The Energon Pub

Seibertron has just sent us our first look at the Transformers Fan Built Bot, Windblade! The character was designed using fan polls to select various characteristics such as allegiance, gender, alt mode, personality, etc. Hasbro revealed at last month's BotCon that the figure would be a jet, but only showed us a teaser silhouette. Below we have our first looks at her from SDCC 2013. That's right, Windblade is a she! A female Autobot with Samurai aesthetics in robot mode, and VTOL jet alt mode. This character will ultimately receive the full blown toy treatment.

Interesting design. Some sort of Samurai/Shogun motif?

Ninjika?!... no, no way... she looks like Ninjika, though.

A new female bot: good.

Hasbro still thinking that female bots need breasts: bad.

Awesome, it's a female! Now we have our second female jet in Transformers fiction (the first being Slipstream)!

You know what her face kinda reminds me of?

GuyIncognito wrote:A new female bot: good.

Hasbro still thinking that female bots need breasts: bad.

Actually I have been reading about the "need for breasts" on the bots/toys. Without them they would not be distinguishable from the "male" bots. The big fear is that cross/transgender identification with toys at a young age. By sexualizing (females have breasts) parents don't have to explain this and there won't be a picket from certain groups against the toy manufacture for the release of a cross/transgender toy.

So to avoid litigations / psychological identification and confusion / etc. it is a good thing.

and we will get this as a toy...

it as a lot of TF Prime Starscream Features designs if you ask me

so an autobot fembot, that is a jet, a samurai?

I buy it

but the name? Windblade sounds awkward... Why not WINGBLADE?

anyway I hope that they repeat the poll soon

Meh.

_Anshin_ wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:A new female bot: good.

Hasbro still thinking that female bots need breasts: bad.

Actually I have been reading about the "need for breasts" on the bots/toys. Without them they would not be distinguishable from the "male" bots. The big fear is that cross/transgender identification with toys at a young age. By sexualizing (females have breasts) parents don't have to explain this and there won't be a picket from certain groups against the toy manufacture for the release of a cross/transgender toy.

So to avoid litigations / psychological identification and confusion / etc. it is a good thing.

*quickly closes the container of Sharkticon bait* No need for such debate, the question of whether we actually need female robots is bad enough

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Fan Build Bot turned out to resemble a really bad fanfic character. Still, I don't recall "face of a geisha" being on of the options. As much as I voted in the poll, I won't be buying the result.

not terrible and could well end up being a nice toy.

HOWEVER, I'd much rather they did something more like the Star Wars Fans' Choice figure, letting us include specific iterations of existing characters, and more obscure ones from particular parts of the fictions that might not yet have toys. Surely G1 (or a close approximation) Arcee would finally get a figure then?

So the fan built bot is an Autobot fembot samurai, huh? i'm thinking more like fembot kunoichi. not to mention her head sculpt makes her look like a geisha, which also makes me wonder about which autobot will be her love interest. i admit, i actually think bot coupling in transformers is ok. after all, it worked for Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, and in G1, in this case, i'd like to see Windblade and Drift hook up, Drift's a cyberninja, Windblade's a cyber-kunoichi, perfect match that being said, i have this to say to hasbro and takara, "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"

Hasbro: "Hey, we have this new character called Drift!"

Fandom: "WE HATE HIM."

Hasbro: "Hey, we have a female version of Drift!"

Fandom: "WOW! INTERESTING!"

Awesome, now bring on the Airrazor retool.

We all know that Hasbro doesn't seem to like making one off molds anymore so they must have gone into Windblade's design with a second figure in mind. Slipstream seems likely as well but they might not want to step on TFCC's toes so soon. So to me, that only leaves Airrazor. Unless they do a random G1 female Autobot and make her a jet. Speaking of TFCC, their Airrazor was also retooled from a vtol style jet so there's another notch to Airrazors side. The samurai motif can also represent Japan's take on the character in Airrazor being Tigatron's ward with Tigatron being a Samurai.

I also wonder what their priority in making Windblade will be. Is it on the back burner or do they plan on making it sooner than next year's poll, provided they do this again.

I really like the design, i wouldn't have thought the robo- geisha for a jet former, but hey it looks great. Though something says that that hasbro had part of her design already put in place, possibly as a companion piece or part of theme. It's neat that her sword(s?) come from her rotors.

Fembot VTOL jet with swords!

Seriously though, can't wait to see how this comes out.

JazZeke wrote:I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Fan Build Bot turned out to resemble a really bad fanfic character.

Thank you for saying it first; couldn't have said it better myself and was afraid of the lynching I'd get.

JazZeke wrote:Still, I don't recall "face of a geisha" being on of the options. As much as I voted in the poll, I won't be buying the result.

