IDW Publishing Forums

[Optimus]

The much anticipated, highly opinionated poll of the Universe!!!

To be or not to be...

Female Transformers!

Here's my hang-up.
I think they pretty much HAVE to exist somewhere, even if few in number, and I have an excellent idea that maybe, someday, should my interest not dwindle... I will expound upon and develope.
For now, I simply link the idea of females to the idea of procreation... and transformers don't necessarily start out small...
I'm thinking along the lines of a mingling of minds or beings (souls might be a better word) that would involve a link and a great feeling of pleasure, but lacking the physical qualities and actions we humans associate with the act of procreation, since, for machinces, there is less feeling associated with phycial touch.... or is there?

Well, that leaves the question... where do babies come from??!!

Well... haven't decided how that might work yet.
I shiver at the idea of a pregnant transformer.

and as for Arcee, maybe she is something different, given the current storyline (since I have not seen an explaination of what Jhiaxus was trying to do by creating her, but that's just me, so maybe someone else knows?).

and then there's.. so that's all females are good for!? (procreation)
well... no... they may and can certainly join the fight if they want to.

Laugh! Make merry! Make your opinion known! Or not!

I'm not the author... an opinion is all I'm entitled to.

[Cattleprod]

Great Caesar's Ghost, we do not need this debate again. If Tramp sees this, it means death for us all.

[Optimus]

So I've heard...
or perhaps they'll just kill me??

[Beachcomber]

This is basically trolling innit?

[DanielW]

AND now a warning:
IF you have an opinion on this matter, express it as that.
An.
Opinion.

It is not fact. It is not something that must be enforced upon others. It's just your idea on the matter. Express it thusly and then expect it to be discussed by others with possibly other ideas on the matter.
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Ohh 'Eck!

[ExceedinglySphericalDino]

I've never had a problem with the idea of 'female' robots because I do not see the need to have gender and reproductive function inextricably linked in species other than ours. Hell, it's not even always that linked in ours. But then I've read a lot about transgender and 'third' gender culture and so on, so I am not bothered by people who cross the usual social boundaries with regards to these things.

Perhaps that's why I can separate gender and sex (other than the fact that the two are not the same thing). You could have an abstracted equivalent of 'gender' in non-organic species based on build differences.

I don't know why people automatically assume that having any sort of 'female' robots means pregnant robots and icky romance. Probably because this is a masculine property created by and pitched primarily toward a male audience, even today. So you end up with a 'Not in my sandbox' effect from most of the fandom.

Besides, everybody knows girls have germs.
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Pointless Rambling:
http://dinogrrrl.livejournal.com/

Silly Pictures:
http://exceedinglyspherical.deviantart.com/

[lonegamer78]

[DanielW]

My person theory as to why there are females is... they're not what we'd call females, but rather a different "programming model" of Transformer to the "male". The gender pronouns are used because in English the only way to indicate a fundamental difference is via the use of he/she style pronouns.
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Ohh 'Eck!

[ExceedinglySphericalDino]

Exactly. There's no need to bring teh babiez into it at all. I once read a fanfic which proposed that TF's had a number of 'gender' classes based on build, function, personality type, etc. Was a very interesting idea.

I do think that for some there is the looming fear of romantic relationships whenever female characters are proposed. Of course, there's nothing stopping them from having romantic relationships now, sans 'female' models, given that there is no reproduction involved, and that according to many, they're technically genderless.

But then most fans want to see their giant robots slug it out, rather than hug it out.

Of course, the notion that female robots means 'ZOMG girlfriends' to many just goes to show that female characters still get slotted into narrow roles in both official and fan material. It would be nice to have some female characters show up and not be the girlfriend/mothering/seductress stereotype that most of the female characters have been so far.

Simon's re-imagining of Arcee was something, although I still have issues with it (as pointed out earlier and elsewhere). But still it was a start, and a concept for having 'females' in TF's that hasn't been raised before.
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Pointless Rambling:
http://dinogrrrl.livejournal.com/

Silly Pictures:
http://exceedinglyspherical.deviantart.com/

[The Rev]

I'm all for boobs in all manner of shape, sizes, colour or race .. be they flesh or metal!

Boobs are like Jello ... there's always room for more!

[Matrix]

I really do think they should have gender, yes: it provides a wider range for characterisation and plot development.

You could in theory work around Spotlight: Arcee if you take it as Jhiaxus has made her the first Transformer who has a specific sex rather than gender. That explains neatly why they have gender specific pronouns and they didn't notice that Arcee was a new gender that they'd never considered. It also explains why it's not a mere case of reprogramming herself back to normal: it's a physical change, and thus she's gone mad.

Though I've said that many times before.
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Okay to print!

I'm working on turning my caustic rants into a caustic podcast. Watch this space.

[Sprite]

[Bludgeon]

[Damolisher]

I'm staying right the **** away from this one. We all know how Transformers babies are made. They're, well, made .
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[KhaN]