waist. The tip of a claw pressed under his chin, teasing along his jawline as Sunstreaker was guided back to Megatron. “We were.”

“Coward,” Sunstreaker said, but it held only a smug teasing bite to it. “You couldn’t live without me.”

“What can I say?” Megatron said, and his claw traced down Sunstreaker’s neck, along the path of his main energon line. “The curse of a poet: I’m a hopeless romantic when it comes to a muse.”

To the inhibitor collar.

A pressure against Sunstreaker’s throat as Megatron scratched a mark into the polished surface. Another.

More.

“My mercy knocked you off the leader board. You were furious with me.” The red light of Megatron’s gaze flicked back up, locking Sunstreaker in the hypnotic promise of more details of their life together. “A demon in my room.” Megatron chuckled fondly at the memory. “I bled more that night than I ever bled in the ring.”

053

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I think this is one of the funniest transitions I've had in a first draft in a while. Premise: Sunstreaker memory loss mid-battle, only mech he felt he could trust: Megatron. Who takes advantage of a chance to rewrite history, and paint Sideswipe as a villain who has only brought Sunstreaker pain.

187

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Conquer your fears in the morning by painting tiny spikes (created by @thundertitty.bsky.social) so your fears have time to dry by evening. Front to back: Megatron, Tarn, Sideswipe. The other two are Sideswipe’s private collection I haven’t decided colours for yet. UV reactive seam paint in back.

24310

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

I completely forgot Sideswipe was still wearing my first attempt at Cybertronian erotic wear, and I opened my office closet to put the rocks I sorted and deemed ready for stage 3 of polishing away. This was what greeted me.

391

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

In a world where he could have had cute cat ears, or panda ears, he’s married to me so… He gets to be a slug.

070

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Worldbuilding brain has me making a set of copper pencil crayons now because, if not on Earth, where did Sunstreaker get wood art materials? And I think about it every time I look at the cute little wooden set 😅 Electrical wire heat shrink for the finger grips.

Miniature pencil crayons made out of toothpicks and sitting in a thimble. Copper and silver miniature pencils sit on a cardboard surface, with black electrical wire heat shrink for finger grips.

050

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Enough tiny pencil colours for Sunstreaker to draw the essentials: himself, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Prowl, Mirage, Megatron, blood, and Decepticon insignias. I think he still needs an orange because yellow is a pain to get right and he needs to do rusted ruin landscapes.

Miniature pencil crayons painted on toothpicks.

072

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Tiny bead bottle glue test for Sunstreaker’s area. So far they are holding with gorilla glue. Dissecting necklaces for this.

Beads stacked and glued to look like tiny bottles with caps

140

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I think Sunstreaker and Sideswipe’s room should have a collection of Ironhide punching people. So far that collection is two. Maybe I should actually make the floor and the walls before I kept making them wall and shelf art.

1102

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Finding this screenshot to frame on Sideswipe’s shelf does not count as cleaning my closet.

Screenshot from Transformers G1 where Sideswipe is standing next to Megatron in the Decepticon base

0151

Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Did you know you only need a needle, thread, pins, scissors, and that mesh bag you’ve been keeping with all the gift bags you say you will reuse but never do to make a loofah for your transformers? Now you do.

173