Writers Talk "Combiner Wars" Event, Transformers Gender Identity & More

[CBR News]

Maighread Scott and John Barber explain the insane ambitions of Cybertron's dark lord Starscream, and why Transformers are "inherently male and female."


Full article here.

[andersonh1]

When even Transformers can't escape gender politics, it's time to hang it up. I miss the days when it was just giant robots fighting.

[thecrimson]

When even Transformers can't escape gender politics, it's time to hang it up. I miss the days when it was just giant robots fighting.

Yeah, I was scratching my head over that.

[FriendRoss]

This team had really been doing a great job. The story telling has been top notch booth in terms of plot and art. These are real comics. The issues dealt with, The ideas explored, Are all high end stuff.


I do agree the gender stuff is a unneccesary distraction. But I totally understand and am sympathetic to the reasons gender issues are in transformers. My daughter plays with my transformers.......

[steve2275]

eh i dont care
i just buy em
and watch prime whoop ass

[Bruce Wayne]

When even Transformers can't escape gender politics, it's time to hang it up. I miss the days when it was just giant robots fighting.

Gender has always been part of Transformers. The original G1 cartoon had female autobots and one of the season 3 and movie characters was Arcee, a female Autobot. The problelm Simon Furman and previous editors at IDW and Marvel who created an outright offensive and misogynistic origin for female TFs being emasculated males (previous to that Furman had Arcee's origin in Marvel comics being only around to satisfy strawman feminists).

[G.B.Blackrock]

Gender has always been part of Transformers. The original G1 cartoon had female autobots and one of the season 3 and movie characters was Arcee, a female Autobot. The problelm Simon Furman and previous editors at IDW and Marvel who created an outright offensive and misogynistic origin for female TFs being emasculated males (previous to that Furman had Arcee's origin in Marvel comics being only around to satisfy strawman feminists).

Thing is, the Marvel comics, explicitly, had said that gender wasn't a part of their make-up. It was, admittedly, the exception in the Transformers mythos, both then and now, but Furman was trying to write a way for Arcee to exist despite that precedent. I make no defense to suggest that his way of doing so (both in Marvel and in IDW after it) was anything other than "outright offensive and misogynistic," as you say. But it needs to be noted that part of the reason it happened was because of the genderless set-up he was given.

[America / Bucky / Russia]

Agender Transformers make more sense than male/female Transformers. In a society exempt from sexual reproduction, surely it is exempt from a gender binary?

And if the implication is that gender is a choice, rather than a component within the construction of a Transformer, where do those gender differences arise from? Have the Autobots spent too long on Earth and evolved into a gender binary from us?

You can do more effeminate character types without giving Transformers boobs, anyway. Perhaps more easily on screen than in comics, of course.

[andersonh1]

Gender has always been part of Transformers. The original G1 cartoon had female autobots and one of the season 3 and movie characters was Arcee, a female Autobot.

Yes, they were there and there's no problem with that. I'm sure the girls who watched wondered why there weren't more girl robots on the show. But the presence of female character was just a given. There was no discussion of gender or its role in Transformers society or anything along those lines. They didn't overthink the issue, they just put female Autobots on the show, and that was the correct approach in my view.

Now we can't just enjoy having female characters without examining the implications to the Nth degree, and it just gets tiresome.

[Bruce Wayne]

But that is point of the mainline comics. They breakdown and examine all the points of the original series. Why do the Decepticons and Autobots do what they do? What drives Megatron or Optimus? What do the Transformers believe or why do they have functions? How do they combine? Gender is one of many issues examined by the comics. If you just want transformers shooting each other in a g1 fashion, there are comics for that too, but don't expect the majority of fans to go along with it given how most fans now like the new approach.

Edit: Plus IDW tried the old approach multiple times especially with All Hail Megatron and the complaints and criticisms leveled against it from all corners compared to the Roberts-Barber material really just shows imo how much in comparison the fans have embraced the current ideas. Same deal with all the Lost Light influenced collections you see across transformers fanboards and even across language groups.

[Kencana]

When even Transformers can't escape gender politics, it's time to hang it up. I miss the days when it was just giant robots fighting.

Wait... I'm confused. If Transformers didn't have gender since they're robot then why are Optimus etc have male voice and being referred as 'he'? Not 'it' but HE. If Transformers didn't have gender, then why I've seen many people complain about 'slash' between Megatron/Starscream or whatever? Heck, there's even a website that defend how Starscream is Not Gay. Considering they're (supposed to be) sexless then technically it's not 'gay'.

[Arvandor]

Wait... I'm confused. If Transformers didn't have gender since they're robot then why are Optimus etc have male voice and being referred as 'he'? Not 'it' but HE. If Transformers didn't have gender, then why I've seen many people complain about 'slash' between Megatron/Starscream or whatever? Heck, there's even a website that defend how Starscream is Not Gay. Considering they're (supposed to be) sexless then technically it's not 'gay'.

I always took it for shorthand. Transformers don't speak English, they speak Cybertronian, translated for the reader's convenience. I'd imagine there is no word for gender in Cybertronian.

At least before the gender politics rubbish.