SpinalCord +1! Well said.

I think that TFs are engendered in order to make them more relate-able to us humans. Actually there is no need for any robot to have a gender unless it is a prostitute bot.

Regardless of all this, I do like this Windblade offering despite her poorly designed chi chi's.

 

not at all. One, I despise pigeon holing. Two, how many people buy Marvel or DC heroine figures or comics and complain about the fact no one is below a c cup.

I'm sorry but that is a gross generalisation. This is designed with anime aesthetics, but I don't feel whether or not I class myself as an a or a b (I'm a c if you must know) defines whether I'm ok with sexualisation in figurines or character designs. I'd like to think its something i decided based on my own morality rather than my various hobbies.

Honesty: Transformers have ALWAYS been gendered. Since 1985. I can't think of a single iteration without a female character and I can think of at least...4 with full on breasts. At least. Not to mention the half dozen or so with full on sexy bum syndrome.

Gender rejection in a franchise where even when their SUPPOSED to be genderless they are blatently male/female(Hiiiii Marvel) is so bizarre to me.

 

Early than the movie even. We had Seaspray fall in love with an elf-turned-bot in Sea Change in season 2, and 4 episodes after that, Elita-1 and her crew.

Oh, and season 3 had autobots turned into male and female humans for confirmation.

 

OMFG! No more about gender   I love her design and my only gripe is that her boobs are not missiles.

 

Well, first of all, it's not consistent between universes. Hell, it's explicitly stated in the G1 marvel comics that the cybertronians have "no males, no females, no MATES!". In many universes, it's very murky as to how "gender" works in cybertronian society, and given they are mechanical beings who do not sexually reproduce and have no technical necessity for gender, a meta-explanation could be that we, as humans, recognize similarities to our own cultural perceptions of gender, and project those onto the cybertronians, even if those preconceived notions do not always apply to cybertronian culture or physiology. Strika, Transmutate, and IDW Rewind and Rung could be examples of this.

Secondly, its, as someone else said, to humanize them and give them combinations of appearances and traits that help us to understand them as characters and connect with them.

 

I tip my hat to you sir. Well put.

I, for one however, have no such issue with well endowed figurines. That's... a good chunk of my collection.

I also have no issue with the explicit kawii-ness of this Japanese-inspired figure. I like it.

Honestly, my only issue is that I do not have one in my hands right NOW.

 

Pro-Tip: This is also one of the reasons aliens (especially those that are protagonists) are often portrayed as humanoid. It makes them easier for us to relate to and understand.

Really if you look at the various lore-presented versions of their genesis gender is easily explainable.
"Forged by Primus" - There's dimorphism because he(?) said so. Primus wanted it that way, and so it is.
"Made for/by other races" - The dimorphism is there either in reflection of their creators or else to make them more palatable to those they are being marketed to. (How meta!)
"Evolved... somehow" - Their dimorphism was either useful at one point in the past, and has become a vestigial trait, or else is becoming useful in the future and marks a new mutation.

EDIT:

Yeeeaaah. I've never gotten the whole "faction lines" thing within "geek culture". I love western comics, super heroes, video games, anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasy, robots, elves, card games, etc. On my desk I've got a Chogokin YF-29 (Isamu Edition), SHFiguarts Megaman Zero, MMC Azalea, LEGO Star Wars Reven, ArtFX Nightwing (Blue), Bishoujo Mara Jade, and a Doctor Who Pocket Watch. Among other things.  

 

I think people need to get over the PC attitude. Its a god damn toy that isn't even targeted to kids. Its Sci fi character designed to humanize, as others have said, and can be given some alien definition that the protoform was destined by primus to look that way. Really, who cares, boobs are not a bad thing anymore than not having them, like strika for example. You guys read way too much serious bs into things when the much larger problems with human culture exist and can be fought in more substantial ways. I honestly didn't even pay that much attention to these IF boobs until reading all those posts about over sexualization, so now if I look at windblades chest, it'll always be a small reminder that her boobs are a big deal and therefore only add more objectification to the fembot.

Back on topic: I want this asap, any rumours of a release date? Confirmation that this will be sold as a standalone figure?

 

This. And ...

This too. I should have edited my post a little better. I expect there to be genders I suppose (to an extent - as said above there really are no "genders" in Transformers). I understand humanizing them as well, to an extent.

For instance I mentioned I will be getting this figure no doubt about it. So that's on the table. I like the character in full and like this version of her as well ... MMC did a fine job with Azalea and her retools "breasts." G1 Arcee's "breasts" we're quite acceptable as well, as they served part of her alt mode/transformation and weren't "defined."

