Transformers comics scribe Simon Furman has updated his blog with a preview of the Arcee Spotlight issue due for release tomorrow. He describes it as a “rattling good actioner” with plenty of guest stars, some making their first appearance in the IDW universe. Furman says the issue addresses the rationale of robots having genders in the IDW Transformers universe and puts his own spin on Arcee as one such fembot. Furman is wating “with bated breath” to see the reader reaction! Two covers by artist Alex Milne will be available.
SkyQuake
Even so, if the CNA were a part of her body instead of her Spark, it would be just as simple to swap bodies. That's why the CNA has to be in the Spark.
Laser_Optimus
Yeah, that was kind of my take on it too…
Robogeek28
I dunno, I'm more inclined to believe her old body was reassembled, not that a new body was built for her.
SarahMobius
Well that story was the biggest steaming pile of cr@p since "one more day"… at least the art was amazing.
SMOG
Male is default with Transformers because that is how they were first presented to us… but if TFs are genderless, then our view of TF's as "male" is nothing more than humans projecting our own biases onto something we can't get our heads around. Who's to say that TFs are "obviously male" when they are also rather inhuman in form and biology. They aren't male or female… they just ARE.
Let's not forget that even in the animal kingdom on earth, there are many species for whom normal human stereotypes of masculine/feminine are completely inverted… so in that sense, our human view is very very narrow. Projecting our ideas of femininity on an alien species is pointless.
As for your #2 point, I don't really have an objection to that. TFs come in many shapes and sizes, so it's entirely plausible that some might look or sound more like what we consider "feminine". However, the idea that there's any other inherent difference that separates those dainty curvy high-voiced TFs from the others, essentially constituting "gender" (and all that implies)… well that kind of bugs me for some reason.
I like to see how TFs are NOT like humans, seeing human characters suddenly confronted by their alien-ness… instead of them always being treated just like big metal people.
zmog
ArmadaSideswipe
I think it's ridiculous, honestly.
1: I fail to see how "female" Transformers are unrealistic given the source material.
2: If TFs are indeed genderless, then why does it matter if some of them have "female" shaped bodies or "female" voices and/or brains? They ALL have to have male bodies/voices even when they're SUPPOSED to be genderless? That brings me to 3:
3: Why is male always seen as the default?
Male-centrism wins again. At least Furman was good enough to give Arcee an issue in the first place.
But I gotta agree that Fortress Maximus thinking of Arcee as a threat is silly, given his great size and power.
SkyQuake
I will also say that the neatest seen in all of TF media was also perpetrated in this Spotlight. It is where Arcee is being made from her Spark in the prison. Milne deserves an "ata-boy" award for it.
SkyQuake
Was it a good story? Yes. Was it entirely believable that Jetfire, and Fort Max thought that she could take them out? No.
The art was good, but turned out a bit too dark on the page.
In regard to Arcee / fembot origin…. I still find it hard to believe that Simon believes that TFs can have DNA (CNA) yet it would be imposible for them to have genders without manipulation. When you take things down to cellular scale, and less, mechanical processes can repeat biological ones, or improve upon them. Why is it such a stretch of the imagination that TFs can have gender naturally if they already take a humanoid form?
It could be that fembots existed before, and Jhiaxus just found a reference to them, and sought to recreate them out of curiousity. Arcee just doesn't seem like an "Eve" character to me, and she could have easily, (and possibly more believably) have been called by another name (much like the movie bots).
Like I said, it was a good story, but…. Do I think its the end word on how female TFs came to be, and Arcee is the only one? Not on your Spark. I think Simon went according to his tastes (which he has a right to do), but in the end, everyone else will draw their own conclusions. Mine is that Arcee is not the end-all-be-all first female TF.
All this said, I was hoping for an Arcee Spotlight (but not in this way). This story would have been okay to me if it were much further back in TF history, and the main character could have been one of the original Autobot femots (from the cartoon). Spotlights generally sell out this way anyway. What bothers me is that this story essentially makes a pre-existing character, and turns her into a transgender / transvestite. I see that Simon sees them as genderless, but it's still a sex change operation Arcee. Crossing this line might cause a certain percentage of people to drop the book. Stranger things have happened to authors.
On another note: CNA must be present in the Spark Core, because Arcee's body was completely rebuilt right before our optics.
robdimension
I just read the comic and thought it was decent. The artwork, I thought, was amazing. I am kind of a noob when it comes to Transformers so for me, it was good read. I would recommend it for the artwork and colors alone.
SMOG
It's not so much that we don't want girls in the clubhouse… it's that they don't have to be "real" girls.
Never liked the "gender" thing… and even less so the fact that the "fembots" were so tokenized and visually stereotyped.
I find it even MORE lame that the fandom often looks like a bunch of teenage boys who only want hot, sexy, overtly humanoid Mary Sue fembots in the clubhouse. I can accept female-identified Transformers… but Arcee perfectly represents everything I hate most about the concept.
