Editing Female Transformer

{{disambig2|female Transformers in general|the [[Autobot]] resistance group led by [[Elita One]]|Female Autobots}}


{{bigquote|Well, I remember bringing up that question early on with Hasbro, "are any of these female?" And then I think Hasbro's attitude was, 'this is a boy toy. We don't wanna have, you know, girl robots.' So, I said, "OK, just want to clarify that."|[[Bob Budiansky]]|[http://rustingcarcass.yuku.com/topic/954 Rusting Carcass interview]}}


[[Image:ArceeManga1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Arcee, the most famous female Transformer, poses for the boys. Way to set an example there.]]
Despite being robotic lifeforms with generally non-sexual methods of [[reproduction]], the [[Transformer]] species has almost always been shown to include both male and female gender analogues, at least mentally if not physically. '''Female Transformers''' are usually portrayed as comparatively rare, but are considered an official part of the [[Transformers brand]] in pretty much every continuity. 

Click here for a '''[[List of female Transformers]]''' from all continuities.

==Appearance==
[[Image:BMStrika.jpg|left|170px|thumb|Our mechanics assure us this is a woman.]]
The appearance of female Transformers in most continuities would seem to suggest a level of "sexual" dimorphism is present in at least the more humanoid members of the Transformers species (the term sexual is used in a gender-based, rather than physical sense, see the reproduction link above for that whole kettle of robo-fish). In almost all cases female Transformers are portrayed as comparatively more graceful of form, and more rounded and curved in general, than their male counterparts. Often they have a more than passing resemblance to an attractive human female made of metal and wearing armor and [[kibble]].

There are exceptions to this rule, and bulky, less overtly human-female-like characters have become more common, particularly among those who have toys. These are especially common in the [[Unicron Trilogy]] series and in latter expansions of the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] series out of Japan, when the characters are often assigned to pre-existing "masculine" toys. Perhaps the best counter-example of this type is [[Strika (BM)|Strika]], who is female yet neither looks nor acts stereotypically feminine at all.

==Romance==
Despite their likely non-sexual means of [[reproduction]], romance between Transformers is a well-established factor in pretty much every continuity. Given that Transformers are a social species, this is perhaps not as odd as might initially seem. Harder to explain (at least, in fiction) is why most of these romantic connections are between males and females, what with the ratio female:male being about 1:10 in its most charitable instances. 

Regardless of the whys and wherefores many romantic male-female Transformer pairings have appeared over the years, including:

*[[Elita One]] (Ariel) - [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (Orion Pax)

*[[Chromia (G1)|Chromia]] - [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]]

*[[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] - [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]]

*Arcee - [[Springer (G1)|Springer]]

*Arcee - [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]]  {{storylink|The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters}}

*Arcee (she gets around) - [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]  {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers}}

*[[Nancy]] - [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]

*[[Octane]] once tried to tune in an image of a [[Cheesecake robot|disturbingly sexualized unnamed female robot]]. Make of that what you will. {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}} 

*[[Esmeral]] is the wife of [[Deathsaurus (Victory)|Deszaras]]

*[[Clipper]] - [[Holi]]

*[[Ragé]] - [[Stampy]]

*[[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] - [[Tigatron]]

*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] - [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]]

*[[Botanica]] - [[Rattrap]]

*[[Strika (BM)|Strika]] - [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]]<ref>When Obsidian refers to Strika as his consort in [[Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike]] he appears to have been using the less-common "associate" or "partner" definition. There are no displays of affection between them during [[Beast Machines (cartoon)|''Beast Machines'']], and [[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide|secondary information sources]] describe them only as "cohorts".</ref>

*[[Downshift (Energon)|Downshift]] has a female "life partner" whose name has yet to be revealed.

*[[San D-Go]] once had plans to marry [[Discharge]], apparently directly inspired by that aspect of [[human]] culture. Whether there was an actual romantic relationship involved is unknown.

*[[Crystal Widow]] had an unnamed lover before becoming stuck in the [[Axiom Nexus]]

*[[Shortround]] fancies [[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]]. Naturally, she does not reciprocate.

*[[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]] - [[Megatron (Armada)|Just about anybody]] [[Starscream (Armada)|who's big and powerful]].

*[[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] used to date [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] until, well...

*[[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]], [[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] and [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] each have a one-sided crush on [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]]

*[[Strika (Animated)|Strika]] is the consort of [[Lugnut]]

*[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] has an unnamed girlfriend from [[Crystal City]].

