I actually AM oblivious to it, never having watched BW. I’m only familiar with this character from its past toys, and have zero idea of how it was presented in-universe. From what I’ve gleaned reading this thread and elsewhere, the character is intended to be unsettling. Which is perfectly valid. One of these days I really should watch BW...
I think the show characters refer to Transmutate as ‘it’ but they have a feminine voice and all modern toys have used female molds so I think it just became assumed that Transmutate was feminine coded. EDIT: from the TFwiki
This really makes me want an updated Silverbolt and Rampage even more, now. Also the pics of RID Arcee as Transmutate were factory goofs, iirc, when FP were trying to get test shots initially. As far as I know it’s not a KO.
Weren't most of those uses derogatory? Since anybody other than Rampage and Silverbolt viewed her as subhuman?
Transmutate was also voiced by Susan Blu, which is probably the biggest reason why people usually default to Transmutate being a she
Thats the thing its not lack of awareness though in most cases, its people saying their opinion on it.
Yeah, the whole point of Transmutate was that it never reached a state of definable being before outside forces took its life away. Whatever it was, whatever it could have been, we never got to find out. Though like you said, given its VA was a woman, (though the voice itself was fairly ambiguous) it's not outside the realm of reason to call her such. Neither Silverbolt nor Rampage used gendered pronouns with Transmutate. They both referred to her as "it." Neither Optimus nor Rhinox referred to it in a derogatory way, either. Again, calling it an "it" wasn't an insult, it was to refer to the fact that Transmutate was completely unlike anyone else in the show. And doing so with total lack of self-awareness. I.e. they're slamming this figure in the exact same way the moral of the episode taught not to. Calling it ugly like it's the point, like they're surprised by it. It's not that people are just saying they don't like it, but they're saying it with the same dismissive vitriol as the characters in the show who shunned it for the way it looked.
That'd be great if it were even accurate to the character. As is, it's an ugly and garish repaint with a haunting face sculpt. Most are aware of the character's role in the story but the toy is still ugly and they don't wanna buy it. There's no "self awareness" to be had about it. There's no character to judge in a toy.
Pre-ordered at TCP, but still want to see Hasbro release the BAF with articulation added to it at some point. Or maybe a KO of it....
The toy has a decently accurate head and... generously.. the right colors. But it isnt accurate to the model in the show other than that.
It works better than I\'d have thought. Though does anyone else feel a little wierd we got a new Transmutate, even if it\'s just a new head on an existing mold, before we got Rampage and Silverbolt?
Yeah, I spotted it on a Siebertron list after I posted this. Still no difference though... Kingdom Wave 2: I'm only buying Inferno, Huffer and Air Raiser. Wave 3: I only have eyes on Tracks and Galvatron. Wave 4 and Selects, I have no interest in (Maybe Pipes but not pressed). So we're talking a total of 7 guaranteed Kingdom figures being collected since I already have Cyclonus and Blackara. I didn't even purchase that $50 ER/Kingdom Optimus (Sticking with the SIEGE one). So why the hell would I buy a rumored $80 Rodimus Prime that no one really asked for? SS86 ironically is the only saving grace for collectors like me this year.
This. So much. On another ironic point... Silver bolt and Rampage didn't see her as just a weapon. Here she is now as a bot whose purpose is to weaponize other bots... And no modern Rampage or Silvebolt figure to at least appreciate her existence, at a minimum.... >_>
