Page 1 of 3

Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:40 am
by Blasphemous Prime
I've seen a lot of forums bring this subject up. It's probably been brought up here as well.

Genders of Transformers

Considering that life is given to a transformer by way of Allspark, Vector Sigma, or Primus (depending on which continuity you want to look at) it would seem pointless that transformers display characteristics of one gender or another, considering they would be asexually produced.

I had a theory pop up about this. Perhaps within the past 10 to 12 million years, Transformers and their creator were going through an evolution to where eventually they would be reproducing sexually, instead of relying on an external creator. Apparently they hadn't reached that stage in any of the story lines yet, but perhaps given a few more million years they might. I know that normally fashion comes after function, but perhaps cybertronians have witnessed sexuality in other species and are subconsciously reverse engineering sexuality from the outside in, for their own species survival.

I also noticed in some continuities the characteristics of the spark installed into the protoform would define the gender and personality of the transformer, while in other continuities the transformer was built, and the appropriate spark was installed.

Now, with this in mind (and all joking aside) I ask this one question: If the spark of a female transformer was placed in the chassis of a male transformer, would this result in a character that would be what we might consider a "gay" cybertronian?

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 5:28 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
Blasphemous Prime wrote:Now, with this in mind (and all joking aside) I ask this one question: If the spark of a female transformer was placed in the chassis of a male transformer, would this result in a character that would be what we might consider a "gay" cybertronian?


I wouldn't say so. We've had plenty of female characters use male body-types in fiction:

- Masterforce Minerva (body of US Nightbeat, adapted in the anime)
- Blackarachnia (body of Tarantulas, adapted)
- Glyph (Bumblebee)
- Slipstream (Starscream)
- Arcee (in one instance the Binaltech body for Windcharger)

Besides, the spark is the soul of a Transformer, body does not matter. Though Jhiaxus may disagree on that. And that cost him dearly, not just his head :lol:

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 5:55 pm
by njb902
As a follow up to his question. Is it possible it happened even sooner than BP thinks? I wonder if the maximals and predacons were capable of breading. Airazor and Tigertron were clearly in love, as were Blackarachnia and Silverbolt. Rattrap talks about going to topless bars. It just makes me wonder.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:58 pm
by TK415
In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:18 pm
by SlyTF1
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


I always thought protoforms were baby TFs. There were also baby TFs in the movies. So, yeah, here are Cybertronian babies as well.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:15 pm
by Sabrblade
Whatever you guys do, do NOT turn to a TF fan named Tramp about this subject. You will regret it, dearly. :P

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:35 am
by Jelze Bunnycat
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:40 am
by Sabrblade
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)
Well... :WHISTLE:

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:49 am
by Jelze Bunnycat
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)
Well... :WHISTLE:


Ok, let's make this easy:

Transformers: fully robotic, until the Beast Machines era where they became Technorganic.
Gobots: Cyborgs due to having an organic brain.

Though I will admit they are analog beings in the whole multiverse thing as are the Protectons and the Terrakors in the Xobitor cluster. >:oP

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:59 am
by Sabrblade
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)
Well... :WHISTLE:


Ok, let's make this easy:

Transformers: fully robotic, until the Beast Machines era where they became Technorganic.
Gobots: Cyborgs due to having an organic brain.

Though I will admit they are analog beings in the whole multiverse thing as are the Protectons and the Terrakors in the Xobitor cluster. >:oP
Dinozaurs might have been an easier comparison so as to avoid the multiversal/AllSpark Almanac stuff about GoBots. ;)

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:22 am
by Jelze Bunnycat
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)
Well... :WHISTLE:


Ok, let's make this easy:

Transformers: fully robotic, until the Beast Machines era where they became Technorganic.
Gobots: Cyborgs due to having an organic brain.

Though I will admit they are analog beings in the whole multiverse thing as are the Protectons and the Terrakors in the Xobitor cluster. >:oP
Dinozaurs might have been an easier comparison so as to avoid the multiversal/AllSpark Almanac stuff about GoBots. ;)


True, being a more recent line yet obscure and from Bandai. By the by, Machine Robo had little kids too :lol:

To get back to the point of the thread... Eh, yeah. Robot reproduction, best left undiscussed and left to fanfics. :oops:

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:02 pm
by TK415
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.


Lithones are not Transformers tho, but a different race of transforming robots. You wouldn't call Gobots Transformers, would you? ;)
But do they have common ancestors? Did the Lithones originally come from Cybertron? Or, are they genetically completely different?

SlyTF1 wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.

There were also baby TFs in the movies
That was weird in ROTF.

I think the best answer is unclear/undefined at the moment, and different for different universes.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 7:58 am
by Sabrblade
TK415 wrote:But do they have common ancestors? Did the Lithones originally come from Cybertron? Or, are they genetically completely different?
The Lithones were never given any kind of origin or backstory material, as they existed only so that Unicron could have something to kill at the beginning of the G1 movie to impress us. They've never been given any connection to the TFs outside of any brief time that members of both species happened to be in the same room as each other (i.e. - Kranix in jail with Hot Rod and Kup on Quintessa, an unnamed Lithone in Iron Town the same time as Star Saber, etc.).

