Female Transformers

Though rare, Transformers with the outward appearances, mannerisms and voices of the female gender do exist in the original cartoon universe - but not in the US Marvel comic book series, where it was specifically stated that Transformers do not have genders.

Why do female Transformers exist?

As Transformers are not a biological race and do not reproduce in the traditional way one would expect from a race with male and female distinctions, the debate of precisely why female Transformers even exist is often brought in the fandom, and can be a particularly heated point of discussion, particularly since cartoon and comic continuity differed so wildly on it.

It is very clear that the difference between male and female Transformers is much more than the shape of their bodies - it is a cultural and mental difference, with each "gender" possessing - in a general sense - the typical traits of the individual sexes. Furthermore, the two genders feel attraction to one another, to the extent that romantic relationships exist between certain members.

There is no precise, officially-given in-story explanation for why females should exist - the writers of the cartoon simply wanted to create some, and since Transformers are already very humanised (possessing bipedal bodies of humanoid construction, five fingers, and, usually, the traditional human facial structure), the addition of females to the race is not a leap.

In-story, hoewver, it can be rationalised that the gender-based designs are a result of the work of the Quintessons, who created the Autobots to be consumer goods. Logically, then, a female-styled robot would be visually and culturally more acceptable to perform certain tasks for the purchaser (perhaps a housemaid or a nanny). This also helps to explain the completely lack of any female Decepticons, since the faction was created to be military hardware, a funtion that would have little use for a female-styled form.

Female Transformers

Female Cybertronians are particularly rare, and in the four million years that Optimus Prime and his crew were absent from Cybertron, they were percieved to have become extinct. However, this was not the case - a small band of the warriors, led by Elita One, waged a guerilla war against Shockwave, stealing Energon out from under his unwitting nose. However, in the Earth year 1985, the existence of the Female Autobots was revealed.

• Elita One

Originally, Elita One was Ariel, girlfriend of dockworker robot, Orion Pax, but when the two were fatally wounded in on one of Megatron's first attacks, the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, rebuilt them as Optimus Prime and Elita One, using the same set of schematics. Elita desired to accompany Prime on the Ark's mission, but he refused, saying it was too dangerous. When a Decepticon ambush struck the Ark launch site shortly before the craft took off, Elita disappeared in an explosion, and Prime believed she had died. This was not the case, however, and in the following four million years, lead her troops in a guerilla war against the remaining Decepticon forces on Cybertron, advised and aided by Alpha Trion himself, unaware of her connection to him.

In 1985, Shockwave uncovered the location of the Female Autobots' base and the Decepticons were able to capture Elita One, using her as bait to lure Optimus Prime to Cybertron. Prime almost met his end in an acid bath, but Elita used her hidden special ability to save his life - using all her energy, she projected a stasis field that froze time, allowing her to pull Prime from the path of the acid. However, with Elita now fatally low on energy, Prime took her to Alpha Trion, where Trion revealed that only Prime's power supply could properly interface with hers (as a result of their shared schematics). Still unaware of Trion's hand in his creation, Prime re-energised Elita, and the two helped rescue their comrades from a Decepticon attack. Elita and her forces elected to remain on Cybertron and fight tbe battle there, while Prime returned to Earth.

• Chromia, Firestar and Moonracer

These three fiesty females were Elita One's top agents (and additionally, along with two other unnamed females) comprised the entirety of her forces), and the romantic interests of Ironhide, Inferno and Powerglide, respectively. When Moonracer was caught in a booby-trap during one of the trio's raids on Shockwave's energy stockpile, the continued existence of the Female Autobots was finally revealed to the Decepticons, and Shockwave was able to trail them back to their base and capture Elita One. When Optimus Prime was then lured to Cybertron, Ironhide, Inferno and Powerglide followed and were reunited with their ladies.

• Arcee

The best known of all female Autobots. For her main article, see Arcee.

• Beta

Although she would be the last of the primary Female Autobots the cartoon series introduced, Beta was actually one the very first - as one of the original Quintesson-created robots, she led the rebellion against their five-faced creators eleven million years ago, alongside A-3 (the young form of Alpha Trion). When a Quintesson scientist attempted to alter history by bringing A-3 into the present, a group of Autobots were displaced into the past, were they encountered Beta and helped to orchestrate the attack on the Quintessons' Hive City, the first major step in overthrowing the aliens.

