The Energon Pub

She is also writing some really good points about Arcee's creation and her aim for inclusivity in her work. To keep an eye out, I say. Good things might come from this.

What a Ugly Autobot that's why the Decepticons hates Autobots.

Mairghread Scott, the writer for the upcoming Windblade comic that will introduce the fan-made character, has taken to her Tumblr to expand on some of the issues relating to Windblade being the only other female character in the IDW universe/continuity (as BH Chromia and Firestar are part of Aligned): she will be a cisgender woman in her own right, not a creation like Furman's Arcee. On this point, she also discusses IDW/Furman's take on Arcee, and the preparation she's undertaking to be as inclusive as possible in the new comic. Read some of the posts below, and head here for more!

gorgynoid wrote:Hey congrats on the new comic! I voted for a lady robot like 50 times on that poll. I really hope you're ignoring (or retconning) Jhiaxus "making" ladybots out of guybots. Peace, and have a great Christmas!

Thank you for voting 50 times. Don’t do it during any kind of real election, but thanks for doing it here. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I would like to assure you that Windblade is not female by accident, or by force, or against her will, or just for kicks. That’s not how it works for biological women on Earth and that’s not how it’s gonna work on Cybertron. Anybody has a problem with that, you know where I am.

mryarra wrote:I am SO excited about how the Windblade comic is looking right now, and the creative team. There is a sore lack of ladies in the IDW verse and Windblade herself looks like she could make a really interesting character. Also, just as a heads-up, "biological woman" is considered to be a pretty transphobic term, and so really isn't a good way to refer to people.

Dang it, good point!

Okay, Internet…please, please know that I am doing all in my power to talk about the gender of non-reproductive alien robots in the most respectful terms possible, but it can get really tough. (ex. Is Arcee a transgendered woman even though she was made female against her will?).

The term “genetically female” seems wrong because they don’t reproduce (so don’t pass on genes) so I chose “biologically female” to convey the same sense in a more accurate way (ie most fans would say TFormers are alive, even though that is also debatable in science).

I have since been informed, by people wiser than I, that the technical term for Windblade would be a cisgender woman so I’m going to go with that unless someone knows a better term, or we can agree to invent one. Regardless, know that I am doing all in my power to make this character and her story something all TF fans can enjoy and celebrate together. My goal is always maximum inclusion, so should I stick my digital foot in my mouth again, please let me know so I can correct myself.

Til All Are One,
Mairghread

Does anybody else hate Windblade already? Her design sucks, and her story sounds way overthought

Am I the only one who has always found that forcing sexuality on to robots has always just been a little tasteless?

I mean, sure it makes them more relatable to a target audience which traditionally was boys and now is a little more cross gender, but essentially these are robots who do not reproduce so there fore would be more asexual like worms, virus' or amoebas?

Robots have no need of sense of sexual identity even with self awareness they just are.

I'll still read the comic, but for me the sexualisation and focusing on gender takes me out of these stories. If I wanted love stories and exploration of deep issues relating to relationships there in I'd go read a Terry Moore book.

Im sure the writer will do a good job, just hope it doesn't alienate the installed fan abse whilst trying to reach out to new ones.

Can we just go back to fighting robots, please?

I think this Windblade character is pretty silly looking. I also dislike the name. In honesty.....i care very little if at all about this contrived character.

Not fan of kabuki war paint on her face like to see what she transforms into besides war paint on her face like her

Everything I hear about Windblade just wounds my expectations. But I see a lot of what I'm thinking echoed here, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it.

I don't like the geisha makeup. First, because geisha.

Second, because, with Drift, we already pillaged Asian culture. There are other awesome Earth cultures we could borrow from--Britain's Boudicca for one, Joan of Arc, and yeah I know those are European, but I'm sure if I can name 2 off the top of my head, others can provide Native American, South American, African, etc, other Warrior Women. Why go back to the same well again when there's so many other fun options?

A seeker geisha with swords, I'll be honest, sounds like the worst kind of SparkleSue. And I say this as someone who writes fanfic. If she does turn out, as someone here suggested, to be a Knight of Cybertron, it's just TOO MUCH SPARKLE.

CC, can't handle the sparkle.

Neurie wrote:Am I the only one who has always found that forcing sexuality on to robots has always just been a little tasteless?

I mean, sure it makes them more relatable to a target audience which traditionally was boys and now is a little more cross gender, but essentially these are robots who do not reproduce so there fore would be more asexual like worms, virus' or amoebas?

Robots have no need of sense of sexual identity even with self awareness they just are.

I'll still read the comic, but for me the sexualisation and focusing on gender takes me out of these stories. If I wanted love stories and exploration of deep issues relating to relationships there in I'd go read a Terry Moore book.

Im sure the writer will do a good job, just hope it doesn't alienate the installed fan abse whilst trying to reach out to new ones.

Sexuality and gender are not the same thing. And I feel this is a little late to the party, with Furman reintroducing Arcee to the IDW verse in the way he did. The issue has been there, but everyone has conveniently ignored it, it seems to me.

