Thanks to writer Mairghread Scott’s postings in TFW2005’s very own Windblade fan club[/B], it has been confirmed that the Windblade fiction will consist of not just a single comic, but will be a 4 issue mini-series. What’s interesting is that Scott also notes the possibility of it evolving into an ongoing should the project be successful, which would presumably run alongside MTMTE, RID, and whatever else may pop up. She also answers some other questions and goes into even further detail about various topics.
Be warned, some of her comments may be considered slight spoilers. If you don’t mind, you can read her quotes and discuss your feelings about this revelation after the jump!
UPDATE: According to another the post from the group, we have confirmation that it will be a monthly series, with the first issue scheduled for release in April 2014 and pre-orders opening up for it near the end of January. “Hi, Everyone!
So, there are still a lot of questions I can’t answer as they connect to spoilers somehow, so if you don’t see me respond to your question, it’s most likely that.
[If you’re super-paranoid about me missing your question, please add: PLEASE RESPOND to the end of it and I will respond no matter what. i just don’t want to fill up the board with “I can’t talk about that” because that just seems un-fun.]
Anyway, as I was invited to this group, I thought I would hop on and answer what I could. You can also reach me at the ‘Ask Mairghread Q and A’ thread, but I don’t wander the boards much beyond that because these should be your boards as fans, not mine.”
“And here are the answers I have so far:
Gotten a few asks about Windblade’s “Kabuki” elements. This can’t be answered in too much detail yet, but Windblade’s markings do have meaning and are important to both her and her backstory. However, I have no intention of presenting her in any sort of stereotypical geisha or hand-over-her-mouth-anime-girl role. The first art Hasbro released has her with a rather deadly looking sword and a pretty grim expression. Also, she turns into a military jet, so I’m not really seeing her as a very kawaii character.
You can already read my discussion of what I think about Arcee’s origin on my tumblr (also MScottWrites) and I think I’ve established that I don’t intend for Windblade to originate from the same place. (Plus, I’m pretty sure John Barber would string me up by my toes if I did.) I don’t want to address it more than that because…you know…spoilers, but I can say that I’m much more interested in writing new stories than ret-conning old ones.
Smart money would say IDW did not go to trouble they have to launch Windblade the way they’re doing if she was going to be the only other fembot in all of TF continuity. Just saying.
As to how long we have, I’ll be blunt: We’ve got a 4 issue mini-series that everyone is praying will become an ongoing, but, like every other comic, we have got to prove ourselves from Issue 1. That means we need pre-orders and A LOT of them. Not: ‘I’ll pick it up when I’m at my shop.’ Not ‘I’ll borrow from a friend’ if you want Windblade to keep going the ONLY way to do that is to get your store to pre-order it. Tell them to order lots of it and get your friends to pre-order too. If you don’t have a story, BUY it on Comixology or a similar app, but encourage your friends who do have a store to pre-order and buy. I’ll try to provide a little help when the official solicitation is released to make it easier on those new to the process.In terms of how Windblade views other transformers and their genders: well, this is a bit spoiler-y, but she’s not exactly going to be shocked that guy transformers exist and since they are all still robots, gender is still going to be a lot less pressing to them than it is to us. Also, you know, it’s Transformers, so I’m pretty sure there are going to be more pressing issues for everyone than ‘date night.’
Anyone looking for a tease in terms of the ‘wrath’ I mentioned. Hmmm… how about TFBH having murder, cannibalism, societal collapse, PTSD, and the (perceived) apocalypse itself? That I wrote ‘Stronger, Faster’ and ‘Hurt’ and can’t even make it through a Rescue Bots episode without putting someone’s life in danger. So, while I am shooting to make TF Windblade a little more hopeful than my normal work, danger and excitement should probably be expected.
Regarding a toy: I’m pretty sure Hasbro made some kind of announcement on this, but that’s really their domain.
In terms of the poll that made Windblade, I’ve never been shown any numbers so I can’t speak officially. Just from my own business sense, I’m not sure why a company would ask people to make the transformers they want to buy and then not go with the most popular option. But, as I said, that would be a question for toy.
