Arcee (Movie)

The name or term "Arcee" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Arcee (disambiguation).

Arcee is an Autobot from the live-action film continuity family.

She's got legs, she knows how to use them. Temporarily, anyway.

Though small compared to many of her peers and adversaries, Arcee compensates with speed and aggressive maneuvers, making her one of the most dangerous Autobots around. Moreover, Arcee is a born hunter. She honed her speed hunting turbofoxes with other speedsters, challenging herself to get as close as possible before tagging them with her bow. She's a crack shot with said crossbow weapon, and Ironhide has trained her to use her speed to her advantage in battle, striking suddenly and swiftly and then vanishing away again as fast as she appeared.

The events at Tyger Pax created a nagging doubt in Arcee about her abilities. She carries some guilt about Bumblebee's injuries, and part of what drives her is the desire to prove herself, not only in the optics of her friends and comrades, but most importantly in her own.

Fiction

IDW Transformers movie comics

Many, many years in the past, Arcee was a member of Optimus's science division, in charge of excavation site LT34 near the temple of Simfur. While Optimus was showing Protector Megatron around, her team discovered a mysterious relic with a strange symbol etched into it. She led her superiors to the ancient relic and watched as Megatron and Optimus began to argue when the former demanded the relic be relocated to his private quarters, Optimus relenting due to a sudden alien attack. Arcee assisted with its evacuation from the dig site. Defiance issue 1

You just middle-fingered your way out of lunch missy!

After the attack, Arcee tried to save the life of one of the aliens, but was unsuccessful. She and Clocker moved the bodies to Ratchet's lab, where they discovered that the beings were similar in structure to the Cybertronians, only lacking the ability to transform. Before they could speculate further about the common ancestry of the two races, Signal Flare arrived with orders from Optimus to assemble at the Simfur excavation site for a meeting. There, Arcee and the other scientists learned of Protector Megatron's demand for war and Optimus' thoughts on the issue. After most of the scientists agreed to follow Optimus, they travelled to Trypticon to watch Megatron deliver his saber-rattling war rally. Defiance issue 2

Ratchet, Arcee and Elita-One returned to the lab to analyze the other relic fragments recovered from the Simfur excavation, while Optimus, Jazz and Prowl broke into Megatron's quarters to examine the intact relic. Before Optimus could explain to Ratchet the strange condition of the artifact, Arcee reported a finding—a symbol that appeared in the same place on all the different fragments: the same symbol that was on Optimus' head. Ratchet theorised that the legend of the Dynasty of Primes was true, and that Optimus was somehow connected to all of this. Later, at the dig site near Burthov, Arcee, Ratchet and Optimus were arrested by Prowl's security forces on orders from Megatron for treason. What they didn't know was they were all being led into a trap, and the assassins Megatron sent would only take Optimus alive. After Brawl's initial attack, Optimus ordered the group to escape to Burthov while he took care of Starscream and his soldiers. Defiance issue 3

Arcee was part of the team who captured the disenchanted soldier Ironhide and brought him before Optimus Prime. Ironhide pledged allegiance to Prime and brought news of the Nemesis, a massive starship that Megatron was building. While observing its construction and taking images of the ship, Arcee remarked that she had never seen its like before. During the subsequent civil war, Arcee defended civilians who were being targeted by Megatron's Decepticons for refusing to join in the war against Optimus Prime's Autobots. She was under the command of Bumblebee and desperately fought against Megatron's vast army at Tyger Pax. Defiance issue 4

"Can I say something?"
"Whatever it is now is not the right time!"

However, Arcee and the rest of those under Bumblebee's command didn't know the true purpose of their battle, for they were a diversion to keep Megatron busy while other Autobots readied the All Spark for launch from Cybertron. She was captured and interrogated by the Decepticons but survived the ordeal. She recounted to their Autobot rescuers Bumblebee's heroics in delaying Megatron, preventing Megatron from intercepting the wormhole-bound All Spark. Prime Directive (IDW) issue 1

Many years later, following the death of Megatron and the destruction of the All Spark on Earth, Arcee was in command of an Autobot assault team on Mars and led Cliffjumper and others in an attack on Starscream's ship. The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Two

She's so happy to be home, she doesn't even care that Payload's looking up her dress.