Also, Scott did point out and acknowledge that these are non-reproducing individuals, and she does talk about the asexuality perspective of the whole issue here.

Including and reaching out to a wider audience, on the other hand, cannot harm the franchise or the comics!

Oh, she also pointed out that this is all a discussion about the character that informs, rather than shows up in, the comics:

@seibertroncom Not planning to draw a chart about it in-story, but I'm trying to try to get it right when I speak to fans.

cybercat wrote:Everything I hear about Windblade just wounds my expectations. But I see a lot of what I'm thinking echoed here, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it.

I don't like the geisha makeup. First, because geisha.

Second, because, with Drift, we already pillaged Asian culture. There are other awesome Earth cultures we could borrow from--Britain's Boudicca for one, Joan of Arc, and yeah I know those are European, but I'm sure if I can name 2 off the top of my head, others can provide Native American, South American, African, etc, other Warrior Women. Why go back to the same well again when there's so many other fun options?

The design is a bit of an issue, and I'm not entirely sure who came up with it. But I think a lot of positive things can be done even with a character that offer some problematic issues of representation, no?

I'm still disappointed that the writers haven't taken the opportunity to throw out our binary gender idea completely. These are alien robots, and gender and race could be defined in quite different ways for these beings. I imagine that things like alt modes, any special abilities, whether a bot retains the same colouring all the time or alters it over the years and through reformattings, compatability with mini-cons or the various 'Master types, propensity for combination and even things like eye-colours or the ways they process information would make for far more interesting ways of categorising the species rather than "girls = boobs, guys = everyone else".

Thankfully James Roberts has done plenty in this regards, albeit not necessarily under the umbrella of "gender", by having concepts like Point One Percenters and Load-Bearers, etc, as well as more cultural than "genetic" concepts like Monoformers.

That said, I'm certainly interested in seeing what they do with Windblade. She does feel a little "Ms. Drift" at the moment, but I'm hoping to be surprised.

Oh Primus, this is what we're up in arms about? We've gone from "Why sre their girls in Transformers" to "What do you call a girl in a race of machines that are BUILT?" This is why people stop readfing the comics... Just call her a girl if that's who she is supposed to be, and get on with it. And lets not go lambasting the designers for tripping over words that are "Politicaly Correct", please?

craggy wrote:I'm still disappointed that the writers haven't taken the opportunity to throw out our binary gender idea completely. These are alien robots, and gender and race could be defined in quite different ways for these beings. I imagine that things like alt modes, any special abilities, whether a bot retains the same colouring all the time or alters it over the years and through reformattings, compatability with mini-cons or the various 'Master types, propensity for combination and even things like eye-colours or the ways they process information would make for far more interesting ways of categorising the species rather than "girls = boobs, guys = everyone else".

Thankfully James Roberts has done plenty in this regards, albeit not necessarily under the umbrella of "gender", by having concepts like Point One Percenters and Load-Bearers, etc, as well as more cultural than "genetic" concepts like Monoformers.

That said, I'm certainly interested in seeing what they do with Windblade. She does feel a little "Ms. Drift" at the moment, but I'm hoping to be surprised.

This, although I suspect any kind of gender labelling is related more to the base design rather than the altmodes themselves. "-masters", "-Pretenders" and "-Minicon" seem more like upgrades, you could make a sound argument about the Minicons but the rest. On the other hand, Someone who turns into a truck is probably always going to turn into some kind of truck, and not back pedal to becoming a scooter or suddenly scan a jet. There's gotta be some kind consistency, possibly relating to their spark as much as anything else (Golly, I sound like a Functionalist... but any extremist has to start from some kind of truth)

Personally, I find myself subscribing to a theaory that "gender" for a Cybertronian is exactly like a stereotype: They didn't even know what it was until they discovered a trend on other planets as well for the men to generally be the stronger and the females were generally the lighter and tighter shapes

But what do I know?

=====
And I'd like to remind everyone of one small point about Windblade:
"We" designed her. By comittee, the fandom picked the alt, the faction, the gender, and coloring I think? So before we go labbelling, remember this is a product of the fanbase more than almost any other transformer.

have we even gotten a bio out of Windblade yet or are we just drawing conclusins on her being a MarySue

Some good points there, actually.

I'll add this thing to that: We didn't 'design' or choose the apparent Asianesque features, hence my question earlier.

And no, no Windblade bio as yet. It'll probably come out in the comic, with the comic.

man windblade is turning out to be the worst idea to date, might even be worse than bayformers. And i dont see why its so hard to introduce genders to a robot race, lets see theres natural evolution, a glitch in the creation matrix or what ever being item or thing creates transformers in that continuity, a random line of code that takes hold or if you want to go spiritual do the balance thing, male female good evil that stuff. Stop having to be so politically correct its a damn comic book and toyline aimed at people who dont give a rats ass they just want robots fighting robots. Heres a good one someone created female transformes to be assassins, they look the way they do so they can be faster, more agile and can hide better plus you have the "wow factor". when the target sees one they wont attack right away they'll sit there and wonder "what the hell are you" giving a perfect opening to finish the job. Or we can just do it like the old days & just throw in female robots & new characters without explanation and accept it as normal. On another note she needs to lose the facepaint, just doesnt look right.

