Female Transformer

File:ArceeManga1.jpg

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 franchise in pretty much every continuity.

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

Appearance

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 series out of Japan, when the characters are often assigned to pre-existing "masculine" toys.

Romance

Despite their robotic nature and likely non-sexual means of reproduction, romance between male and female Transformers is a well-established factor in pretty much every continuity in which both appear (which is pretty much every continuity).

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

• Beta - Alpha Trion
• Elita One (Ariel) - Optimus Prime (Orion Pax)
• Firestar - Inferno
• Chromia - Ironhide
• Moonracer - Powerglide
• Arcee - Hot Rod
• Arcee - Springer
• Arcee - Chromedome The Headmasters
• Arcee (she gets around) - Bumblebee G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
• Nancy - Wreck-Gar
• Esmeryl - Deathsaurus
• Clipper - Holi
• Rage - Stampy
• Airazor - Tigatron
• Blackarachnia - Silverbolt
• Botanica - Rattrap
• Strika - Obsidian
• Downshift has a female "life partner" whose name has yet to be revealed.
• San Diego 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.

Fandom

Probably because of their rarity in official fiction and toylines, female Transformers are popular plot devices in fanfiction, where the term "femme" is often used to descibe them, with "mech" likewise being applied to "male" Transformers.

Fiction

Generation 1 animated series

A bunch of Female Autobots from the G1 toon and Alpha Trion. His pimp cane was removed in post-production.

This continuity makes female Transformers out to be a rarity, once thought extinct. Given the appearance of Beta back in the slave days under Quintesson rule, it seems clear they were produced alongside the male Autobots as part of the Quintessons' domestic product line. There are no Decepticon females in American continuity, however.

Wreck-Gar has a "Junkion lady" companion in one episode. 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 eachother on giant thrones between television broadcast cycles.

(It's also worth noting that the lady's character model is actually that of a female Lithone, another mechanical race, but whether this is meaningful in any way or simple model recycling is uncertain.)

Generation 1 Marvel Comics continuity

Or maybe Cloudburst is just very scared of committment.

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. Recipe for Disaster! The UK stories corroborate this, and Arcee is intentionally created by the Autobots to be the sole female Transformer in an attempt to placate human feminists. Prime's Rib! (See her picture above for a hint of how well that went over.)

BotCon's Classics fiction, while not including the UK material, introduced Elita One in a similar manner as UK Arcee. Games of Deception

(This continuity has, historically, been surprisingly alone in declaring Transformers to be naturally gender free.)

Transformers: Victory

File:Esmeryl-manga.jpg

This is an official Transformers character. No, really.

Decepticon females make their first (yet still to this day very rare) appearance in official fiction as Esmeryl (Deathsaurus' wife) and Lyzack (Leozack's sister) both show up to show the Autobots just what it is Deathsaurus and his crew have been fighting for all this time: their poor female counterparts and countless children 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 the manga author).

Meanwhile, in the animated series, the Micromaster Holi is shown to have a girlfriend on the planet Micro, Clipper. There doesn't seem to be much special about her, aside from her being fairly competant and not subservient to guys at all. However, she is predominantly pink, so, well, baby steps.

Beast Wars

Blackarachnia and Airazor both engage in romances with male Maximals, the former blatantly and the latter far more subtly.

Over the course of the show Rattrap makes numerous innuendos, especially involving Silverbolt and Blackarchnia'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 where the wait-staff go "without their torso-plates on"... which frankly sounds like it'd be really messy.

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.

It's also worth noting that non-Transformer female robot Artemis harbors a crush on both Scuba (poor guy) and 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 ("So, I'm a tree-hugger!" Rattrap remarks). What this means for his bar-hopping days is never explored.

The Vehicon Strika is referred to as the "consort" of 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 was 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

File:Twirl-Baby.jpg

But she's got your altmode!

The existance 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 "civilian" roles, as nurses, and even on colony worlds.

There are examples and hints of romantic interest between males and females in both Armada (Redline and Falcia in the Linkage comics, plus Nightscream's eagerness to appease and defend his bulk partner Airazor), and Cybertron stories (most obviously Thunderblast's intense infatuation with Megatron, Ransack's secret crush on Override, plus 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, 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 give female Transformers that level of responsibility.

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

IDW Comic continuity

Simon Furman has stated that he will not use female Transformers in the IDW continuity until and/or unless he comes up with a reason or method for them to exist that makes logical sense to him. He did not rule out doing so however, as he said he had found a similar justification for the Pretenders, which led to the Stormbringer miniseries.

Despite this, in Megatron Origin #2 Alex Milne has drawn what are clearly intended to be female Transformers hangin' all over a rather pimpin' looking Gundamish bot who's cheering Megatron's first fight in the Forge. Also, in the same issue, a Transformer clearly based on the female Tonka GoBots character Crasher is part of Clench's (and later Megatron's) inner circle/gladitorial team. Whether one wants to treat either of these as anything more than an easter egg is, of course, up to the individual.

Adding more robo-estrogen to the fire, Elita One appears with her boyfriend, their father, and close friend at Bumper and Fastback's funeral in #3. And Chromia can be seen just in front of Ironhide. Either Furman changed his mind, or the artists are waaay too easter egg happy, which is incredibly likely.

With the announcement of the Arcee Spotlight Furman has apparently found his path for including "female" TFs in the IDW-verse. Whether it will include/explain the above cameos remains to be seen, but Furman has stated that he will address the concept at the least. Incidentally the issue also will address the experiments of Jhiaxus on improving the Cybertronian form. So it's all pretty creepy if you think about it.

Footnotes

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.