While her team made short work of the Swindle, Dreadwing, and Payload drones the Decepticons sent against them, Arcee killed the Decepticon sniper Hardtop before he could snipe Smokescreen. Her teammates were unprepared for the arrival of Thundercracker, however, and he quickly slew Camshaft and wounded Cliffjumper. Remembering her failure at Tyger Pax, Arcee leapt into action, and soon she and Cliffjumper had Thundercracker at their mercy. The arrival of Starscream changed that, as he killed Smokescreen and Air Raid and badly damaged Cliffjumper. As she attempted to pull the last surviving member of her team to safety, Arcee was kicked aside by Starscream. The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Three

However, Arcee recovered an instant later. The Decepticon starship was already taking off, but she jumped and grabbed onto a piece of landing gear, holding on tight...through the space bridge. Wow. Later, she made her way back to an Autobot facility, where she unexpectedly met Clocker and Crosshairs. Along with a large force of Autobots, the three moved in on the Simfur temple, where Starscream was using captured Autobots for a strange project of his. The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Four

May I introduce myselfs?

She split her troops into two forces: One would attack the city of Trypticon as a diversion, while the other moved in on Simfur. Arcee and her team could only watch helplessly as Starscream drained the life out of the Autobot prisoners strapped onto the replica All Spark, despite her friend Elita-One's pleas for mercy. An opportunity to cause havoc presented itself when Dreadwing's forces attempted a coup. Arcee lined up her sights on the generator holding the life energy of the deceased prisoners, dedicated the shot to Elita, and destroyed it, annihilating the Cube and sending the Decepticons into disarray. Arcee's team fought their way through the disorganised Decepticons, linked up with Wingblade's team, and rolled out just as the crippled starship came crashing down on the city. With the destruction of the capitol and the defeat of a significant portion of the Decepticon drone army, Arcee considered this to be the turning point of the war, but as long as Starscream was alive, he was a threat that she had to track down. The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Five

Sometime later, a reconfigured Arcee arrived on Earth with a small group of other Autobots to answer Optimus Prime's rallying call, but their joy was cut short with news of more Decepticon sightings on their new home. They caught up and reconnected through their training at NEST's facility, as that was all the time they had. The new recruits were soon called upon to put their training into use: the Decepticon Demolishor had been sighted in Shanghai, China. Alliance issue 4

Target Robovision bio

Arcee was on Earth for a short time at the beginning of the conflict there, presumably arriving shortly after Bumblebee. When the situation on Earth began to ramp up into out-and-out combat, she was reassigned elsewhere, where her stealth skills would be of more use.

Now she fights in the Charii system against a Decepticon splinter cell working on a star-breaking weapon. If she has her way, the only things breaking will be their heads.

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

Arcee's appearance in IDW's 2007 Prime Directive movie prequel is in continuity with the following appearance in Titan's comics.

Originally, Arcee didn't serve either faction, working alone to solve injustices in her own way. Megatron personally decided to make an example of her, and only an Autobot extraction team led by Kup saved her life. This debt saw her join the Autobots. She's chimerical in nature and is constantly changing her alt-mode in an effort to go as fast as possible (maybe that's why her robot mode always looks different!). She previously had a hover-car form, but on Earth takes a modified bike mode. Once you earn her trust, she's never going to let you down. Arcee bio

The following events occur in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.

She's pissed off that she hasn't got her cool live-action design.

Arcee was one of the six Autobot reinforcements hiding on the Moon. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1 When Starscream attacked them, the quick-thinking Arcee was the one who took command and rallied the troops. When this still failed to work, she ordered them to Earth (following Strongarm's initiative) and their prearranged targets. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3 Alongside Armorhide, she guarded Ratchet while he destroyed the captive All Spark and thus saved Earth from being cyberformed. When the other Autobots had believed they'd lost, Arcee was the only one who outright refused to accept defeat. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5

And, of course, they didn't lose. However, Arcee was left bewildered by the idea that Humanity would not trust and love the Autobots, and Optimus explained to her that, from a human point of view, all the Transformers are alien horrors fighting on their planet. Following this, she guarded the Savannah, Georgia shelter and was caught in Starscream's ambush. Aftermath Part 1 Aftermath Part 2

Among other engagements to protect the American infrastructure, she served with Bumblebee in protecting an Alaskan pipeline. Dark Spark

That's better!

