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Balloon Arcade

@balloonarcade.bsky.social
94 followers 61 following 934 posts

semi-professional human impersonator. Free me from this flesh prison. ✏️BalloonArcade on Ao3 🍷Gulping from the well of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe angst 🔗 www.tumblr.com/balloonarcade Not dead yet.

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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.
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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."
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Prowl says Sunstreaker Spider Georg is a War Crimes Outlier and should not be counted.
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Reposted by Balloon Arcade
lantana0v0.bsky.social @lantana0v0.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I was reading the text file on my phone and my favourite is still Sideswipe (who has never told Sunstreaker another name) yells at Lennox and Epps, “Don’t fucking touch me! I’m an emotional support animal!” When it’s discovered Sunstreaker has a human locked up, and Optimus Prime has Sunny pinned.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
He paused, his attention finally drifting from his videogame and locking on Sunstreaker. “Can I use you as a reference?”
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
“I tried applying, same old story: blah blah experience, blah blah stop contacting us, blah blah restraining order. I dunno,” Sideswipe shrugged. “I wasn't really listening. Going to try again later with a different name…”
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
And Sideswipe has convinced Sunstreaker to increasingly bring him more and more things he *needs,* like video game systems, beanbags, sparkle lights, and Sunstreaker is starting to realize his human has something seriously wrong with him, but not because he's locked up in an empty aquarium tank.
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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.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
“And what’s the first rule of gun safety?” Ironhide asked. “Have fun!” Sideswipe chirped, pleased with himself. “No.” Sideswipe scowled then elbowed Sunstreaker. “I swear I remember that’s what we were told.” “I swear I remember you shot my leg seconds later.”
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I hope everyone reading We Don’t Feel Regret sensed every moment in chapter 5 where I struggled to find another way to describe the pointy cones of sharp and deadly on Bob’s carapace armor as anything but spikes.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Oh no, it has a title in my one-shot folder now.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“Where did you take this on?” Sunstreaker asked, disgusted. “The lighting’s so sterile.” “The Medbay,”Sideswipe said. “Look my leg was almost fully off at the time.” He sent the uncropped version over.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Just gonna add this to my rough thought about Sideswipe’s smash profile only including photos of him and Sunstreaker because he only tales photos of injuries and jokes, and Sunstreaker won’t share all the reference pics he has of Sideswipe.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Sunstreaker judges the lighting, poses, and production value of the ludes he gets, so Sideswipe starts sending his to Sunstreaker for critique and to improve his game.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Prowl glanced at the monitors and found Sunstreaker swinging a mace at his brother’s head — who narrowly managed to dodge. Sunstreaker had a very strange definition of what counted as Sideswipe endangerment.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
You cannot expect me to be honest about anything that endangers the joy I get from telling my brother he’s stupid to his ugly face, Sunstreaker had said.
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robot booty hole @putsomepantieson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
#valveplug COMMISSIONS OPEN! 2 characters in my loose sketch style for $75 Can do OCs as long as you have ref! 4 slots available, contact thru DMs to claim a spot!
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I'm going to need to start a new page for this.
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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.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"Triboluminescence: a biological phenomenon, observed in mechanical deformation and contact electrification of epidermal surface of osseous and soft tissues, during chewing food, friction in joints of vertebrae, during sexual intercourse, and --" The what now? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribolu...
en.wikipedia.org
Triboluminescence - Wikipedia
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Sunstreaker has never had a non-toxic relationship in his life, he’s not about to be healthy about things now, and he is not above sticking a nicotine patch on Prowl’s back so he goes through withdrawal when Sunstreaker’s not around.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“Sunny!” Sideswipe whined over their bond like Sunstreaker was torturing him. “That’s so boring.” Then he glared so hard, Sunstreaker could feel the external version drilling holes in the back of his helm. “And I know for a fact that you’ve been feeling anything but bored.”
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
We Don’t Feel Regret: An Interlude of Sunstreaker POV, followed by a Ratchet POV. archiveofourown.org/works/877068...
archiveofourown.org
We Don't Feel Regret - Chapter 5 - BalloonArcade - Transformers - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Long story short, I’ve mentally arrived to the thought of Ironhide buying gloios from the Pits and he’s rubbing Sideswipe’s old brake fluid on his knees.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
And the gloios of famous athletes was sold as topical medicines. So Transformers. Gladiators. My brain:
static.klipy.com
Man Sits Down on Chair in Park
ALT: Man Sits Down on Chair in Park
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Trying to focus on finish chapter 5’s edits while my brain gets hijacked by gloios, (naked men at Ancient Greek gymnasiums rubbed olive oil on themselves then worked out and had the combination of sweat, oil, and dead skin scraped off)
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The Emotional Wound Thesaurus’ insides.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Next chapter of Sunstreaker/Prowl is an interlude of Sunstreaker POV, then a Ratchet POV
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Sunstreaker did not want another clingy, unkempt beast in his life — Sideswipe was hard enough to maintain.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The scope of its intelligence and priorities was its own business, Sunstreaker yielded it that respect. Easy to say when Sunstreaker had no interest in unraveling the nuances beyond getting it to do what he wanted, and to not having to bother to feed it, or pay attention to where it went.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Sunstreaker knew the bug did not understand him. Not in the way of a bot. It did have a way of reading Sunstreaker though, that much had become obvious.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Should Prowl fail him, he need not worry Sunstreaker would run to a higher authority. In Sunstreaker's mind, he was the authority. No, worst case scenario Sunstreaker would bring Sideswipe into focus, making Prowl's existence a string of minor misfortunes he could never quite link back to them.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Text to speech in Scrivener is so important for finding awkward sentences, why don't I remember to do that more often?
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Chapter 4 of Sunstreaker/Prowl Sunstreaker deepens his designs on Prowl, submitting his requested analysis by painting a vivid picture: presenting his argument on the consequences of telling Sunstreaker no -- all without saying a word. archiveofourown.org/works/877068...
archiveofourown.org
We Don't Feel Regret - Chapter 4 - BalloonArcade - Transformers - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Abandoned my push to update tonight because my wrist started tingling, probably better this way because now I'll actually sleep, and tomorrow I can channel post-posting anxiety and obsessing over every little thing I should have changed that no one cares about, into cleaning.
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YUZI @yuzi05.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
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YUZI @yuzi05.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
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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.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Well, I reverse engineered an energon off-gassing atmospheric cycle that explains why I guess.
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Then realizing the TF wiki says Cybertron's atmospheric composition is similar to Earth. "Its gravity was light enough that humans were able to traverse the surface without any trouble, and it possessed a breathable atmosphere." tfwiki.net/wiki/Cybertr...
tfwiki.net
Cybertron (planet) - Transformers Wiki
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
And that they have to have glass because chemistry requires inert containers like glass to isolate substances and chemical reactions for study -- and they can easily have sand to make glass because they need silica for microchips --
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
My toxic trait is spending an unholy amount of time figuring out the chemical composition of Cybertron's atmosphere and where the oxygen is coming from for a species that requires combustion and thrust for lift, and how atmosphere effects their science and chemistry --
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Balloon Arcade @balloonarcade.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
“Just find a piece of metal to distract Bob with as you run past — that’s what Sideswipe does.” Prowl getting a taste of “oh my god you live like this?” from Sunstreaker in chapter 7. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker see it as a solved problem to Bob terrorizing Sideswipe.
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