==Fandom and Terminology==
Probably because of their rarity in official fiction and toylines, female Transformers are popular plot devices in [[fan fiction]], where the term "femme" is often used to describe them, with "mech"<ref>While "femme" obviously is related to the French word for "woman", it's occasionally claimed that the use of "mech" as a name for male Transformers is derived from "mec", the French word for "guy" or "dude". This is probably more coincidence than anything, though.</ref> likewise being applied to "male" Transformers. In official fiction, the term "fembot" has been used on at least two occasions<ref>[[Rattrap]] refers to [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] as "Ya emasculatin' fembot!" after she cuts the tip from his tail/sword in "[[Nemesis Part 2]]", while ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Animated]]'' [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] wonders in "[[Endgame, Part II]]" what chance he has in flying combat against the [[Lugnut Supreme|Lugnuts Supreme]] if he "couldn't handle [[Slipstream (Animated)|Starscream's fembot clone]]" on [[Endgame, Part I|his test run]].</ref> and "femme" has been used at least once, in [[The AllSpark Almanac]] as part of [[Venus (magazine)|Venus]] magazine.  Venus also uses "mech", which has been used as a gender-neutral common noun for Transformers in various stories, to specifically refer to male Transformers.  

Likewise, there is a fan term for romantic relationships between Transformers: "[[spark]]mates". This has surprisingly been used in two official sources —the end-of-game [[bio]] for [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] (referring to her and [[Tigatron]]) in the Nintendo 64 version of the [[Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals|Beast Wars Transmetals]] video game<ref>''Beast Wars Transmetals'' end-of-game bios - [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/756a36c7076a7195?dmode=source transcription]</ref> and again in Venus magazine.

==Fiction==
===Generation 1 cartoon===
[[Image:G1femmes.jpg|right|450px|thumb|A bunch of Female Autobots from the G1 toon and Alpha Trion. His pimp cane was removed in post-production.]]
Within this continuity, female Transformers are a rarity, but established to have been around from the species' start. A female named [[Beta]] existed back in the slave days under [[Quintesson]] rule, and thus it seems clear females were produced alongside the males as part of the Quintessons' product lines. 

No females were explicitly shown to exist among the Decepticon ranks, although the introduction of [[Nightbird (G1)|Nightbird]] and implications of an eventual upgrade didn't raise any questions or remarks, suggesting that female Decepticons exist (or that the Decepticons royally don't care about a soldier's gender).   

[[The Search for Alpha Trion|27 episodes after Nightbird's appearance]], female Transformers were introduced formally through the [[Female Autobots]]. [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] at various points expresses surprise they aren't extinct, which would seem to imply females were thought to be no longer part of the Cybertronian race. While at the time a decent (though certainly not perfect) explanation for the scarce appearances of female Transformers, it didn't stop more females from showing up in the movie and season 3. Possibly Shockwave's "statement" could be considered as [[retcon]]ned and overwritten, or one of the following explanations applies:
# They were all built/"discovered" after the events of "The Search for Alpha Trion".
# Shockwave constantly calls them Autobots, never Transformers or Cybertronians. It is possible female [[Neutral]]s' (and the aforementioned female [[Decepticon]]s') existence was never thought over... and that none of them changed allegiance any time recently. 
# "Female Autobot" is not used as a description, but as the team's name.
# This is the Generation 1 cartoon. You're not watching it for the flawless storytelling.

Females can be seen here and there among the [[Junkion]] tribe, mostly sharing [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]]'s model. [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]] has a "[[Nancy|Junkion lady]]" companion according to "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006]]". Just how relationships function in this isolated, media-based Transformers society is unclear, although it's notable that Wreck-Gar and his lady friend "slept" sitting up next to each other on giant thrones between television broadcast cycles. The lady's character model is actually that of a female [[Lithone (planet)|Lithone]], another mechanical race, but whether this is meaningful in any way or simple model recycling is uncertain.