She was later part of Ironhide's team in retrieving Nucleon from Cybertron, which ran afoul of Stockade. Return to Cybertron: Part 1 She acted as Bumblebee's distraction, drawing Storm Surge and Fracture away, Return to Cybertron: Part 2 and doubled back to regroup with Ironhide (and pull him out of rubble) when Unicron arrived. Return to Cybertron: Part 3 Later, she got Optimus Prime up to speed on the situation. Return to Cybertron: Part 4

Following the Decepticon re-conquest of Savannah, Arcee was part of the raid to rescue Mikaela Banes. She got off one bit of bravado about how hitting things was her kind of shindig before Blackout hit her. The Decepticon Who Haunted Himself

When the Autobots launched their final strike, Arcee was part of the spearhead team hittting the Decepticon Heartland. She started off the 'tagging' of Decepticons to teleport them away from Earth, getting Incinerator in the back and looking very happy about it. Revolution Part Three

The following takes place in the Star Screams letter column continuity.

Arcee runs a lonely-hearts ad column called Arcee's Soulmates in her spare time.

No, really.

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Grey DeLisle (English), Masako Katsuki (Japanese), Martina Treger (German), Chiara Colizzi (Italian)

Holographic rider: Erin Naas

Now I'm my own threesome!

Arcee answered the call from Optimus Prime to join his Autobots on Earth. Her consciousness was split between three motorcycles, all which could transform into individual robots, yet all three together were considered simply "Arcee." Her components also have the ability to recombine into a single robot mode. Under Optimus Prime's command, she was part of the Autobot/human military alliance known as NEST, whose job was to hunt the remaindered Decepticons hiding across the globe.

You shoot like a girl!

Arcee and the rest of NEST were able to trace two Decepticons hidden in Shanghai, China. When one of them, Sideways, revealed himself, the three components of Arcee were released from a NEST truck trailer. Though Arcee was able to surround Sideways with herself and cover him in firepower, the Decepticon was able to elude her by jumping through a building. Unfortunately for Sideways, Arcee was also accompanied by Sideswipe, who quickly put the Decepticon down.

While not on missions, Arcee was parked with the other Autobots in their hanger at Diego Garcia. It was here that the Autobots received word from the President of the United States, via Director Galloway, that the White House was concerned that the Autobots' living on Earth was the reason for the Decepticon activity, and that if need be, they would ask the Autobots to leave. Later, after Optimus Prime died in battle and The Fallen issued an ultimatum to Earth, the US government decided that the Autobots would be shipped back to Diego Garcia.

NEST had a different idea, and instead shipped Arcee and the other Autobots to Egypt on the advice of Sam Witwicky, who had the means to resurrect Optimus Prime. During the climactic battle between NEST and The Fallen's Decepticons, Sam and Mikaela attempted to make their way through the bombed-out Egyptian town that had become the battlefield. Arcee arrived with Ironhide to escort them through the warzone, but unfortunately, her purple and pink components were disabled by a Decepticon, and only the blue component remained operational when she was last seen. Revenge of the Fallen

Toys

Transformers (2007)

Scout Class toys

File:Arceemoviescout.jpg

Not Chrom- Well, maybe I am!

• Arcee (Target exclusive Scout Class, 2007)
  • Accessories: Launcher, missile, scope, 2 tailpipes, "energon" star

Arcee is a redeco of Energon Arcee, replacing her pinks and most of her whites and blacks with blue, and her translucent red with smoky brown plastic. She transforms into a "superbike"-type racing motorcycle. Unusually for a Transformer, she does not hold her weapon in her hands as most figures do. Instead, her Energon Bow mounts on a peg on either arm, with her hands being positioned to give the appearance of her using the bow. The bow itself is spring-loaded, firing a grey "arrow" missile.

Arcee (and the rest of the Scout wave) were exclusive to Target stores, where they were all part of a Robo-Vision promotion. Arcee came with a Robo-Vision Decoder which allows you to see the Robo-Vision Code ("BULLSEYE") printed on her cardback. Starting June 2, 2007, Target's website allowed users to input those codes to access exclusive content, a concept similar to the online Cyber Planet Key info from the Transformers: Cybertron toyline.