In the Beast Machines toyline, the bio card of Rav - who transforms into a crossbow - mentions that he was given his power by an ancient female Autobot resistance leader. It seems particularly likely that this is a reference to Beta, especially since her weapon of choice was also a crossbow.

• Minerva

In the Japanese-exclusive Masterforce animated series, Minerva was a teenage schoolgirl who became a Powermaster and controlled a Transtector (a lifeless Transformer body). At the conclusion of the series, the Transtector was bestowed with life, and briefly reappeared in the sequel series, Victory.

• Airazor

A female Maximal from the Beast Wars era. She transforms into a hawk and became involved in a romantic relationship with Tigatron when the two embarked on a survey mission of prehistoric Earth. Captured by one of the devices left on the planet by the alien Vok, they were transported to the aliens' home planet of Nexus Zero. Later, their bodies were fused together to create Tigerhawk, used as an avatar by the Vok, but they subsequently merged their sparks together and pursued their joint body back to Earth, where they reclaimed possession of it.

In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, however, Airazor was made into a male. The accompanying manga, however, retained her female orientation.

• Blackarachnia

Perhaps the second-most famous female Transformer, a Predacon from the Beast Wars era. Officially, this makes Blackarachnia the first villainous female Transformer to appear in any of the animated series, but given that the protoform from which she was created was originally that of a Maximal, the search for an official female Decepticon would continue... For Blackarachnia's main article, see Blackarachnia.

• Strika

In Cybertron's past, Strika fought and won a thousand wars alongside her consort, Obsidian, but were among those who had their Sparks extracted by Megatron when he conquered Cybertron. Resurrected in Vehicon bodies, Strike and Obsidian swore loyalty to Megatron - having previously been charged with the protection of Cybertron, they now protected Megatron, since by extension, he was Cybertron. Strika transforms into a six-wheeled assault vehicle, and commands a legion of drones in her image. However, her and Obsidian's original factions remain unknown, so it cannot be said with certainty that she was originally a female villain.

• Override

The leader of the Transformers on Speed Planet from Transformers: Cybertron. Similar to the Air Razor situation, Override is male in Japan (where (s)he is named Nitro Convoy), but it is unclear whether or not she was concieved by America to be a female first, or vice versa, so it is not clear who made the switch.

• Thunderblast

An upcoming character in the Transformers: Cybertron series and toyline, nothing is yet known of Thunderblast, except that in Japan, she is named Chromia, in homage to the Female Autobot of G1.

Miscellaneous females

Other random female robots from across the Transformers series include:

• A troupe of dancing girls, seen in a flashback to the early days of peace on the planet. Interestingly, their design is identical to Elita One - could Alpha Trion have based her design on these dancers?
• A female robot identical to Arcee, save for a enhanced chest, viewed on a TV by Octane.
• The medics on the Cybertron-like planet of Paradon, identical in design to Arcee, aside from their green colouration. This has resulted in them actually being used as a colour scheme that several pieces of Arcee merchandise have been repainted in - a Heroes of Cybertron PVC figure, a statue from Hard Hero, and a Japanese-exclusive repaint of the Energon Arcee figure.
• The wives of many of the Decepticons from Transformers: Victory, who appeared in the manga adaptation of the series, making them the first official female Decepticon characters.
• Nightracer, an exclusive toy available at BotCon '95. A repaint of the Generation 2 Go-Bot, High Beam, Nightracer was conceived by feminist Transfan and noted Decepticon apologist, Raksha, and was, predictably, made to be a highly-skilled female Decepticon, making her the first official female of her kind, both in America, and in toy-form.
• Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Maximal, Sonar, whose bio card failed to not refer to the figure with a gender, allowing the writers of the BotCon-exclusive comics to made use of this little slip by presenting the character as female when she appeared in their pages.
• Glyph, a female blue repaint of the Autobot, Bumblebee (or more accurately, of his 21st century keychain reissue) available exclusively at BotCon '02.