The Energon Pub

shockblast2 wrote:Let me ask you this simple question. What makes a fembot different than a "male" robot?

From a real-world standpoint, if the bio, fiction, and/or creators say it's a girl and refer to it as "she" and "her".

From an in-fiction standpoint, and depending on the continuity, it varies. Different origin stories and all that.

shockblast2 wrote:LOL...I know, right? I actually thought of the idea, laughed, and then thought, that would be kinda cool!

God Neptune is closest we have to one at the moment (and it happens that a fembot does form his leg, but not a pegleg).

shockblast2 wrote:

shajaki wrote:girl. robot. toys.
the third one in italics is my key point. calm down folks.

I don't think anyone is getting excited. Now go moderate a little girls tea party, and let us discuss the silliness of gender identification in robots. Why are there so many condescending people here tonight? Did your mother in laws move in or what?

adding a smiley, doesnt make you not condescending.

Sabrblade wrote:

shockblast2 wrote:Let me ask you this simple question. What makes a fembot different than a "male" robot?

From a real-world standpoint, if the bio, fiction, and/or creators say it's a girl and refer to it as "she" and "her".

From an in-fiction standpoint, and depending on the continuity, it varies. Different origin stories and all that.

Isn't it implied in, IDW anyway, that the characters from the Caminus Colony, after spending god knows how long abandoned by Cybertron, actually naturally developed gender? Granted it never specified whether that mean they understand and accept the concepts and dimorphism soon follows, or if that means they actually have gender specific functioning parts, then dimorphism soon follows.

Oh God. In the name of all that's holy NO! On paper the idea of a fan built bot was great the result is 100% proof why people without Engineering or Design degrees should NEVER be allowed to make toys. Windblade in bot and vehicle mode desperately needed another QC/design pass which due to the time frame couldn't happen and resulted in a flimsy figure topped off by a head that looks like something I make after eating a quart of rainbow sherbert! The only thing saving it from being the worst toy ever made is the fact that Prime deluxe Airachnid exists. I'm terrified what a rushed designed combiner would look like and even more afraid of what it would feel like to play with.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Oh God. In the name of all that's holy NO! On paper the idea of a fan built bot was great the result is 100% proof why people without Engineering or Design degrees should NEVER be allowed to make toys. Windblade in bot and vehicle mode desperately needed another QC/design pass which due to the time frame couldn't happen and resulted in a flimsy figure topped off by a head that looks like something I make after eating a quart of rainbow sherbert! The only thing saving it from being the worst toy ever made is the fact that Prime deluxe Airachnid exists. I'm terrified what a rushed designed combiner would look like and even more afraid of what it would feel like to play with.

I respect your opinion on Windblade, but I happen to like her toy quite a bit. I'm excited to see what the fans come up with for a new combiner. Love how Hasbro uses our input to make some newer Generations figures/characters.
I'd like to see an Autobot team comprised of motor cycles.

My only issue with a motorcycle team would be scale issues, granted scale doesn't account to much with tf's but I just couldn't let myself believe that five motorcycles could stand against four sportscars and a bigrig

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Oh God. In the name of all that's holy NO! On paper the idea of a fan built bot was great the result is 100% proof why people without Engineering or Design degrees should NEVER be allowed to make toys. Windblade in bot and vehicle mode desperately needed another QC/design pass which due to the time frame couldn't happen and resulted in a flimsy figure topped off by a head that looks like something I make after eating a quart of rainbow sherbert! The only thing saving it from being the worst toy ever made is the fact that Prime deluxe Airachnid exists. I'm terrified what a rushed designed combiner would look like and even more afraid of what it would feel like to play with.

That's the trouble when you design a fembot chuck. Unlike the guy bots who are blocky, can have tank treads as feet, the ladies need to like at least feminine (Strika being an exemption). Hence, plus the rushed deadlines, flimsy design/construction.

Tanks. Big mother-**** tanks. Bristling with weapons. The sort of combiner team you'll look at and think mother-**** destruction.

A team that hates both sides because all of them are pure psychosis.

A team that doesn't devastate, it decimates.

Drift082111 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Oh God. In the name of all that's holy NO! On paper the idea of a fan built bot was great the result is 100% proof why people without Engineering or Design degrees should NEVER be allowed to make toys. Windblade in bot and vehicle mode desperately needed another QC/design pass which due to the time frame couldn't happen and resulted in a flimsy figure topped off by a head that looks like something I make after eating a quart of rainbow sherbert! The only thing saving it from being the worst toy ever made is the fact that Prime deluxe Airachnid exists. I'm terrified what a rushed designed combiner would look like and even more afraid of what it would feel like to play with.