This mold also was used to make Superlink Ariel Paradron Type, as well as the BotCon 2005 Descent into Evil set's Chromia, Flamewar, Flareup, and the fellow Target-exclusive movieverse Elita-One.

Deluxe Class toys

Pretty in...purple?

• Arcee (Deluxe Class, 2007)
  • Japanese ID number: MA-11
  • Accessories: Launcher, missile

Deluxe Arcee transforms into a purple 2006 Buell Firebolt XB12R motorcycle, genericised to get around licensing issues. Arcee has references tampographed on her vehicle mode, such as her motorcycle's model name, "RC 1100", and her Massachusetts license plate marked TF7407, the original release date of the movie.

Arcee's Automorphing feature is located in her crossbow weapon (formed out of the seat/storage area of the bike), activated when the projectile (the bike's tailpipe) is inserted, which pushes out the recurved lath parts on the sides of the weapon. The rectangular peg which is supposed to be used to attach her weapon to her forearm in robot mode is sometimes a poor fit, and the weapon may pop off. As an alternative, the round peg by which the weapon is attached in vehicle mode can also be used in robot mode, with a little rearranging of parts.

Undocumented in the instructions, the two shoulder-mounted half-wheels contain a small niche on the edge of the tires. By folding the wheels down with the hubcaps pointing towards the chest and turning the tires towards the shoulders, one can feel the wheels gently click into place via the tire niches and hidden tabs in the shoulders, allowing the wheels to remain in place and more closely resemble the figure as pictured on its packaging.

As with most larger Transformers toys that become motorcycles, Arcee has a kickstand on the left side of the bike; unfortunately, it's mounted so low that she will fall in the opposite direction if it is fully extended.

She's a dirty girl.

• Battle damage three-pack (Sam's Club exclusive three-pack, 2007)
  • Accessories: Launcher, missile

A three-pack, exclusive to Sam's Club stores, consisting of redecos of Voyager Class Optimus Prime and Deluxe Class Arcee, both with battle damage deco, and an unchanged Voyager Class Starscream.

This version of Arcee later was sold at Asia online retailers and in European retail stores in the same packaging as the first release of Arcee. The packaging did not indicate any of the changes made to the figure, apart from a sticker on the bubble exclaiming "Exclusive! Battle-damage!".

Not Flamewar and not Nightbird.

• Black Arcee (Deluxe, 2008)
  • Japanese ID number: MA-20
  • Accessories: Launcher, missile, Allspark cube

This Japan-only redeco of Deluxe Class Arcee is cast in black in an attempt to match the look of the motorcycle Captain Lennox rides near the end of the film. Surprisingly, it is not evil.

Like all Japanese "Allspark Power" toys, black Arcee comes with a small Allspark cube accessory.

How progressive. Wait, wait, no... the other thing.

• Arcee Limited Special Color Version (Deluxe-sized toy, 2008)
  • Accessories: Launcher, missile

This Arcee is decoed in pink and white, in homage to Generation 1 Arcee, and was exclusive to the Wonder Festival 2008 Winter in Tokyo, Japan.

Revenge of the Fallen

Deluxe class toys

Hey, I'm Arcee too, sometimes! Well, actually most times.

• Chromia (2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RA-11
  • Accessories: Missile, display stand

Chromia converts from a Suzuki B-King to... a unicycle. Her vehicle mode weapon can attach as a display stand for either mode, ironically making a unicyclebot one of the most stable robot-modes. In robot mode, there is a spring-loaded missile between the tailpipes on Chromia's left hand in addition to the aforementioned non-firing blaster-stand. There is also a piece on the bottom of the vehicle mode (or back of the robot mode) that folds out, but there is no indication in the instructions as to what this piece is for. However, the piece can slide into a similar piece in the later Arcee toy, starting the supposed combined mode.

While the instructions depict the motorcycle seat remaining flat so that it ends up covering the bottom wheel, the robot mode more closely resembles the movie design if the seat is folded in and locked into a slot on the motorcycle's bottom, as shown on the back of the packaging. The packaging photo also shows Chromia's front wheel resting behind the robot's shoulders, while the instructions leave it above her head. Furthermore, while it is not mentioned either in the instructions or shown on the box, the stand can be attached backwards and rotated with the guns facing up so that it acts as a prop for the toy, allowing the wheel to actually touch the ground, and letting the toy look from the front like it is unsupported.

