SDCC 2013 Coverage: First Look at Transformers Fan Built Bot Windblade

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.

JazZeke wrote:

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.

That's what I meant with the execution point, yes. Sigh.

"Fan-made", no kidding.


Would be nice to get an un-supermodely female TF. We've got all manner or weird dude robots (Lugnut, Bludgeon, Prime Soundwave, Sky Lynx, the RotF Constructicons, BM Vehicons, etc.), yet apart from Strika all the gals have the same body type.

Noideaforaname wrote:Would be nice to get an un-supermodely female TF. We've got all manner or weird dude robots (Lugnut, Bludgeon, Prime Soundwave, Sky Lynx, the RotF Constructicons, BM Vehicons, etc.), yet apart from Strika all the gals have the same body type.

What about Ripclaw and Ser-Ket?

Sabrblade wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:Would be nice to get an un-supermodely female TF. We've got all manner or weird dude robots (Lugnut, Bludgeon, Prime Soundwave, Sky Lynx, the RotF Constructicons, BM Vehicons, etc.), yet apart from Strika all the gals have the same body type.

What about Ripclaw and Ser-Ket?

What about the ROTF Arcee triplets?

Sabrblade wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:Would be nice to get an un-supermodely female TF. We've got all manner or weird dude robots (Lugnut, Bludgeon, Prime Soundwave, Sky Lynx, the RotF Constructicons, BM Vehicons, etc.), yet apart from Strika all the gals have the same body type.

What about Ripclaw and Ser-Ket?

Still humanoid, and if you remove the shoulder pads, you get the usual 'feminine' look.
The only real difference is that they're more beastly, in terms of wings, tails and heads, than Arcee and her ilk.

But hey, Barbie has just been made with a realistic body shape, maybe these can follow suit, and experiment a bit more!

EDIT: The ROTF motorbikes were an interesting concept, in these terms, but they never really got enough screen time, and the fandom hated the non-humanoid robot modes. Shame.

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:What about Ripclaw and Ser-Ket?

What about the ROTF Arcee triplets?

Evidently they're so un-supermodely I plum forgot them all. I guess I don't really have much of a point anymore!

She looks very awesome!
Kudos to Hasbro being able to surprise me and still make someone this cool looking!

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote: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.

Very well said. Is Hasbro TROLLING us? Because making this "fan-chosen" specimen into a hooker-ish stereotype... just disgraceful.

You guys say "geisha", but I thought Kabuki. As in, could still be a dude under that mask... which leads us to the next commment...

Va'al wrote:

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.

I sincerely doubt there is any company (let alone Hasbro) that is SOOOOOO FORWARD THINKING as to avoid a transgender scandal with parents. Seriously??? Unless I missed the big news story about some kid being scarred for life by feminine guy toys... that's absurd.

Furthermore, saying toys teach gender, sexuality, or anything else is more absurd. They don't talk. And kids aren't really as aware of transgender issues as you guys make it out to be. Here's a great example: Akihabara (in Japan) is full of posters and ads depicting sexualized young women (arguably, even underage), but there are plenty of kids walking around and they do NOT notice any of it. Seriously. They aren't staring at pictures of sexy girls with big round eyes and losing their innocence in real time, as they walk.

Ergo, enough of this "let's be politically correct and avoid transgender scandals" talk. That's not the case. At least, not if you're rational - maybe a Hasbro CEO has a personal issue with the matter and took it upon themselves to demand breastplates on female TF's???

I think it's the fact that fembots that look female are just better looking than fembots that are androgynous. When something is sexy, you automatically like it more, (TF nerds excluded )

I'm happy about having another fembot, and one that has feminine porpotions. That face though... yeesh. It looks like a robot all the way until you reach the head and you see a human asian thing thats much too similar to a human cultural thing to maintain the fact that its an alien robot. It looks like a human's design, and not Cybertronian, is the point I'm trying to make. Wish it was more pointy and less broad as well.

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!"

What thread are you finding this response in? It doesn't seem to be this one so far.


