The second epsiode of a new YouTube series designed for new Transformers fans, to help them get to grips with the many complicated concepts and lore this this franchise has amassed over the last thirty years. This one studies CHARACTERS from across the history of Transformers, and examines why so many Transformers share the same name… and why some of them are so different!
New episodes weekly in June - share it with your friends who are looking to learn more about the world of the Transformers!
Transformers with accentsare a dime a dozen. Aside from any number of regional American accents, and plenty of British ‘bots, there are French Transformers, Australian Transformers,Scottish, Russian, and German Transformers, and more! But on St. Patrick’s Day, we lament that there’s never been an IRISH Transformer!
So the best we can offer you today is a collection of green Transformers from across the continuities…. annnnd… ummm… a picture of, uh… Nick Roche, why not.
transformers 1: they’re here
transformers 2: they were here before
transformers 3: they were here BEFORE before
transformers 4: they were here before BEFORE before
My niece will play with my Transformers when my nephew does, but she has never shown a real interest in my Transformers comics before. Until I showed her Windblade #1 and told her it was about girl Transformers and she pounced on it like a parched man on a desert oasis. I didn’t realise she wanted female Transformers that much. (She wants a Chromia toy now.) My dream of sharing my hobby with her has come a little closer.
You want to know why Windblade matters? This is why Windblade matters.
Hey folks! I did an article for POLYGON about all the lovely Transformers lore you can find in Transformers: War for Cybertron: Chapter One: Stege Siege, the new Transformers cartoon that popped up today on Netflix!
There are spoilers! So go watch it before you read this.
March 8 isInternational Women’s Day, so we’re going to count down our top ten landmark moments in the history of Female Transformers!
1) 1985 - “THE SEARCH FOR ALPHA TRION”
There were efforts to include female characters in the Transformers brand from its outset - Ratchet, believe it or not, was originally intended by Bob Budiansky to be a female character, which is why he’s named after Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest! Likewise, during the very early development of the Generation 1 cartoon, writer Jeffrey Scott produced a pitch that included newly-invented female characters who weren’t part of the toyline. But Hasbro didn’t go for either writer’s suggestions, and it took until November 12, 1985, and the broadcast of the seminal Generation 1 episode “The Search for Alpha Trion,” before the female Cybertronians would take their first bow. This episode introduces Elita One, Chromia, Moonracer, and Firestar, who have all inspired action figures, and starred in IDW Publishing’s current run of comic books!
2) 1986 - INTRODUCING ARCEE
While Elita and her crew were only one-episode guest stars, the August 8, 1986 release of The Transformers: The Movie introduced audiences to Arcee, who would go on to become part of the cartoon’s core cast, and the go-to female Autobot character in future series like Energon, Animated, and Prime. Arcee was created for the movie by writer Ron Friedman, who insisted on her inclusion when others were hesitant, citing his own daughter’s love for the robots as proof that there were a female audience to be tapped. In fact, Friedman’s believes it was this insistence that inspired the production of “The Search for Alpha Trion,” and given that Arcee existed in drafts of the film as early as March 1985, he might just be right!
3) 1988 - THE FIRST FEMALE TRANSFORMER TOY
Although a prototype design exists that proves Arcee was considered for release as a toy in 1986, this ultimately did not come to pass. It would take until 1988 before a female Transformers toy existed, and it came in the form of Minerva. A redeco of Nightbeat available as part of the Japanese Transformers: Super-God Masterforce toyline, this young medic was one the main characters in the accompanying animated series.
4) 1990 - DECEPTICON LADIES
As few female Transformers as there were by this stage, they were still all Autobots! That changed in January 1990, when the final issue of the Transformers: Victory manga introduced Esmeral, wife of Deathsaurus, and Lyzack, sister of Leozack - the first ever female Decepticons!
5) 1995 - BOTCON’S BAD GIRL
While Minerva brought a little diversity to Japanese toy store shelves, in America, there were no ladies to be seen until BotCon 1995, which offered as its exclusive toy the first female Transformer available in North America, a redeco of Generation 2 Autobot High Beam as the Decepticon sharpshooter Nightracer!
6) 1997-1998 - BEASTIE GIRLS
Female Transformers finally made it to American shelves in 1997 when the Beast Wars series brought us Airazor and Blackarachnia, the latter of whom was the first evil female Transformer to appear in animation. There was just one trick - their toys weren’t designed with them being female characters in mind! Like Minerva and Nightracer before her, Blackarachnia was just a redeco of a male ‘bot (Tarantulas, in her case), and Airazor’s pronouns were only changed to female when Beast Wars cartoon writers Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio requested it, so they could have a bigger female presence in the series. But this change paved the way for 1998′s big moment - the release of Transmetal Airazor, the very first Transformers toy that was designed to be a female character from the outset!
7) 2000 - DOUBLING UP
While Airazor was phased out of the Beast Wars cartoon during its second season, Blackarachnia remained a major character throughout the show, and on into its sequel, Beast Machines. It was in the second season of Beast Machines in 2000 that another benchmark was finally reached with embarrassing lateness - with the introduction of “plantformer” Botanica, a Transformers animated series how had two female heroes as part of its regular cast, a feat that would not be repeated until 2016′s Robots in Disguise!
8) 2005 - GENDER OVERRIDEN
Female Transformers were in short supply during the “anime” years of Transformers, and it was Cartoon Network’s demand for some representation that saw “Nitro Convoy,” a male character in the Transformers: Galaxy Force anime, gender-flipped to become the female Override, leader of Velocitron, the Speed Planet, when the series was dubbed into English as Transformers: Cybetron!
