Arcee was experimented on as some kind of guinea pig for Jhiaxus's super soldier. Explains hate for Jhiaxus, the angry attitude, the sociopath tendencies, the trauma and the identity issue. Short and simple. Fair warning I have not read all of the IDW universe so if this doesn't seem possible please forgive me.

 

Yes. My girlfriend, for one.

I know her VERY personally.

George Takei Oh My - YouTube

The joke is that we banged.

It was the greatest 2.4 seconds of my life.

Jhiaxus killed her(his, their, its, Arcee's) partner/friend/mentor/student/pet/chiapet/ally and she wants revenge.

Or better yet, justice. Cause Jhiaxus is pretty evil. Make her(his/them/it/Arcee) a spacefaring supercop, dispensing justice and helping the innocent wherever she(he/they/it/Arcee) go.

Also, I'm pretty sure there was more than one black guy in Halo, but that's neither here nor there.

If you want something that works with the current canon, listen to everyone else.

Make her(his/them/it/Arcee) a subject of experimentation to create a supersoldier. Bam.

 

Which by insinuation, it's basically saying all female Transformers in IDW are the same angry, psychotic, homicidal science experiments (of Jhiaxus) with a huge chip on their shoulder the size of Polyhex. Which I can kinda see how that can be a big problem and come across as condescending/insulting to female and transgendered fans, speaking as a non-white, straight male myself.

 

Another female fan piping up with a "yes" to the question of being offended with Arcee's backstory. And this is coming from someone who enjoyed some of Furman's other work (what I've read - I haven't read every comic).

 

So all the female fans who posted in this thread about their dissatisfaction with Arcee's origins aren't real? I'm not sure how I feel now knowing I don't exist...

I'm sure I'll get over it. Just gonna leave this here though.
Facebook Fandom Spotlight: Transformers Fans | Graphic Policy

Oh look at that. Female fans alone seem to make up nearly half the facebook fandom, fancy that~ Although this shouldn't matter because If you like something then you like it and your gender has nothing to do with it, end of. Both men and women make up the TF fandom and we are united by our appreciation of giant space robots.

I am a woman and I didn't like it. I don't speak for every female fan and I won't because that isn't my place(or yours) BUT I personally did not like it. I didn't like its implications and I REALLY didn't like the fact that it meant no new female transformers.

Yes, it is entirely possibly to identify with characters that aren't your race, gender, sex, species, whatever. We are, after all, part of a fandom about giant space robots, and I'm really happy that you can identify with whatever is given to you but you are not everyone. A lot of people(male and female of all races and different sexualities) want to feel like they are not 'the other' and at least be represented in media. It's not much to ask.

A lot of rather sensible people have tried talking to you but you seem determined to stay in your own little bubble of mememe!

 

Retort that is totally out of context...... CHECK
Didn't I tell ya?

My work is done here.

 

Am I sensible, Miss Nocturne?

 

I was answering Combaticon's question. I'm saying he didn't have to make Arcee a female to explain her personality here, he could've just experimented o her not done a forced sex chsnge and the overall story would be the same. Again my problem isn't that SL Arcee is sexist just that it wasn't neccacary to address her being a fembot which has opened up other problems

 

This is pointless so I'm gonna speak with my money come April 2014. So IDW can throw Jem and the Hallograms in it for all I care. If its crap then I wont touch it on "Free Comic Book Day" that simple.

 

I'll buy Windblade! My collection could use a fembot (I need to buy Arcee sometime too. Whoops). I'll give the comic a read, keep it if its good, throw away if I don't care for it.

As I tell others all the time. Just cause the box says its one thing, and just cause the maker say its one thing, doesn't decide how you play with your toys.

I mean, with my collection, Knifehead is fighting Kamen Rider V2, Gypsy Danger, and Blaster. That's not canon, but it is fun.  

 

uhh can we all just remember that:

1. personal anecdotes dont mean shit
anecdotes appeal to emotions and cap off an argument they are not the arguments themselves. otherwise you just polarise people who already agree with you and deviate those who dont.