TK415 wrote:
SlyTF1 wrote:
TK415 wrote:In Transformers the Movie, the Lithones had children Lithones.

There were also baby TFs in the movies
That was weird in ROTF.

I think the best answer is unclear/undefined at the moment, and different for different universes.
Animated also had Sari as an baby-esque protoform:

Image

The Victory manga also saw the offspring children of the Dinoforce:

Image

And other cases of TFs with parents/children. ;)

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:52 am
by Susha
IDW has approached the notion of female tf's.

Initially with spotlight RC. She was created by Jihaxus as an experiment (gone wrong)

Roberts has also expressed interest in the argument and has adressed it specifically in an interview, (sorry cant remember where, maybe on IDW forums..)
Specifically: More than Meets the Eye, episode 13. Whirl chooses a girl as his avatar. in the interview roberts speaks about how Whirl percievies himself.. emh i mean herself.. Also ultramagnus chooses Verity as his avatar, but for other reasons.
More about tf sexuality and emotional relations is explored in Rewinds and Chromodomes relationship in the series.

There if you haven't read it you should be good for a while.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:57 pm
by Blasphemous Prime
I'm not sure if we can really consider anything related to Bayverse Transformers due to the fact that there are many incidents where Bay strayed from any previous continuity and created his own.

And as far as Sari in Animated, keep in mind that she was created on earth by a scientist that reverse engineered cybertronian technology. The whole fetus and baby stages might have been something the doctor introduced to the technology to help her be more human like.

I think the answer is going to rely heavily on which continuity you want to look at also.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:47 pm
by Sabrblade
Blasphemous Prime wrote:I'm not sure if we can really consider anything related to Bayverse Transformers due to the fact that there are many incidents where Bay strayed from any previous continuity and created his own.
How is that any different from other continuities that are unique on their own?

Blasphemous Prime wrote:And as far as Sari in Animated, keep in mind that she was created on earth by a scientist that reverse engineered cybertronian technology. The whole fetus and baby stages might have been something the doctor introduced to the technology to help her be more human like.
He didn't create Sari, he found her. She scanned him back when she was a protoform and assumed the form of a human altmode.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:34 am
by BeastProwl
Couldn't Knockout be considered "gay"? Im serious, there is inuendo and jokes aplenty but when you scratch the surface (not his new coat of paint, hopefully) it makes sense. He seems like more than just an auto-enthusiast in certain scenes, especially in Thirst. Starscream isn't a car...at least not in the Prime continuity

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:09 am
by Sabrblade
BeastProwl wrote:Couldn't Knockout be considered "gay"? Im serious, there is inuendo and jokes aplenty but when you scratch the surface (not his new coat of paint, hopefully) it makes sense. He seems like more than just an auto-enthusiast in certain scenes, especially in Thirst. Starscream isn't a car...at least not in the Prime continuity
No moreso than G1 Tracks, who was equally given a vain personality and an exaggerated campy voice. Yet, people adamantly defend Tracks as not being such. :|

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:24 am
by Susha
BeastProwl wrote:Couldn't Knockout be considered "gay"? Im serious, there is inuendo and jokes aplenty but when you scratch the surface (not his new coat of paint, hopefully) it makes sense. He seems like more than just an auto-enthusiast in certain scenes, especially in Thirst. Starscream isn't a car...at least not in the Prime continuity



I am almost offended by how blantantly all of you managed not to read my post.
Chromodomw and rewing are "lovers", gay, call it what you will in MTMTE

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:09 pm
by BeastProwl
Correct me if im wrong, but MTMTE and Prime are separate continuites and therefore don't explain gender the same way, in prime's case, not at all, unless i missed a step in the alligned continuity. If MTMTE is part of the alligned continuity I see your point, but I don't read the comics as they are are hard for me to obtain.

As it stands, gender in the alligned continuity hasn't been explained, at least not to me. I would assume is up to the allspark, but something like that can make a mixed up bot, im sure. After all, Megatron came out of there didn't he?

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:16 pm
by Sabrblade
Yes, MTMTE is IDW G1, not Aligned. In the latter, gender exists because one of the Thirteen, Solus Prime, was female, making one-thirteenth of the population female by nature.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:41 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
Let's switch genders around, and go further in time to Beast Wars. Specifically Waspinator, Inferno and Tigatron. Their bodies are actually of female animals: Male wasp drone have no stinger, male ant drones have wings, and Tigatron got his beast form from Snowstalker, a female tiger.

Let that sink in for a while.

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 11:19 pm
by Sabrblade
Speaking of Beast Wars:

Image

Male Airazor! :P

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:03 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
Airazor was indeed made male in the Japanese dub to offset the whole "girls aren't tough" mentality. Of course, that made the in-show relationship between Tigatron and Airazor even weirder to the casual viewer. Not even their "ronin and his ward" roles could help it, in fact it made it only worse :roll:

In the Metals manga however she retained her gender while she got turned into a Bishoujo, or beautiful Japanese girl:

Image

*looks around the area* Ewwww... I'm not cleaning that up. :SICK:

Re: Transformer genders: a theory and a question

PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:01 pm
by ThunderThruster
Sabrblade wrote:Whatever you guys do, do NOT turn to a TF fan named Tramp about this subject. You will regret it, dearly. :P


Wise advice.