I respect your opinion on Windblade, but I happen to like her toy quite a bit. I'm excited to see what the fans come up with for a new combiner. Love how Hasbro uses our input to make some newer Generations figures/characters.
I'd like to see an Autobot team comprised of motor cycles.

That's what kills me about it, there are a bunch of things that I like about the mold, the rotating turbines for example, that are lost when you factor it the bad heels and the fiddly shoulders. The fading color of the sword is fantastic, and I'm sick to death of swords. I'm afraid to open it since I know I have an open handed Arcee so I'm assuming my Windblade is a V1 with the REALLY bad ankles.

probably going to miss the opportunity because I don't have the technology to join in, but
please don't make it an excuse for
"in order to Combat the 'Menasaur' threat, 'Bumblebee', 'Sideswipe', 'Mirage' and 'Hound' undergo the combiner upgrade process to combine with new Optimus Prime...."
(botcon box set..........)

Personally, Love to see an new Techobot set, or even Homage some other background characters or easter eggs

jems rocking roadster
visionaries tank
Alpha teens Machines
medabots
'pony' transporter

if this is becoming another fembot debate,

the only reason that certain robots, from that other franchise, became fembots is because their english dub was given a female voice actor, which, if memory serves was due to studio rules where 30% of characters had to be female......

shockblast2 wrote:
I never read the Hobbit, so I have no clue what you are talking about. My point is the fact that the idea of robots, who do not and can not reproduce sexually or even asexually, cannot be a male or female. Gender is exclusive in biological organisms.

Here's the fun part, robotics is actually working on robots that reproduce similar to humans, it all started with a robot that could copy itself in 2005, and now they're working on robots that reproduce. Here's one example
http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... ?frsc=dg|a

Viruses are like machines and they have no gender. Nor do the robots we build. Let alone aliens who do not reproduce sexually.

How do you know that aliens do not reproduce? Have you met any?

Yes, but, we are discussing the logical application, and that ideology is absurd on so many levels that it is not even really worth discussing. If you want to try to justify it, then great. That is your opinion. Mine is that it is illogical and absurd. Because sex is EXCLUSIVE in organisms that give birth either sexually or asexually, and the transformers, no matter how anyone can try to justify it, cannot be male or female. That is completelysilly. Even the "fembots" have curves to indicate breasts, which are exclusive in mammals. Which makes the concept even more silly.

They have curves for the simple reason that they are based on us, the logic is that they have to be relatable. Which is also the reason why they have names, personalities, and speak. Simple as that.
It's the same with most children's entertainment, all of it is illogical so that it becomes relatable to us. Or have you ever seen mice, ducks or other animals that act like humans, have human features, and wear cloths like Micky Mouse and co?

In the Disney/Pixar Toy Story films, there are inorganic toys that are alive and have male and female genders.

And in the Cars films, there are inorganic vehicles that are alive and have male and female genders.

I see no issues with the Transformers being in the same boat.

I get the desire for a lack of any gender to give these bots a certain alien quality... but that ship has looooong since sailed.

Burn wrote:Tanks. Big mother-**** tanks. Bristling with weapons. The sort of combiner team you'll look at and think mother-**** destruction.

A team that hates both sides because all of them are pure psychosis.

A team that doesn't devastate, it decimates.

That is a really good idea. Just imagine, one combiner to decimate them all. There's going to be like M1 Abrams, T90, Challenger 2, and Type 90 as the limbs, and probably some kind of massive tank like those from the War for Cybertron-Fall of Cybertron games as the Voyager torso. This combiner would put the Combaticons to shame.

Burn wrote:Tanks. Big mother-**** tanks. Bristling with weapons. The sort of combiner team you'll look at and think mother-**** destruction.

A team that hates both sides because all of them are pure psychosis.

A team that doesn't devastate, it decimates.

So, they would reduce their target by one-tenth its original mass?

RoTF Ejector needs 4 more partners to form a gestalt of kitchen appliances.

A microwave (main body), a blender (arm), a small grill (leg), and a can opener (arm).