2. the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence
asking people for unreasonable statistics you know they cant procure and saying their failure to produce said statistic makes your argument sound gets the debate nowhere.

now on windblade, my main issue with her is that she seems so much like a fanservice oriented character design, but the creator says she wants windblade to be something to add diversity and inclusivity to idw. both of these things separately, i have no qualms with. in fact, i would love more diversity and inclusivity. i honestly believe that these things spur creativity and enjoyment, a la the saints row series. fanservice is what it is and some people like it, and i will never shame someone for indulging in it.
but, i think its rather harmful to take a fanservice character and say, "this is it. she's our answer to women wanting representation."

in idw, adaptus endowed cybertronians with an infinity of shapes, indeed, their appearance can range from fairly human to- ...city wide dinosaur. if and when someone wants to actually start representing more groups, they will have no limitations at all in terms of physical build. i repeat once again, gender should be divorced from the bodies transformers are forged in, and personalities should not be dictated by gender. and yes, representation in fiction is important. it makes people feel proud, welcome, and free of shame. i know it might be a bit difficult understand if youre a straight white male, but believe me the mere mention of korea in fiction makes me smile, an asian character period feels so damn good, and i liked mtmte but chromedome and rewind's relationship made me fall in love with it. i want more women to feel represented in the fiction they enjoy, but lithe model perfect windblade wouldnt be a woman she would be an object.

the less major issue is of course arcee and jhiaxus, but i feel that with some clever writing windblade could be organically incorporated into the fiction.

 

Youngprime and combaticons comments are so completely devoid of any shred of logical reasoning it hurts my brain.

There really seems no point in trying to correct their absurb assertions.

 

I wish there was a like button for your post :<

You did post a Halo Bollywood trailer a few pages back XD depends on your definition of sensible.

 

I'm married to one, though I hesitate to legitimize your stupid point by pointing this out to you.

 

lol at mc

And I wish I could like shipmeadow's post, and also I like u liking my post.

Lots o' like going on here!

Happy new year. I have kids and a pregnant wife, I'm staying home for the night!

Yay getting older!

 

Congratulations to you and your wife! Hope everything goes well ^_^

I spent my new year playing sonic 2 on my PS3 with my friends. Yay for getting older but still being able to enjoy some silly childish things!

 

Thanks for the reply... and it wasn't half as unfocused as the big post I made earlier, where I just rambled on and on.   Another one incoming, however...

Anyway, it seems that you're saying something similar to Mairghread Scott herself, which is that the problem is when Simon Furman's story (and the idea of genderless Transformers), is placed within the context of wider society. I.e. it doesn't matter whether Furman or Budiansky intended their characters to be genderless, because they will still be perceived as male by many people. The characters are referred to with the male personal pronoun, as if a genderless being is default male... and of course, most of the old characters have stereotypically male physiques, as a legacy of the "boy's toys" thing.

The voice acting stuff ought to be irrelevant to the comics, but I understand how that would shape perceptions of the characters. Sunbow Optimus, Marvel Optimus and IDW Optimus all look like the same 'bot, after all. Technically speaking, however, they're not the same character.

Something that I would take issue with, is that when you say: "This is a statement being made, without anyone realizing that the statement was made.", if a (sexist) statement has been made by anybody, it's by "society". For example: while it's true that Budiansky and Furman used male personal pronouns to refer to their genderless robots, who are we to say that they weren't very forward thinking and were imagining "he" being used in a truly neutral sense, without any connotations of masculinity whatsoever? Sure, most people can't read the word "he" without perceiving a character to be "coded as male", like Chimeran said... but there's absolutely no reason why a truly gender-fluid society couldn't continue to use what you'd call the "default male" approach. The word "he" only receives any meaning from the people who use it, so it's simply a matter of perception, as to whether the "default male" approach is a problem. We could start using a gender neutral personal pronoun, or we could simply stop thinking sexist thoughts and continue using "he": it's the same difference, because if all people are truly considered to be of equal worth, picking the old "male" word to be used as neutral is only a matter of convention.