I think the jet mode looks cool, but I have a very difficult time believing that a bunch of children --you know, the target audience that always gets brought up whenever the fandom complains about something-- really voted for a robo geshia. Female jet with swords? Yeah, sure. But I don't think this is really what the average child was envisioning the TF universe was missing.
Although, were it totally the fandom responsible for the vote, I agree with who ever it was who mentioned G1 Arcee, and I almost wonder how much of an analogue for her this thing is supposed to be.
Personally, I'd like to actually see the figure before making too much of a decision, but I'm not too interested in this. And a very stupid name.



EDIT: Look at the picture. Then look at a picture of Slipstream from the Legends game.
Same chestplate, same wings with VTOL engines added, same basic shoulder pads.

Any chances that this 'poll winning' design is a reuse of a cancelled Slipstream design? Perhaps Hasbro left Slipstream up to TFCC to do, and had had a design they shelved, and this poll was a chance to get some use out of it after all? i know TFCC gets permissions and whatnot from Hasbro, and not the other way around, but the more I look at this thing, the more I see an altered Slipstream trying to make people think it's somebody else.

i voted for a decepticon bulldozer. oh well. kinda dissapointed that it's basically rule 63 drift, but at least its not a generic car guy.

im so glad this was a fembot. im willing to bet it will be a TFCC exclusive though.

Doubledealer93 wrote:im so glad this was a fembot. im willing to bet it will be a TFCC exclusive though.

It won't be. TCC exclusives are conceived and made by the TCC. This was all Hasbro's doing.

It's interesting that there is such a thing as an issue with female looking robots. So basically, those who are against fembots/female robots are against a Transformer toy having a bust or other feminine features.

So what is desired by some is a non-feminine fembot...is this any better?



It's cherry picking points of an argument if we don't look at the entire picture.

It's okay for "male" robots to exist and they do because in all branches of fiction from G1 we have most Transformers characters referred to with he/him. Additionally, fembots are referred to with she/her.

It's okay to have male proportions in the majority of robots(broad shoulders, torsos tapering down to the waist), it's okay to have male facial features(square jaw, masculine facial structure).

It's okay to have male voice actors voice apparently male robots/bio-mechanical organisms.

BUT...

It's not okay to have a fembot with feminine features(breasts/a bust).

So it's a boy's club with a big "NO GIRLS ALLOWED" sign hung up at the entrance.

Adult males collecting toys made for children are against a girl toy robot. Welcome to 2013.

As far as the geisha comments, at most, the helmet/upper head design does resemble the basic shimada hairstyle associated with geisha but only from the front view of the head design. From any other angle, the resemblance is largely lost.

Does it only take a head design that weakly resembles the shimada hairstyle to qualify a character design wholly as a geisha? That's all it takes?

Incidentally, the shimada hairstyle was not exclusive to geisha, non-geisha women wore their hair like that as well.

The face design, particularly the red details around the eyes combined with the white colouring of the face is kabuki influenced, as already said in the thread.

I think I could toally dig this character. Will be interesting to see how the final product turns out. Even cooler to see a comic of her or even see her in a cartoon at some point so people can get a feel for her personality.


Not quite sure where the backlash about the geisha / kabuki thing is coming from though. I can think of two reasons the artists did it, even if it wasn't on the poll (which I will admit I never looked at)

1) Prowl seems to be a beloved characters among TFA fans and he was and odd combination of ninja and samurai.

2) Hasn't anyone seen Avatar: The Last Airbender? lol. The show has an almost cult like following and The Kyoshi Warriors are rather well loved. Hasbro is always trying to bring in new fans, so why not (possibly) play on that note - a strong, agile, Japanese-culture reference of a character who somewhat resembles a Kyoshi Warrior from an immensely popular cartoon. Sounds like a pretty good marketing ploy to me!

And as it stands, pretty much anything Japanese is popular in the U.S. (don't even get me started on the "Japanese game / cartoons are better" thing). So I really would not be surprised in Samurai won out on the polls. The face paint just seriously makes me think of the Kyoshi Warriors though. Whether the panelists said Kabuki to try and cover that up or if that was honestly an inspiration, we might never know.