Anyway, we’re lining up some good interviews so keep your eyes peeled for more on the book itself, but these should answer some of the more specific questions floating around out there.
‘Til All Are One,
Mairghread”
Rodimus Prime
…who the hell is Windblade? *starts reading the thread and the wiki* Oh, goodie, she sounds like Drift.
Bloodrose
Fair enough.
My problematic character in Prime – aside of the humans at the begining – was Mutabee. I found the whole concept ridicolous from the begining of the first movie and that didn't change there either. Oh well…
MasterZero
I disagree. I think writing a character that is replaceable for either gender are the best ones.
Not to say that a (Example) stay at home mom isn't a strong woman. Cooking, cleaning, picking up the kids. All very stereotypical woman stuff, but still, VERY impressive that she is able to keep up with it all.
If there was some Cybertronian who shared a similar role to this, but was portrayed seriously and respectfully, that'd be a great character, I think.
I just have a preference to character who have switchable genders. Korra from Legend of Korra. Parker from Leverage. Anya from Gears of War.
Heck, I think you could flip around Ripley's gender and still get a good character. The motherly theme and stuff are replaced with a fatherly one, but I still think it'd be a good story.
Again, this doesn't mean characters who are extremely feminine are bad. Girly doesn't mean lame, as Lauren Faust once said.
The girls of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are an excellent example of writing good, but still feminine characters, as well as characters that aren't super feminine (even somewhat masculine).
Both are good, but I just have a preference to the switchable gender thing.
Also, I am not talking to you about Prime Arcee. Nothing against YOU, BR, but I hated the character. Thought she was annoying and bitchy and was part of the reason I never finished Prime.
Though I'll admit she did have one or two decent moments in Predacons Rising. I digress. Didn't like her. Thought she was annoying. If you liked her, great.
WilyMech
Eh Free press is not always good thing. I mean harder to get rid of bad press then it is keep good press. IDW is still playing smart with a public but it could backfire in the sense building hype with the comic then there is a let down.
Executive of IDW needs to be more cautious. Women have not yet forgive Furman you really do not want that kind of scorn if WindBlade turns out disappointment.
Word of Advice to IDW
KPhilipsen
I thought gender was already explained by IDW as just another form to take to make the biological lifeforms more comfortable? Female, male, truck, plane were all just options?
Bloodrose
AHA! An IDW executive among us! Now your secret is revealed Payton!
payton34
(From the IDW offices)
"You know, we have this TF mini coming up with a totally brand new character from a fan poll. We can only attract so much interest on that notion and brand name alone. How can we build some more hype for this?"
"Well, I can go online and start making some comments about Furman's work on Arcee. He has such a strong foothold in the TF community, love him or not, that it's bound to stir the hornet's nest a bit. Any press is good press, as they say."
"Sounds good, let's give that a shot."
(Now sees a nearly 100-page thread on TFW with heated back-and-forth discussion)
– Mission Accomplished
Bloodrose
This is interesting, because the first alien movie was the one I thought, where she could have been changed to a male character. And as I said, sooner or later – in this case by Cameron in the second film – the gender should be a part of the character (to some degree).
Bloodrose
So you want fembots, but not feminim roles or personalities? I don't really see what you mean. We need fembots to represent half the population of the planet, as I was told. Fine. But including a character that is replaceable with a "male" TF does not do a good work at said representation imo.
I don't want stereotypes, but most of the population we talk about is clearly more feminim in its roles and actions, than masculine. That is a good thing. Take TF Prime Arcee. Her role is a woman's role, she is caring and emotional (and meanwhile a great warrior, so she is far from being "a weak girl"). If we really need feminim Transformers (which I'm okay with, unlike different sexes), we need them to be just like that. They need to be good characters as you said. But if we talk about a race with two "genders", the minimum if you write a character is to make it recognizable in its "gender". Not in all situations, but sooner or later it should be part of his / her character.
Take Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley. Being feminim is clearly a big part of their characters (even if not in all the movies, but most of the movies).