In the French dub of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' (but not in the TV series), both [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] and [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] were referred to as female, with [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] calling Starscream "une imbecile" at one point (French articles are gendered), and Shrapnel referred to as "Mademoiselle". The reason for this gender-switch was never fully explained, though it presumably has something to do with both Starscream's and Shrapnel's rather high-pitched voices.
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===Generation 1 Marvel Comics continuity===
[[Image:Nomates.jpg|left|200px|thumb|And what will happen is like this.]]
No female ''Transformers'' are ever seen or referred to in the US stories, and when [[Cloudburst]] is pressured into a relationship with the beautiful [[First One]] of [[Femax]], he explains that Transformers, as a species, have no gender. {{storylink|Recipe for Disaster!}} The UK stories corroborate this, and [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] is intentionally created by the Autobots to be the sole female Transformer in an attempt to placate [[human]] feminists. {{storylink|Prime's Rib!}} (See her picture above for a hint of how well that went over.) 

Despite this, the Marvel continuity was actually the first in introducing a female ''Cybertronian'': [[Auntie]], the onboard computer of the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', who was introduced in [[The Transformers (issue)|the very first issue]]. [[CatSCAN|Theoretically, she is not that different from other Cybertronians]] and one can only guess how to combine her existence and the "no <strike>girls</strike> gender"-statements. 

The [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|letter pages]] mentioned another two females: Decepticon [[Clio]] and presumed Autobot [[Karmen]]. Provided they are real and [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] didn't just make them up, they might have been built after Arcee's example.      

[[BotCon]]'s ''[[Classics (2006)|Classics]]'' fiction, while not including the UK material, introduced [[Elita One]] in a similar manner as UK Arcee. {{storylink|Games of Deception}}

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===''Super-God Masterforce''===
A female Transformer was created through the introduction of [[Minerva]] to the ranks of the [[Headmaster Junior]]s. The [[transtector]] she was bonded to [[A Battle... and Then...|eventually]] evolved into a being of ''her'' own.

Meanwhile, the [[Godmaster]] [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] existed out of two humans before becoming sapient: husband [[Giga]] and wife [[Mega]]. Despite the double gender, Overlord is regarded a "he".

===''Victory''===
[[Image:Esmeryl-manga.jpg|right|150px|thumb|This is an official Transformers character. No, really.]]
In the manga, [[Decepticon]] females make their first (yet still to this day very rare) appearance in official fiction as [[Esmeral]] ([[Deathsaurus (Victory)|Deszaras]]'s wife) and [[Lyzack]] ([[Leozack]]'s [[Relatives|sister]]). Both show up to show the Autobots just what it is Deszaras and his crew have been fighting for all this time: their poor families back home. This spares the Decepticons' lives in the final battle between the two forces. This certainly casts an odd light on the matter of Transformer [[reproduction]] (and on [[Masumi Kaneda|the manga author]]).

Meanwhile, in the animated series, the [[Micromaster]] [[Holi]] is shown to have a girlfriend on the planet [[Micro]], [[Clipper]]. 
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===''Operation Combination''===
''[[Operation Combination (franchise)|Operation Combination]]'' introduced a total of 24 Micromasters, none of which got a [[bio]]. Ten years later, ''[[Micromaster Collection]]'' did provide them, and the Micromasters [[Windy]] and [[Discharge]] were established as females.

===''Beast Wars''===
[[Image:TM2_Blackarachnia.jpg|left|250px|thumb|She was extremely popular with fans, I wonder why...]]

Female Transformers seem to be common here, with no one showing any surprise over their presence. Some of the Transformers also appear to have picked up human-style attitudes of women as a fairer and more vulnerable gender, with [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] refusing to fight a female out of <strike>lust</strike> chivalry. Most of the other Transformers, however, seem unconcerned about this. 

[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] and [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] both engage in romances with male [[Maximal|Maximals]], the former blatantly and the latter far more subtly. 

Over the course of the show Rattrap makes numerous innuendos, especially involving Silverbolt and Blackarachnia's relationship, that suggest that, at least by that era, there may have been something sex-like between Transformers. He also makes references to a bar on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] where the wait-staff go "without their torso-plates on"... which frankly sounds like it'd be really messy.

In the spin-off comics, [[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] and [[Sonar (BW)|Sonar]] were both established as female Transformers.

===''Beast Wars II''===
[[Scylla]] is the impetus for a big ridiculous love triangle of hilarity and embarrassment in both the animated and manga continuities.  She is in love with the squid-bot [[Scuba]], who wants nothing to do with her.  Meanwhile, the Maximal [[Bighorn]] is in love with Scylla, who wants nothing to do with him.

The non-Transformer female robot [[Artemis]] harbors a crush on both Scuba (poor guy) and [[Starscream (BWII)|Starscream]].