9) 2013 - THE FANS HAVE SPOKEN
April 2013 saw the launch of Hasbro’s first “Fan-Built Bot” poll, in which fans would be able to vote on the attributes of a brand new Transformers character that would be come a new toy. The character’s gender was not one of the original choices on the poll, but the fan’s voices were loud and clear on the matter - when a second set of questions were added in May, a choice of gender was one of them, and the votes started pouring in for the new ‘bot to be female. The end result was the Autobot Windblade, who went on to become a major player in IDW Publishing’s comics, and eventually headlined her own self-titled mini-series, created by the first ever all-female creative team in Transformers comics, Mairghread Scott and Sarah Stone! From there, she made the leap to television, and now stars as a regular cast member in the second season of Robots in Disguise!
10) 2015 - SIX FEMMES ARE BETTER THAN ONE
The fans’ desire for more female ‘bots didn’t diminish when it came time for the second Fan-Built Poll poll in 2015, which offered the chance to create not just a single Transformer, but an entire six-strong Combiner team! The winner of this poll was Victorion, the first ever female “Scramble City” combiner, made up of Pyra Magna, Rust Dust, Jumpstream, Dustup, Skyburst, and Stormclash! Like Windblade before them, this new team also appear in IDW’s comic, and the giftset of their toys is set for release soon!
That’s OUR top ten - what are some of YOUR favourite Female Transformer moments?
HASBRO LETS FANS SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE TRANSFORMERS FRANCHISE WITH THE “POWER OF THE PRIMES” FAN VOTE
The fans can decide which Transformers character will become the next leader of Cybertron!
Today, Hasbro announced the “Power of the Primes” fan vote, an upcoming event that will place the fate of Cybertron directly in the hands of Transformers fans around the globe. Beginning on January 23rd, 2017, fans will be able to visit Transformers.com to cast their vote to help determine which character will join the ranks of Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime and other Cybertronian legends. The fan-voted Prime will be featured in the Transformers Generations toy line and brand’s Prime Wars Trilogy storytelling in 2018.
The Prime serves as leader of Cybertron, wields the immense power of the Matrix of Leadership and holds the fate of the Transformers universe in their hands. This leader is usually chosen directly by the Matrix of Leadership, but the “Power of the Primes” fan vote will put the fans in command and give them the power to light the darkest hour and choose the bot to lead Cybertron into a historic new era.
“Hasbro’s past Transformers fan votes have led to some of our most exciting characters, including Windblade, Victorion and next year’s Trypticon Titan,” said Tom Warner, Senior Vice President of the Transformers franchise at Hasbro. Our “Power of the Primes” fan vote will raise the stakes higher than ever. The Prime sets the tone for all things in the Transformers universe, and we’re excited to see which direction our fans want to take.”
The first round of voting will begin on January 23rd, when fans can visit Transformers.com to choose between three groups of candidates – Honor, Chaos and Order.
Honor: These legendary warriors will lead with honor and carry on the noble legacy of Optimus Prime.
Chaos: These powerful warlords will stop at nothing to become supreme leader of Cybertron, even if it means creating a chaotic world where only the strongest survive.
Order: These commanders vow to leave the Autobot and Decepticon factions in the past and unite Cybertron under a new order.
Four finalists will be chosen by the fans and revealed by Hasbro in late January. Fans can then have the final say by returning to Transformers.com to vote between February 1st and February 4th. The winning Prime will be officially unveiled during New York Toy Fair in February.
I have designed 100 3d printable Transformers: Titan Returns faceplates, that can be swapped out with the removal of a single screw, allowing you to quickly and easily create new custom Transformers. The first 100 faces in this ongoing project include characters from across the Transformers canon in addition to new characters and crossover/mashup characters from G.I.Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cap’n Crunch.
Each face is available in a number of materials, ranging from inexpensive strong and flexible plastics (which come in a variety of colors) to highly detailed black high-definition acrylate, which is comparable to mass-produced injection molded plastic.
I have designed 100 3d printable Transformers: Titan Returns faceplates, that can be swapped out with the removal of a single screw, allowing you to quickly and easily create new custom Transformers. The first 100 faces in this ongoing project include characters from across the Transformers canon in addition to new characters and crossover/mashup characters from G.I.Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cap’n Crunch.
Each face is available in a number of materials, ranging from inexpensive strong and flexible plastics (which come in a variety of colors) to highly detailed black high-definition acrylate, which is comparable to mass-produced injection molded plastic.
This face is larger than the standard Titan Master Face, at about 24.5mm tall, making it the same size as the Titans Return Galvatron’s head and helmet, allowing for a more streamlined one-piece face. This means the Titan Master will not fit in some cockpits/storage areas.
TRANSFORMERS 30th Anniversary Prints by Guido Guidi
Celebrate 30 years of TRANSFORMERS with these amazing G1 inspired prints by Guido Guidi! Finally we can show the world this amazing collectable set. Guido is widely known in the world of TRANSFORMERS for his comic book work and many other accolades related to TRANSFORMERS. We were extremely excited to have him work with us on this release. Many of your favorite AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS and portrayed in a classic throwback retro style. The regular editions will be professionally printed Giclee fineart prints, printed by the amazing staff over at GicleeToday.com. The variant editions will feature Glow in the Darkand will be screen printed by D&L Screenprinting. See more details about the release below!
zeromayhem
