(no subject)

After reading a very interesting discussion on the appeal of hurt/comfort themes in fanfiction, my thoughts shifted back to my perennially unwritten pairing of Silverbolt/Motormaster. That's a pairing I don't want to do anything with until I can put together a good, believable setup that doesn't rely on rape.

Now I could very easily write Silverbolt/Motormaster if I was willing for my initial setup to involve Silverbolt being raped. On the other hand, it would take some careful character bending to generate an actual relationship from that. I find it far more likely that Motormaster would get maimed or killed in vengeance once any of the other Autobots discovered what he had done.

To me, the relationship as I envision has always been about the power dynamics between the two of them. Silverbolt is physically weaker than Motormaster, and Motormaster is a violent asshole. Silverbolt has that fear of heights, and Motormaster likes to hurt people any way he can. Silverbolt manipulates people to get what he wants and that they won't give of their own free will, and Motormaster batters them.

There has to be a perceived inequality of power, as well as an actual inequality of power in the other direction. To me, Silverbolt is the one who ultimately has to be in control of the situation. But Motormaster has to think he's in control, because I don't think he could stand the idea of not being so, and his reaction would do bad things to Silverbolt.

Yet... How to get him to a state where he would want to be in control in the first place? Heck, how to get him to a state where he doesn't want to just wreck the jet?

Motormaster can be either very complicated or very simple about this, in my opinion. It could be presented as him just wanting to establish his dominance in a very thorough, inarguable manner. On the other hand, I think this can slip far too easily into a rape scenario. Additionally, it doesn't really explain why Motormaster would prefer sexual dominance over violence.

On the grasping hand, an examination of Silverbolt's capabilities means that Motormaster has to actually get in quite close to the jet to be able to most effectively cause damage. Combining this idea with an anecdote someone shared once... Hmmm. Yes, there are possibilities here.

No, sadly, this post has very little to do with hurt/comfort at all. It's more of an effort to articulate my own thought processes and arrive at a new idea from there. (Though, I can safely say that hurt/comfort + Motormaster/Silverbolt = Not Working.)