Though the instructions do not explain it, the back of the blister card mentions she has a Mech Alive gimmick in her left arm. While it isn't quite the "spinning gears" the card refers to, swinging her left forearm towards and away from her body makes a blue piston slide back and forth inside the large gun.

Help! I have scoliosis, and I can't stand on my own.

• Arcee (2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RA-23
  • Accessories: Side-car/display stand

Deluxe class Revenge of the Fallen Arcee converts from a Ducati 848 to the most awkward robot mode you can imagine. The figure has a side-car which can become a weapon or a display stand.

Human Alliance

I'm the red bike, but I transform into the blue bike's robot, but with the red bike's colors, and with the red bike's motorcycle mode - look, women are complicated, okay?

• Autobot Skids / Arcee / Mikaela Banes (Human Alliance, 2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RA-25

The robot mode of the red Arcee bike in this set actually belongs to the blue motorcycle, Chromia.

• Mudflap / Chromia / Seymour Simmons (Human Alliance, 2010)
  • Japanese ID number:

The robot mode of the blue Chromia bike in this set actually belongs to the red motorcycle, Arcee.

Merchandise

Revenge of the Fallen

• Chromia vs Megatron (2009)

her robot mode belongs to flareup

Trivia

In the time before time...

• As part of BotCon 2007's Hasbro tour, fans viewed "Robot Scale Chart v03", dated 11.22.05, which showed Arcee's height as 9' (2.7m). However, all of the designs on this chart were very early and later heavily revised (though Jazz was revised far less than the others).

• Arcee was originally going to be a member of the live-action movie's Autobot cast, but was later replaced by Ironhide. According to screenwriter Roberto Orci, they would have needed to explain the point behind female robots, which there wasn't any time for in the movie. Oddly enough, there was no attempt to do so in ROTF.

• In another interview, Alex Kurtzman cited "scale issues" as an additional reason for dropping Arcee; allegedly, Michael Bay simply considered her too small as compared to the rest of the Autobots. It's commonly assumed that Arcee's big part in the movie would have been the scene in which William Lennox starts his solo assault on Blackout using an abandoned motorcycle. However, the screenwriters rejected that notion, stating that this scene wasn't written until after Arcee had already been dropped from the script—but if she had remained in the movie, that scene would have probably featured her as the motorcycle.

• Arcee came this close to being killed off in The Reign of Starscream, as the trade states that two revisions of the plot had her dying.

• Within the Revenge of the Fallen movie itself (and discussed in more detail in the novelization of the film), Arcee is revealed to be a "tripartite Cybertronian," meaning she is not one, but three motorcycles, who are controlled by a singular intelligence, in the vein of Reflector in the Generation 1 cartoon. The Revenge of the Fallen toyline, however, has identified Arcee as only one of the bikes (the pink/red one), and characterized the other two as individuals, Chromia and Flareup
  • In a similar vein, it was originally intended that the three individual "Arcees" would combine into a singular, larger robot in the film, but this did not come to pass. The toys do possess the ability, however, and the combined form did appear in the film's novelization, and in one panel of the comic adaptation.
  • How to reconcile this new version of Arcee with the version seen in media associated with the first movie? The bio for Revenge of the Fallen's Knock Out holds the answer! This motorbike Autobot wants to undergo the new "combiner retrofit" he's been hearing about, strongly implying that Arcee underwent the same process, giving her the new powers she has in Revenge of the Fallen. Whether or not the process involves getting combined with other, distinct Autobots (as the toyline would suggest, what with Chromia being an individual) or if it involves the Transformer's body being converted so that it splits into combining components (as the movie itself would suggest) is unknown.
    • On that note, in the film itself she refers to her components in plural form. Before chasing Sideways, the Arcees are seen in vehicle form with their holographic drivers activating, with a communications officer asking if they are ready. To which, she replies; 'We're locked and loaded'. This seems to suggest that her components are individuals like in the toyline rather than just extensions of herself. Additionally, writer Roberto Orci said that Arcee was written as three bikes that formed one being, but Michael Bay kept them as individuals.

External links

• Arcee at TFU.info