Murasame
Alien 4 suffered badly because of CGI Aliens and everyone being too cool which was a trait of many movies from that era.
Galva-Cannon
Shouldn't Alien 4 be considered a fairly strong entry in a feminist movie canon? Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder play the main characters, who are written to be both very intelligent and physically capable. The clone Ripley is practically a superhero. The guy in a wheelchair is one of the only other survivors, if I remember correctly. Most of the men are macho idiots, who wrongly assume they can handle anything (they die), or they're arrogant, sadistic scientists (who also die).
Plus the clone Ripley extends the right to choice, a generation further… if you get my drift.
Goaliebot
No they didn't. They are urban legends, like the one about a fourth Indiana Jones movie. They're just made-up tales meant to scare us.
MasterZero
And then Aliens 3 and 4 happened.
Goaliebot
Good example and reminds me who else writes pretty good roles for women in movies: James Cameron. He improved Ripley in Aliens, keeping her toughness but adding more elements and dimension to her character. Sarah Conner is another one – took a "damsel in distress" and turned her into an action hero.
MasterZero
(Nods)
Writing characters is hard. I sympathize, to a degree, with most artists on that. Its hard pleasing everybody, while keeping the work pure to what you want to make.
I can say what I want, but at the end of the day, your opinion is just as valid as mine.
All we can do is hope for the best. Cheers. (Raises drink)
MelficeCyrum
Heh, it's fine MZ, again, we're just at a juncture where we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not a huge fan of IDW for a number of reasons, and you don't like Aligned for a number of reasons, so long as we get along.
I do agree on the "characters written where gender can be swapped freely" is the best way to write things.
MasterZero
Its never easy writing a good character. Its not easy writing a good character that is just so happens to be a lady. People will tend to judge her harshly. Fair? Maybe not. Is it how it is? Yeah.
You see….you can kill off a woman if it means something. Not to the story, as it doesn't always matter what impact a character has a story. What matters is the impact on the reader.
And you can make that woman a love interest (though that is much more dangerous as most female characters, even well written ones, are love interests to another).
Heck, you can make a character a serial killer! People can still care about them, if they're well written, memorable, and just…charming.
Its like the difference between Rewind's death and an example of Burying the Gay. Its how you handle it. With tact, and honor, and respect, and yes, impact in the story. It has to mean something. And it did. Not to just the story, but the readers themselves.
As for design, I don't know, Solus' way of look looks a lot like Alchemist to me, but whatever.
As for the explaining thing, there will also be questions about why Jazz is named Jazz before they've even seen the planet Earth. There will be questions on why a lot of characters look how they look, act how they act, and the such.
And even if people ask, you don't have to answer. To me, its smarter to just shrug and say, "It just is." than to give some bullshit excuse.
I feel like a lot of this would have been avoided if there was another woman on the Thirteen. A silly woman, a dark, morbid woman, an evil woman, whatever. A well written character can be nearly anything.
The Angel is in the details.
Again, I really don't know much about Solus. Nor do I care to know about her. Her design is boring to me, and from what I've heard, I'm not really interested in hearing about her. That, and I just don't really care about the Alined Continuity. Too much wasted potential.
If you want examples of good female characters that I like, I can name a few if anyone is curious.
MelficeCyrum
My only puzzlement here, is that it means that for a woman to not be considered "Stuffed in a Fridge", they either can't be allowed to be a Love Interest (which lets them get killed free of charge), or if they do become a Love Interest, they're not allowed to be killed EVER or they're considered to be automatically "Stuffed in a Fridge" regardless of the circumstances of the death.
Which to me feels a lot like "Women are off-limits from a potential character development" (Because a romance subplot CAN be excellent character development for any character, as having a character, regardless of gender, be in love, can reveal or add depth to a character) or "Women aren't allowed to be killed."