However, if I was in control of design decisions, I would have made her chest look like it does in comics. You can still tell they are "breasts" but they're not as silly as they are on this figure.

I have uploaded a picture as reference.

 

Silly breasts, well okay then I agree they are definitely not very organic or human looking like in the artwork. But isn't that a good thing? They really don't look human and therefore stray from actually objectifying the female body. Isn't that what some of you want? So the figure is actually even more PC than the source material  

 

Hey Aernaroth,I am not disputing the scientific aspect that transformers are perceived as genderless and therefore don't procreate like humans do,my point is even if they are as I said genderless there personalities and appearance say otherwise.And I am not saying this cause I am a sexist jerk I just think we should recognize them as they are,so if 3P Windblade didn't have those certain attributes would it still make her/it any less female,no.

I am not disagreeing with you Aernaroth but if it seems like it then I apologize,I just think they and pretty much any doll or action figure or toy is geared toward either boy or girl or both which is fine in both cases.With that said I am thru.Later all.

 

Me neither. But a lot of TF guys are very... xenoist, I suppose? Not racist, perse, but they don't want their corn touching the mashed potatoes. Which is fine by me. Less people shopping on Japanese sites is less competition.

 

Haha .. If only some of you guys knew what I collected..! Boobies and nipplets galore (nah, I'm not that much of a Perv - but I do have my fair share of "adult" collectibles along with the scantly clad hundreds of anime girl figures).

Again. This isn't such a huge deal at all. Certainly isn't a deal breaker as I will pre order this on day one. Just "arguing"/debating for the invisible/voiceless people out there and also didn't think "big Robo breasts" would cross into the TF universe. Just a little surprised is all.

All is well though! Haha

 

Either we like big bewbs or not on a TF, the important thing to remember is, we are ALL still going to PO this Windblade the moment it enters PO stage, and we know it!!!

Wouldn't have minded if they were a bit smaller, or less roundy, but gonna be great regardless, cant wait to have this along with my Hasbro Windblade

Carry along  

 

Gotta point out that adding humps to jets can actually reduce drag and make them faster. The F-8, F-102, and 747-300 are all examples of "area rule" where adding humps to the original fuselage shape made them faster.

(On the F-102, they're actually called "Marilyns"----guess why)

 

From a very basic perspective, yes, they've definitely been given "human" traits, including traits commonly associated with the male and female genders in western storytelling. The G1 cartoon made this especially common, as it used some of the most simplistic characterizations and storytelling.

But that's not the same as saying that they ARE gendered, or that they have to be, or that they always have been. The latter of those three is patently untrue, and the middle is selling the Transformers concept short, and the former is extremely murky territory in-universe, IMO.

Like I said, their personalities and appearances CAN appear gendered, but they don't always for every character, and it's not a requirement from a narrative perspective OR an in-universe one.

I'm not trying to argue with you, but I am trying to make things clear. Nor am I implying you're sexist.

 

I wish IF started doing larger figures coz I would completely trust them to make a wicked Slipstream given both Windblade and all their other amazing figures. I really feel they are some of the most perfectly designed tfs ever, but I hope that isn't largely due to the scale they're working in.

 

Oh man... I guess this is partially my fault. Of course, it's all been said before...

Honesty, Spinalcord, LazyAza, and some others... just a shout-out to you. I think you're doing it right.  

Oh, and hey... some of you are totally, categorically, unequivocally wrong. You know who you are. Don't make me cut and paste arguments from the 900 other times I've had this exact same discussion! We're getting too old for this!  

Or to put it in really simple terms, I'm a red-blooded, cheesecake-loving straight male, and those boobs on that robot just look dumb. Case closed.  

zmog

 

Okay, so the pictures are kinda small and I can't quite clearly make this out: does she actually have two faces? The close-up one has a smile but the one on the actual figure looks more serious. Kinda looks like a face-swap gimmick to me.

 

A large portion of Deviantart and Tumblr would strongly disagree with you, especially the ones there that draw TFP OCs...

But I sure as hell don't!  

I find it really dumb when a Tranformer, fanart or official, just looks like a silver dude/lady (with proportions BORINGLY identical to an idealized human) wearing a metal bikini with shrunken and overly-warped car parts (And if it's a jet, just add some wings on the back and you're done, with cockpit chests being completely optional!) and the artist emphasizes the "sexy" hips, thighs or whatever rather than the cool mechanical and robotic aspects of the design.

Basically, Transformers designs that look more like sexualized androids/gynoids and less like cool robots that turn into vehicles need to go away... Or maybe I'm just browsing a bit DeviantArt too much.  

Also, gratuitous boobs aside, this Windblade figure actually looks better and more fun than the bland deluxe figure.