Just to clarify, I don't particularly support the whole "male as neutral" thing, but I don't really support the concept of clearly defined gender identities either. If it was up to me, I'd have one personal pronoun and get rid of gender in our language, altogether. To me, people are individuals with a biological sex (or biological gender, as in chromosomes and not personality), and the whole gender identity thing is just a crude way of grouping people together, based on where they'd be placed on a normal distribution of different traits. Broadly speaking, gender identities clearly exist, but it's only as an average. Perhaps Simon Furman thinks this way too, and if he does, then he'd be very forward thinking, rather than this old, white, male traditionalist, as some are painting him to be.

I do think that he messed up with the IDW Arcee though. If he'd just made her a particularly feminine-looking individual, rather than using the opportunity to make a point about genderless Transformers, there wouldn't be any problem. It was handled badly, but I do think the intention was pure, as you seem prepared to accept that it may have been. Another thing worth thinking about, is that if we're really aiming for a post-sexism society, then at some point we're going to have to stop saying "it shouldn't matter, but it *does* matter", and start really believing "it doesn't matter." Things will never change until we're prepared to take a leap of faith, and trust that other people aren't sexist, racist, or whatever else, anymore. I think Martin Luther King said something similar during the civil rights struggle in the USA? It's actually very hypocritical when some people are saying that Simon Furman should know better, being a privileged, older, white male in this society, because you know... all of those things aren't supposed to matter, and you can't have rules that only work in one direction. I'm not talking about you though, Anguirus.   I found your post really thought-provoking and this is a great discussion to be had. I'm only taking a rather firm stance in the opposite direction, to make sure that it's a stance taken by someone.

I actually really like "fembots", like Firestar and Chromia from the Sunbow cartoon. I'd really like to see Transformers seem more accessible to girls and women, by having more stereotypically female robot forms; what I don't like is when "fembots" are analogous to the female sex in humans, thereby making all of the other characters into "men". The comics handled this issue way more intelligently, compared to the G1 cartoon, and all of Transformers fiction doesn't deserve to be lumped together. Really, I'm supporting the stance of both Scott and Furman. I think Furman had the right idea in the first place, but screwed it up by writing IDW Arcee as being the only 'bot with a gender... and I think Scott is absolutely right to push for more overtly feminine forms in Transformers, but I think she's wrong if she wants to make them into "women" (which is what it sounds like.) We'll see though.

 

Okay, screw sensible, am I nice?

Enjoyable to watch?

Approachable?

Tolerable?

...Do you feel the urge to punch me when I open my mouth?

I'm spending my New Years eating microwaved rice and sending pictures of my transformer figures partying and dancing to my girlfriend out of state.

...

...

...

I'm cool! I SWEAR!

And congrats to the wife and kids thing. I hope my girlfriend and I will have those too....

I hope for the wife and kids.

She just wants kids, I think

 

Not a thesis statement, but not so unfocused as to be without value, you are touching on what is central to the issue here (something a lot of people are really missing, because, as you say, default conditioning - there cant be anything wrong with the way things, cause that's they way things are. Furthermore, that's they way things have always been, isn't it? If it was good enough for my parents, and their parents, it must be good enough for me, right? Which is all fine and good if you fit into a little box labeled middle class, caucasian, hetero, consumer, meat-eater, grows up and gets a job/mortgage/wife/kids, goes to church on sundays, honest-to-goodness American male ----- but if you DONT feel those labels accurately enscapulate your life, well, what do you do then?

now im rambling unfocused, and sort of off topic while still being on topic. I'll just leave it with my favorite Nietzsche quote ever:

 

That is the crux of the problem with Arcee. I don't have a problem with female looking Cybertronians but it is the Insinuation of Arcee backstory implies that the problem. If Furman decided another way of introducing her I do not believe this furor would be here. Instead he made Jhaixius to create the female gender to abberation of nature. It was insulting to female gender that they are abnormality on the Homo-Sapiens. You might as well say males are an freak of nature of that incurs nothing more violent behavior.