*sigh*

It's thread like these that make me wonder if Seibertron is slowly turning into the next TFW2005.

Sabrblade wrote:*sigh*

It's thread like these that make me wonder if Seibertron is slowly turning into the next TFW2005.

The thread about this on TFW is pretty wild at times.

However, I'm pretty sure that people are still allowed to like or dislike things as they find them to their liking or not.

Personally, I am with the side that is already bored with this character, months before she even makes an appearance. Nothing about Windblade hits any of the buttons for what I like in characters, and it's not a female or fembot or anything thing. She could be cool, but I'm not really interested.

You know the problem here is IDW screwed themselves over with the Frankenstein created woman plot line, as counterpunch eloquently put, it threw a monkey wrench it mythos. There is this concept in fiction referred to as the suspension of disbelief, all IDW needed to do, quite honestly, is say there are lady robots, and guy robots, and just go with it.

Now reading the article its saying she's cisgender, which is a concept where the person identifies their gender with their outward appearance, to oversimplify it. basically meaning theres no woman trapped in a mans body or anything like that, instead they're a man because they were born with the male anatomy. So in this instance it means windblade associates her gender with here outward appearance, almost like allot of the people bitching over internet have wanted transformers gender concepts to be established. Again the problem with windblade right now isn't that she's a strong independent woman or what ever trope you want to through in, its instead its that the moment she's a walking plot hole in IDWs continuity.

It baffles me that fan are whining about this fan-built poll winner. She's what the fans wanted, so people are essentially whining about Hasbro/IDW giving the fans what they want.

All I need to do is take one look at that face and I know I will never ever care for this character. Bye, Wingblade... Have fun being a boring, ugly, try-hard character concept. Byyee.

I never understood how gender is such a complicated thing in Transformers. I agree with other people that claim since there is no reproduction, there's no need for different genders in the Transformers. They're all the same.

As for "more feminine" appearing TF's. That's just it. They happen to look more what could traditionally considered female so Elita-1, Chromia, et all could easily be running around the IDWverse without any big deal. If they want to refer to themselves a "he's" or "she's" that just a matter of personal taste.

It just seems like every attempt to explain this just complicates things further. Wouldn't the best way to be all gender inclusive would be to make it a non issue altogether?

Again, it was made complicated when Arcee was introduced as a deviation from the norm. And to identify the deviation, they chose female pronouns.

Again, genders have nothing to do with reproduction, and the binary concept of male/female is a non-concept. As craggy said, the whole gender thing could've been removed entirely by using factions, but the current Arcee already botched that plan.

The 'walking plothole' argument only works at the current stage of speculation, as Scott has already pointed out that Windblade's backstory will explain her existence alongside Arcee, as a woman. And 'cisgender woman' is, as pointed out above, 'just' a woman - but the latter is a type of language which is not well-accepted by people in the fandom and beyond who realise all the points made so far about genders and sexuality. No lambasting, no attacks, just a point that an author is making to become less exclusive, and fans helping her in that.

Which can only be a good thing.

Sabrblade wrote:*sigh*

It's thread like these that make me wonder if Seibertron is slowly turning into the next TFW2005.

What do you mean by this statement?

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, the facepaint is not Geisha-inspired, its Kabuki, which is why it's so garish. I could understand some people being upset if it were truly Geisha.

In any case, I think we need to accept that, as a property that is meant to appeal to us as human beings, and have a high degree of longevity, every aspect of human nature is going to be represented in some fashion. We stick with those things we can relate to, and move away from those things we can't. Hasbro, IDW, and yes, even Paramount want us to stick around for as long as possible, so they simply can't ever make Transformers too alien. Hence, accents, psychological problems, biological correlations, and even gender are going to be represented. I'd rather just accept them and not have them explained with some inane plot.

While I can't say I like the design of Windblade all that much, and, as another has stated, I would like to possibly see more cultures touched upon rather than the number of Asian culture based ones we've had, like Drift, Bludgeon, and Prowl from animated. Nothing against the culture, I'd just like to see some more stuff, perhaps something less people know about. However, I feel that the character of Windblade herself is in good hands, as the writer seems to be very learned. I think that's the right word.

Although, I do have to disagree with her when she says that, practically, Transformers are not asexual, mostly where she says that the voice being changed to a female would make the character feel changed. I say this is less a matter of what the character's gender may be, but rather just... Well, how they sound and what we're used to. If Megatron still had a male voice, but it was very high-pitched, it would feel equally as changed as if he had a female voice.

But, yeah, I feel like the writer knows what she's doing, overall. And now I wait for David Willis of Shortpacked to make fun of the people commenting here.