===''Beast Machines''===
''Beast Machines''' [[technorganic]] reformatting raises even further questions about what it means to be a "female transformer". It is possible that the technorganic female Transformers, being merged organic and technological life to a cellular level, might actually be ''physically'' female.

[[Rattrap]] and [[Botanica]] end up in a romantic relationship towards the end of ''[[Beast Machines (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'' ("So, I'm a tree-hugger!" Rattrap remarks).  What this means for his bar-hopping days is never explored.

The [[Vehicon general]] [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] is referred to as the "consort" of [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]], and has been serving by his side, seemingly as an equal, for centuries. Some have taken this to mean the two have a romantic interest in each other, but the show itself does not offer any hints to this.

===Dreamwave comic continuity===
According to DK's ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'', "Transformers are inherently non-gender specific, and only some quirk of their timelost origins can account for [female Transformers'] difference in appearance and attitude." [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] was [[Unreleased Dreamwave issues|in the process]] of introducing more female Transformers and explicating their links to the Quintessons in this continuity when it went out of business.

===Unicron Trilogy===
[[Image:Twirl-Baby.jpg|right|250px|thumb|But she's got your altmode!]]
The existence of female Transformers throughout the [[Unicron Trilogy]] is portrayed as slightly uncommon (it is a fiction aimed at young boys, after all), but hardly remarkable. They just exist, as do "males", and no special attention is called to them. Quite a few appear in various places in "[[Motorcycle refugee|civilian]]" roles, as [[Autobot nurse|nurses]], and even on [[Velocitron band|colony worlds]].

There are examples and hints of romantic interest between males and females in both ''[[Armada (franchise)|Armada]]'' ([[Redline]] and [[Falcia]] in the [[Linkage (comic)|''Linkage'' comics]], plus [[Nightscream (Armada)|Nightscream]]'s eagerness to appease and defend his [[bulk]] partner [[Airazor (Armada)|Airazor]]), and ''[[Cybertron (franchise)|Cybertron]]'' stories (most obviously [[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]]'s intense infatuation with [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]], [[Ransack (Cybertron)|Ransack's]] secret crush on [[Override (Cybertron)|Override]], plus [[Downshift (Energon)|Downshift]] reportedly has an unnamed female "life partner" lost somewhere on [[Earth]]). This too is treated as a fairly common event.

There are female Transformers in positions of very high power as well: in the [[Energon (cartoon)|''Energon'' cartoon]], [[Arcee (Energon)|Arcee]] is the leader of the entire [[Omnicon]] race, while in ''Cybertron'', Override is the leader of the planet [[Velocitron]]. So far, the Unicron Trilogy is the only ''Transformers'' continuity to explicitly ''give'' female Transformers that level of responsibility.

In the French version of the ''Energon'' cartoon, Arcee is dubbed by a man. ''Why'' she was is currently unknown.

===IDW comic continuity===
[[Image:Spotlight_Arcee_b.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Information: you are ALL going to DIE.]]

Originally [[Simon Furman]] stated that he would not use female Transformers in IDW continuity until he came up with a reason for them to exist that made logical sense to him. He did not rule out doing so, as he said he had found a similar justification for the [[Pretender|Pretenders]], which led to the [[Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer]] miniseries. 

Despite this, in ''[[Megatron Origin]]'' [[Alex Milne]] drew what are clearly intended to be female Transformers in a good number of "easter egg" cameo appearances. (Cameos included female [[Tonka GoBots]] character [[Crasher (G1)|Crasher]], [[Elita One]], [[Chromia (G1)|Chromia]], and a number of generic background femmes.)

This was finally resolved in "[[Spotlight: Arcee]]", where it was revealed that the malevolent Golden Age Cybertronian scientist [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] introduced gender to the Cybertronian genome just to see what it'd do. Tampering with the [[CNA]] of the titular character at her creation to make her Female, he discarded his experiment once he was finished, only to find she had an inherent homing instinct for his creations. Arcee's systems were severely messed up by this experiment, causing her to become tremendously unstable to the point of psychosis and fixated on getting revenge on Jhiaxus.

While the story implies that she is something very rare and unique it does not say that she was the ''only'' female Transformer Jhiaxus created, merely the first, leaving it open for the cameos in ''Megatron Origin'' to remain in continuity.

Jhiaxus specifically alters Arcee's CNA to make her female and introduce gender to the species. Exactly how deep these alterations went, how closely her form was designed to match the females of organic species on which she was based (particularly in relation to reproduction) is unknown and will likely remain so.