Also, I'll disagree on design because I feel they went out of their way to give Solus a distinctive style, Micronus feels the laziest to me because he's just a tiny, skinny humanoid in an electric hamster ball, but that's me. And, yes, there's a lot more to Solus' character that isn't readily available unless you read the book. I keep hoping TFwiki will update their Covenant section or something, but Solus really drives the story, both when she's alive and when she's dead.
As for why she's the only female? I believe it's a retroactive thing. One of the big questions has always been "why are there so few characters with "female-coded" frames? Well, for Aligned, Hasbro seemingly tried to answer the question by making Solus the only one with a female-coded frame. So the answer (in this continuity is): There are only a few female-coded frames because there's only one female-coded frame-archetype.
Is it a perfect answer? No. But at least it's a semi-reasonable explanation. When your specific frame-archetype is only 1-out-of-12, statistically you won't see that many. Does it mean they can't add more? No. But it gives at least a decent in-universe answer for the existing lack.
As for the question of "Why explain it at all?" Because people will ask. People will always ask. It's questions like that, that lead to this thread being 90+ pages long and discussing the various facets of the issue. And Hasbro wants to give the fans something. I mean, they already duly compensate the lack of female characters by making each individual female character awesome, and important, and on par (if not better) with their male counterparts.
I mean, aside from Solus' death (whose interpretation I consider a bit questionable), the author pushed her as far away from what would be considered typical female roles and stereotypes as she possibly could. Which I feel is a great step forward. What irritates me, as an author is that people seem to fixate on her beginning (her being a female-coded) and her end (her tragic death), while ignoring everything in-between.
And a character is far more than just how they begin and how they end.
Anguirus
Word.
x1000.
There's actually another example of this. Are you familiar with the movie ALIEN?
Despite having a lot of yucky, sexual, elemental imagery, it's generally considered a feminist film. So much so that Alison Bechdel used it as the foundation of her famous "Bechdel Test." Bechdel maintained that a film was not interesting to her unless it included at least one conversation between two female characters that was not about a man, and used ALIEN as her example of a film she was interested in, i.e. it "passed." Most mainstream films, both at the time in 1979 and today, don't.
ALIEN was written by two men, who were not setting out to write a feminist film (so far as I am aware). Here is what they did:
In their first draft, they wrote every character as a male, much like their inspirations in old sci-fi B-movies.
In revision, they decided to select two characters and turn them into women…without changing a single line of dialogue.
Of course, there were changes that resulted in the final film from this choice. A scene depicting a sexual relationship between Ripley and Dallas was storyboarded, but then dropped before shooting. And when the Alien slays Lambert it is implied that it rapes her. But the foundation of the dialogue stayed the same. The male -> female characters speak professionally, about their job and their circumstances. And that end result wound up getting praised by women, including feminist scholars. That's how two guys who set out to make a monster movie accidentally made an important feminist contribution.
So…if you're a man, and you have any interest in writing female characters that appeal to women, it's been seriously suggested that a quick-and-dirty method is to write your first draft with all male characters, and then semi-randomly switch the genders around. For bonus points, do NOT amend or remove any romantic relationships if they end up as gay relationships.
As for comparing Simon Furman to George Lucas or suggesting that Scott's female characters are notably bad in the context of the Transformers franchise…yeah, have fun over there.
Goaliebot
I don't read the comics (time/money), but ended up reading this whole thread out of curiosity. Good discussion overall, despite what sounded like one element of "boo wimmins and gheys" that's disappointing.
I'll throw one point into the mix:
In today's society, the key element to gender is what the individual self-identifies as. Not what others refer to them as (directly or via pronouns, etc). So what would Cybertronians self-identify as: male/female/none? And would they all answer in unison, or differently per individual?
Could "none" be a kind of third gender in their race?
Or the only gender?
Perhaps they have dozens of genders?
Is Ravage a female cat? Buzzsaw a male bird?
If Cybertronians were real, the only way to know their gender would be to ask each one of them.
Interesting thought. My favorite female sci-fi character is Fem-Shep (female Commander Shepard in Mass Effect series) and s/he was written as a male. Playing her, despite/because of me being a straight guy, created a character that for me endures as one of my favorites. That surprised me.