Additional Information on Windblade - Cisgender Woman, Inclusivity, Arcee
Saturday, December 28th, 2013 8:20am CST
Categories: Comic Book News, People NewsPosted by: Va'al Views: 54,563
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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
Credit(s): Mairghread Scott
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Posted by welcometothedarksyde on December 28th, 2013 @ 10:34am CST
Posted by Neurie on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:07am CST
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.
Posted by dedcat on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:13am CST
Posted by MGrotusque on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:22am CST
Posted by dragons on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:31am CST
Posted by cybercat on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:55am CST
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.
Posted by Va'al on December 28th, 2013 @ 11:59am CST
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:
@seibertroncomNot planning to draw a chart about it in-story, but I'm trying to try to get it right when I speak to fans.
Posted by Va'al on December 28th, 2013 @ 12:02pm CST
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?
Posted by craggy on December 28th, 2013 @ 12:18pm CST
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.
Posted by Flashwave on December 28th, 2013 @ 12:43pm CST
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
Posted by Va'al on December 28th, 2013 @ 12:49pm CST
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.
Posted by Megatron Wolf on December 28th, 2013 @ 12:56pm CST
Posted by Sabrblade on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:03pm CST
It's thread like these that make me wonder if Seibertron is slowly turning into the next TFW2005.

Posted by Dagon on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:15pm CST
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.
Posted by SW's SilverHammer on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:24pm CST
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.
Posted by Sabrblade on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:30pm CST

Posted by MINDVVIPE on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:33pm CST
Posted by RiddlerJ on December 28th, 2013 @ 1:46pm CST
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?
Posted by Va'al on December 28th, 2013 @ 2:39pm CST
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.
Posted by MGrotusque on December 28th, 2013 @ 3:04pm CST
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?