===2007 movie===
[[Image:Arceemovie.jpg|right|thumb|Comic artists ''cry'' when they see this model sheet.]]

[[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] was originally going to be featured as part of the cast of the [[Transformers (2007)|''Transformers'' film]], but was cut early on in the movie's development. The script writers felt they would need to explain the presence of a female in an entirely robotic race, and there was not enough time in the film to do so. Arcee was replaced in the movie by [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]]. Even so, Arcee was featured in IDW's [[Movie Prequel (2007)|Movie Prequel comics]] and remains in the movie toyline as both Deluxe and Scout-class toys.  

One other female Autobot is featured in the movie continuity family, another Scout-class toy, [[Elita-One]]. Both Elita and Arcee, however, are featured in [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan Magazine's]] alternate reality stories as regular characters, with Arcee getting more prominence.  Both also appear in IDW's Movie Sequel comic series ''[[The Reign of Starscream]]'', with Arcee playing quite a prominent leadership role. Surprisingly, Elita-One does not fair as well as her sister-in-arms, dying at the claws of [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream]] himself. Although it is unusual for a female Transformer to die in fiction ([[To sell toys|compared to how often Transformer death happens in general]]), it has [[Manta Ray (BW)|happened]] [[Sonar (BW)|before]].

As for Decepticons, [[Fracture]], based off of the aforementioned Crasher, was recently added to the end of the movie toyline as a Wal-mart exclusive. She has been featured in Titan Magazine's comics, as of issue 18, and in IDW's ''[[Alliance (comic)|Alliance]]'' series as of issue 3.

In all the comics where female Transformers do appear in the Movie continuality, their gender is never considered an issue. This raises questions about just how necessary "explaining" them would be in [[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|future movies]].
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===''Animated''===
[[Image:Animated_females.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Did you ever feel like the only original designs in a sea full of homages?]]
Female Transformers were present in ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]]'' from the very beginning of the cartoon, starting with [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]]. What this meant for the state of females in the continuity at large was not immediately apparent; in "[[Along Came a Spider]]", both [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] and [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] expressed confusion as to ''what'' Blackarachnia was.  Though they could have been referring to her [[Technorganic|partially organic]] nature, [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]]'s comment ("Duh, she's a girl.") seems to imply that the two Autobots were confused about Blackarachnia's gender. The fact that no other characters familiar with Blackarachnia ever reacted to her in an unusual way, however, suggests it was more of a misunderstanding on Sari's part used for comedic effect.

As the series proceeded, multiple lady-bots were progressively introduced, among which were a [[Slipstream (Animated)|female clone]] of [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], the obligatory [[Arcee (Animated)|Arcee]] and many more. Although they remain distinctly outnumbered by the male Transformers, this makes it clear that while female Transformers may be relatively uncommon, they aren't considered very remarkable or noteworthy—unless you're a young, male Autobot who's spent ''waaaaayy'' too much time fixing space bridges.

Despite Optimus's confusion over where organic babies come from in "[[Transform and Roll Out]]", implying that there is no Cybertronian equivalent to [[Reproduction|sexual reproduction]] in ''Animated'', Transformer ''relationships'' are implied to be a possibility, as in "[[Along Came a Spider]]" and "[[Black Friday (episode)|Black Friday]]", respectively, Blackarachnia takes advantage of [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]'s and the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]]' obvious interest in her, especially [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]]'s.

[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]'s role as the Autobot medical officer was originally supposed to be assigned to a character named [[Red Alert (Animated)|Red Alert]], who was originally designed as a female, but then turned male. When brought in at the start of Season 3, Red Alert was female once again as an homage to the original design.

Because Sari was originally a Cybertronian protoform, she could be considered a female technorganic Transformer, although her origins were not revealed until Season 3.

==Toys==
Though many female transformers characters were featured in the fiction from the early days of Generation 1, for many years they tended to either: a) not have toys made of them at all, or, b) for those very few that did get a release, end up as repaints of other molds clearly not designed with a female aesthetic in mind. ''[[Transmetal]]'' [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] is likely the first Transformer toy designed to intentionally represent a female character. 

===List of the female Transformer toys===
{{charstubtoys}}
<!--Just need a list of the female Transformer toys with some pictures-->

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Female Transformers| ]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Transformer culture]]
[[Category:Generation 1]]