Well, after reading the Spotlight… guess that's over.
I hear you… while it bugs me that there's never been a good canonical integration of the whole gender question before (and certainly not one that doesn't piss off some part of the fandom)… I have to admit that this Arcee Spotlight is pretty lame, as it's little more than a rather pointed attempt by Furman to put forth his own manifesto on the topic… and yes… plug Jhiaxus some more.
Do we really need Jhiaxus to be involved? Especially already? The first main story arc of the series is still pending… shouldn't Jhiaxus be introduced once we've exhausted all the classic Prime/Megatron material?
Yeah… as do most of us I'll bet. I like that term… a Transformers "headverse".
I'll bet that there are very few canons that are as loose as Transformers, and spawn as many personal "headverses" amongst it's fandom.
QFT! I totally agree.
I understand our tendency to want to stamp things (especially sci-fi fantasy properties) with certain romantic notions… and I see the appeal there certainly. Let's not pretend that Transformers is anything other than a fantasy… but I think it's a bit more interesting if we, as adult fans, look at some of the more intriguing speculative possibilities in the genre.
As opposed to… here's a girl robot. She's pretty and curvy and pink. But that's okay, because she's also a tough kick-ass chick (oh god, so sick of that cliche by now…)!
So now Arcee is a "man-hating ballbuster". Yawn. Nice try Furman.
zmog
Laser_Optimus
You know… I really really love the main IDW comic, but every spotlight I read (outside of Kup) is terrible. Perhaps they need to bring someone else on besides Furman… because this just seems like another lame attempt by Simon to try to brush off an aspect of the series that he doesn't like. All Femmebots are experiments… bleh… not my cup of tea… sorry.
And I'm really getting sick of Jhiaxus being 'the uber plotting scientist'… it's kind of lame at this point.
MoonRacer Prime
The artwork was wonderful but the story was sadly lame. The all she-bots were experiments idea is stupid! I love Arcee the G1 design was fantastic but she never had a chance to shine because know one can get past the she thing. The focus should not be on the fact that she`s female but that she is a warrior valkyrie sharpshooter! Poor Arcee. At least she has a chance in animated.
Ares
I thought the Spotlight: Arcee was great! Great art, great colors, great scope of characters, and any explanation to things in the Transformers Universe is always fun. Good spotlight Simon *thumbs up*.
Fit For natalie
Fembots did previously appear in Megatron Origin…. but of course that storyline wasn't by Furman, and was written for Dreamwave originally, so there's a bunch of continuity errors, like characterisation (Soundwave being all cartoon like) and Autobots apparently dying (Inferno, Grapple, Hound and Trailbreaker), despite turning up alive and well in other issues set in the present.
Irv Gotti
Personally, I'm neutral and really don't care for the he-she debate. A ton of explanations have been made at one point or another for the "Fembots". For me the easiest explanation was simply that that the Quintesons designed them that way, simply as a way of creating deadly and elite warriors whose physical appearances provided a deadly irony to other species perception of the "weaker sex". As long as Arcee's character is explored better, it'll be a good read and in the end, that's all that counts.
Transfixed
"I can't stand femmebots–or more accurately, I can't stand G1 femmebots–because there was never any reason for them. Arcee's complete lack of characterization was just icing on the crappy cake."
These are robot's people not human beings. not everything is male and female.
Transfixed
I agree.
Goatboy
It will be interesting to see the "official" IDW reason for fembots(assuming Arcee is not a unique example). But its not somthing thats ever bothered me a great deal. I've already got fembot and Transformer reproduction explanations sorted out in my own headverse.
Kaijumaster
So I read it and I don't see why it could possibly be divisive…
*Why would it be Divisive to imply that Arcee's story predates any other story in the IDW universe.
*Why would it be divisive to give an explanation of Fem-bots that ignores the fact we've already seen OTHER fembots in the IDW-verse?
*Why would it be divisive to write a book called "Spotlight: Arcee" thats less about Arcee and more about Furman itroducing YET ANOTHER plot involving Jiahxus when he's already got half a dozen other hanging plot threads.
Really great art……and I don't see what could possibly be wrong with this story.
Laser_Optimus
And this thread has already started the typical debate.
Meh, what I just don't get is why it's so hard for some of the fandom to except female robots. Seriously, from a stand point of fiction, you're already suspending disbelief to the extreme in excepting giant robots that can not only transform into other objects, but in the case of G1 (and a few other series) change their mass. But female robots (especially when given the Quintesson angle on this it's so much easier to explain than Furman's robo-Jesus-Satan none-sense from the Marvel G1 stuff) is some strange taboo and met with 'it doesn't make sense' comments from the fandom.
Hopefully, Furman comes up with a decent story for this, but considering I've never been a big fan of his work (though I do like the IDW-verse thus far)… I'm not really holding my breath.