Convotron wrote:As far as the geisha comments, at most, the helmet/upper head design does resemble the basic shimada hairstyle associated with geisha but only from the front view of the head design. From any other angle, the resemblance is largely lost.

Does it only take a head design that weakly resembles the shimada hairstyle to qualify a character design wholly as a geisha? That's all it takes?

Incidentally, the shimada hairstyle was not exclusive to geisha, non-geisha women wore their hair like that as well.

The face design, particularly the red details around the eyes combined with the white colouring of the face is kabuki influenced, as already said in the thread.

Ya, but see, for people who don't really know crap about the details, the most familiar association is with a Geisha, and to a sad, lesser extent, this:

Dagon wrote:

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!"

What thread are you finding this response in? It doesn't seem to be this one so far.


I think the jet mode looks cool, but I have a very difficult time believing that a bunch of children --you know, the target audience that always gets brought up whenever the fandom complains about something-- really voted for a robo geshia. Female jet with swords? Yeah, sure. But I don't think this is really what the average child was envisioning the TF universe was missing.
Although, were it totally the fandom responsible for the vote, I agree with who ever it was who mentioned G1 Arcee, and I almost wonder how much of an analogue for her this thing is supposed to be.

On the other side of that, I don't see parents being too keen to buy their children a toy that looks like a robot geisha.

While i think it's great that Hasbro is making an effort to reach out to the fans with fanvoted designs, this to me just looks like TFP Arcee cosplaying as an Cyberasian jetformer. Maybe she lost a bet with Bulkhead, I dunno.

Hopefully the facial details won't be a messy paintjob when they toy comes about.

Kabuki....

Just wishful thinking but... what if the Kabuki face is... a Kabuki mask? Could she have TWO faces?

Speaking of Kabuki:
(From Wikipedia)
Much of its appeal in this era was due to the ribald, suggestive themes featured by many troupes; this appeal was further augmented by the fact that the performers were often also available for prostitution.

Women’s kabuki, called onna-kabuki, was banned in 1629 for being too erotic. Following onna-kabuki, young boys performed in wakashū-kabuki, but since they too were eligible for prostitution, the shogun government soon banned wakashū-kabuki as well. Kabuki switched to adult male actors, called yaro-kabuki, in the mid-1600s.[4] Male actors played both female and male characters.

So really, I'm saying we can be neither sure that this TF is "female", nor that she's NOT a prostitute!

MINDVVIPE wrote:Ya, but see, for people who don't really know crap about the details, the most familiar association is with a Geisha, and to a sad, lesser extent, this:

Sad but true.

2 faces would be cool -im all for more ninja bots -and here is a shocker for you I LIKE DRIFT -hes not as bad as people make him out to be and i don't see whats wrong with samurai or ninja themes -they worked with blugeon and i don't see why everyone has to say its a typical fan idea to make a character a ninja to make him cooler as it don't work with everything but in some it does -look at animated prowl my favorite from that series -and he was a ninja -its the same reason people like pirates and other things added in. I think we can give this character the chance and see what happens. Also hope it shows up in idw would be interesting to see another female bot other than arcee

Wow, I am so unimpressed...Total camel.

Erailea wrote:Not quite sure where the backlash about the geisha / kabuki thing is coming from though.

Japanese culture/media is so popular that, for some, they already feel like they're drowning in it, and that to borrow from Japan comes across as simply cashing in or riding the bandwagon (or being a "weeaboo"). Which admittedly isn't really fair, a kabuki-themed bot shouldn't be any "better" than a medieval knight robot, but I think we can all at least somewhat understand.

Awesomesauce. I will be picking this up. Here's hoping the figure looks as good as the render.

JazZeke wrote:I don't see parents being too keen to buy their children a toy that looks like a robot geisha.

You really think parents are gonna care about that? They'll probably just ask their kid/s what they want, and when they say "The transformer Windblade figure!", the parents will see a female robot with swords that turns into a jet.