Uh, if I were to throw my own two cents in, I feel like Hasbro (and Shockblast apparently) have this idea that if a Transformer has to identify with a human gender or be evocative of human women they have to conform to an idolized slim and feminine figure, which to me sounds like a really shallow understanding of that gender. In fact, most (or at least a vocal or artistic majority) of this fandom probably feels that way. It's why I see artwork of Glyph with an hourglass waist or every other character with prominent lips, because "how else could you tell?" Don't even get me started on the Flamewar controversy. But I really don't feel like they should have to constrain themselves like that, especially if the alt-mode suffers for it. If they can make both work, by all means have your feminine figure that somehow becomes the Sandcrawler from Star Wars. Make it an option, not a requirement. I don't want a shellformer.

Personally, HFTD Hubcap looks really feminine to me, even though it's suppose to be movie-verse Hubcap. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to pay botcon prices if they redecoed Hubcap into movie-verse Glyph (Hubcap was a member of the bumblebee family mold after all). Tailgate was (possibly) mistaken to be a girl in the MTMTE series, and I don't blame anyone on that. If someone came up to me and told me Tailgate was suppose to be a girl I'd believe them wholeheartedly.

I don't know. That's just how I feel about the matter. If I could participate in the polling I'd at least like to see how an all robot women combiner would look, especially if their alt-modes are beast themed so they're all amazons or something, maybe with crazy G2 colors like Hooligan's tiger stripes or something. If they don't make them kibble-tastic it would definitely be a figure I'd consider buying, but knowing Hasbro they'll probably avoid giving them blocky aesthetics at all costs because "lol target audience."

Also on the subject, I don't really favor the term "fembots" because of the distinction it implies, as if they're a separate form of Transformer entirely. It just... rubs me the wrong way.

that1guysittingthere wrote:

Burn wrote:Tanks. Big mother-**** tanks. Bristling with weapons. The sort of combiner team you'll look at and think mother-**** destruction.

A team that hates both sides because all of them are pure psychosis.

A team that doesn't devastate, it decimates.

That is a really good idea. Just imagine, one combiner to decimate them all. There's going to be like M1 Abrams, T90, Challenger 2, and Type 90 as the limbs, and probably some kind of massive tank like those from the War for Cybertron-Fall of Cybertron games as the Voyager torso. This combiner would put the Combaticons to shame.

OVERCOMPENSATRON

TheAmazingBrave wrote:Uh, if I were to throw my own two cents in, I feel like Hasbro (and Shockblast apparently) have this idea that if a Transformer has to identify with a human gender or be evocative of human women they have to conform to an idolized slim and feminine figure, which to me sounds like a really shallow understanding of that gender.

And yet, the previous page of this thread has a list of images of fembots whose bodies don't conform to that description.

Sabrblade wrote:

TheAmazingBrave wrote:Uh, if I were to throw my own two cents in, I feel like Hasbro (and Shockblast apparently) have this idea that if a Transformer has to identify with a human gender or be evocative of human women they have to conform to an idolized slim and feminine figure, which to me sounds like a really shallow understanding of that gender.

And yet, the previous page of this thread has a list of images of fembots whose bodies don't conform to that description.

Are all of those officially confirmed by Hasbro and/or Takara to be fembots?

It's criminal the vast bulk of those are ultra-obscure repaints of "male" molds.

Va'al wrote:

that1guysittingthere wrote:

Burn wrote:Tanks. Big mother-**** tanks. Bristling with weapons. The sort of combiner team you'll look at and think mother-**** destruction.

A team that hates both sides because all of them are pure psychosis.

A team that doesn't devastate, it decimates.

That is a really good idea. Just imagine, one combiner to decimate them all. There's going to be like M1 Abrams, T90, Challenger 2, and Type 90 as the limbs, and probably some kind of massive tank like those from the War for Cybertron-Fall of Cybertron games as the Voyager torso. This combiner would put the Combaticons to shame.

OVERCOMPENSATRON

ahh! you beat me to it

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

TheAmazingBrave wrote:Uh, if I were to throw my own two cents in, I feel like Hasbro (and Shockblast apparently) have this idea that if a Transformer has to identify with a human gender or be evocative of human women they have to conform to an idolized slim and feminine figure, which to me sounds like a really shallow understanding of that gender.

And yet, the previous page of this thread has a list of images of fembots whose bodies don't conform to that description.

Are all of those officially confirmed by Hasbro and/or Takara to be fembots?

Decepticons...I feel like more chug style Decepticons to fill out the ranks would be the tops.
They can be bulky fem bots, petite pirate headmasters, or ice cream cones. idgaf as long as we can get started somewhere by picking a faction.(which I do think we need more chug Decepticons)