I second that. Although I DIDN'T vote, as I knew this would just be a load of nonsense regardless of who participated. Wow, the fans picked: Name, alt mode (jet, nothing specific) gender (even though some people insist it doesn't exist in TFs)and faction. All open to interpretation by the designers. As such we get this. A bad fanwank character with an eye-sore colour scheme and hideous art to boot.

well done everybody.

It isn't exactly what I was wanting (a little cliche with some of the options), but I'm by no means disappointed with the result.

I'd love it if they made this a regular thing. Give them their own Spotlight as well to propel them into the Transformers universe. Windblade is giving me the vibe of a high-priestess of The Knights of Cybertron, who maybe shares a forbidden love with Drift.

Oh look, a quick, blade-wielding female character. That hasn't been done too much at all. At least she's done up like a Japanese escort in case any businessmen show up at Cybertron so she laugh at all their jokes and do an elaborate dance for them after dinner. MUCH better than the heavily armored female Decepticon brawler character I voted for.

At least I can cover up the Autobot symbol with a Decepticon one and cover up the face with silver paint.

Sabrblade wrote:Hasbro: "Hey, we have this new character called Drift!"

Fandom: "WE HATE HIM."

Hasbro: "Hey, we have a female version of Drift!"

Fandom: "WOW! INTERESTING!"

That really isn't the reaction I'm seeing at all.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

_Anshin_ wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:A new female bot: good.

Hasbro still thinking that female bots need breasts: bad.

Actually I have been reading about the "need for breasts" on the bots/toys. Without them they would not be distinguishable from the "male" bots. The big fear is that cross/transgender identification with toys at a young age. By sexualizing (females have breasts) parents don't have to explain this and there won't be a picket from certain groups against the toy manufacture for the release of a cross/transgender toy.

So to avoid litigations / psychological identification and confusion / etc. it is a good thing.

*quickly closes the container of Sharkticon bait* No need for such debate, the question of whether we actually need female robots is bad enough

Why not? It's a discussion forum, we can discuss the topic.

There clearly is a new opportunity to talk about gender, or at least the presence of 'female' characters in a predominantly 'male' cast, though we're not sure in which continuity Windblade will fit (yes, IDW, but they have three series at the moment - though I doubt she'll fit in ReGen One).

As for the trans* point been raised: Yes, maybe, but I seriously do not think it is a good to just avoid talking about these issues. Especially when children are concerned, as they will grow up to be as narrow-minded as the parents raising them, in this way.

Meh indeed. Overall its not bad, and almost interesting, but that face SUUUUCCKKSS. It just looks like a Geisha turned into a robot. Terrible colours.

I am a big fan of this character concept and design as a toy.

I really like the thinking behind the energon sword she uses, how it's charged in the sheath.

It is always enjoyable for me to hear the creative process behind a character and/or toy.

As bad as some people think the state of the TF industry or how little Hasbro cares about us fans, yet ago we are shown a fan oriented product that is also a fan voted design.

What other brand goes to the same extent that we've seen over the last several years with how Hasbro has handled Transformers?

What other brand can we look to to see anything comparable in this fan voted design that will be brought to market as a mainline toy? The closest thing I can think of is The Four Horsemen's work but even then, they don't make mainline toys for their own company, only for others(ie. Mattel's DC and He-Man properties). The 4H's fan voted work is exclusive through their own web store and select venues.

As much as I'd complain or argue over aspects of the execution, falling into gender and ethnic stereotypes, I do agree with whoever said that it's a good sign that a female character emerged from the poll, and that this was carried through by Hasbro.

It shows that, at least for me, the fandom is slowly progressing beyond the stagnant point of 'these are the characters, don't touch them'. And that includes the multitude of kids that probably voted in the poll too, who don't have as many prejudices as some of the older fans!

So yes, good, overall.

Va'al wrote:As much as I'd complain or argue over aspects of the execution, falling into gender and ethnic stereotypes, I do agree with whoever said that it's a good sign that a female character emerged from the poll, and that this was carried through by Hasbro.

It shows that, at least for me, the fandom is slowly progressing beyond the stagnant point of 'these are the characters, don't touch them'. And that includes the multitude of kids that probably voted in the poll too, who don't have as many prejudices as some of the older fans!

So yes, good, overall.

^ All of this

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Va'al wrote:As much as I'd complain or argue over aspects of the execution, falling into gender and ethnic stereotypes, I do agree with whoever said that it's a good sign that a female character emerged from the poll, and that this was carried through by Hasbro.

It shows that, at least for me, the fandom is slowly progressing beyond the stagnant point of 'these are the characters, don't touch them'. And that includes the multitude of kids that probably voted in the poll too, who don't have as many prejudices as some of the older fans!

So yes, good, overall.

^ All of this

The fandom, sure. (Actually, I thought Transformers has always been one of the more female-friendly fandoms.) But then Hasbro had to go and make her a geisha.

Griping aside, the mold itself looks decent. If the inevitable redeco has a better head I might get it.