Fanfic / Small Problems

"Curiouser and Curiouser..."

Small Problems is a Transformers: Generation 1 fanfiction series written by Ghost of the Dawn taking place in the Transformers G1 continuity, published in 2008 and currently ongoing. There have been five stories in the series so far- Small Problems, Ghost in the Machine, The Autobot Files,The Secret Lives of Decepticons, and Rising Generations.

The first story in the series, Small Problems begins with a small group of Autobots being shrunk down to toddler sizes, and forced to depend on Crystal, a human to survive. The entire series serves as a Deconstruction/Reconstruction of the "human turned into a Transformer" plot.

Notably, the author is an avid artist and her DeviantArt account is filled with Fanart.

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Tropes found in this series:

Entire Series

• Action Girl: Crystal is one, along with every Autobot Femme currently online
• Alien Arts are Appreciated: Most of the Autobots, and even a few of the Decepticons.
• Alliterative Name: Crystal Carlyle
• Alternate Universe: Transformers: The Movie hasn't happened, and the version of Earth the characters inhabit is much more similar to our earth than the future envisioned in 1986.
• Darker and Edgier: This series is this in relation to the original series.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Prowl and Jazz, oh so much...
• Old Shame: The entire series was written in order to fix one of these- Ghost of the Dawn admitted to being one of the first people to write a 'OC} dies and becomes a robot story' back in 1998, and wanted to take her old idea and make it readable.

• Transforming Mecha: Naturally- this is Transformers.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Another reoccurring theme in the series.

Small Problems

Megatron has a ray gun that shrinks Autobots, leaving them two and a half feet tall and very far from home.

• Brawn Hilda: Kat Slacovka, Crystals opponent in her cage match.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": From Crystal, after realizing her predicament.
  Crystal: KILLER ROBOTS?! WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?!
• Gratuitous Spanish: Sideswipe enjoys this trope after a trip to Argentina.
• Handbag of Hurt: Crystal used her duffel bag to knock down Frenzy-justified, because she actually filled it full of bricks.
• Lampshade Hanging: Jazz, on the Autobots insane luck:
  Jazz: Heh, what are the odds that a death ray turns into a shrink ray when it gets blasted?
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Blaster removed Sound-waves files on the Death Ray that he had created.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: It's implied that Rumble and Frenzy were responsible for the Death Ray being so easily converted into a Shrink Ray by Prowl.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Prowl refuses to leave the missing Autobots behind. Optimus, stuck by himself for the majority of the fic, feels the same for his missing troops.
• No Waterproofing in the Future: Crystal wonders if this is true of the Autobots- Jazz and Prowl think the question is ridiculous.
• Not a Morning Person: Crystal is one of these.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Blaster is stuck in his alt mode after his transformation cog is melted.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Discussed by Wheeljack and Jazz while Ironhide and Prowl are arguing the merits of Crystal participating in a fight.
• Shout-Out: Jazz gives one to Pinky and the Brain in chapter 4.
• Shrink Ray: How the group of Transformers led by Optimus get shrunk- interestingly, it wasn't originally a Shrink ray- it was a Death ray until Prowl managed to shoot it.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: No one seems to think the tiny intelligent robots are anything to worry about... of course, this is New York.

Ghost in the Machine

Decepticons are mysteriously disappearing. But that's hardly the Autobot's problem, isn't it?

The Autobot Files

A series of short stories about a few Autobots and their different views on life.

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Being a Decepticon isn't easy, but what do they do with themselves when they aren't fighting Autobots and trying to subjugate the population?

Rising Generations

When Starscream seeks out a strange power source in space, its discovery starts a series of events that will change the future of Cybertron and all who inhabit it.