User:Davidgoodheart/Sandbox-interm-6

This is a list of the known female Transformers in the Transformers franchise. Despite being robotic lifeforms with generally non-sexual methods of reproduction, the Transformer species has almost always been shown to include both male and female gender analogues, at least mentally if not physically. Female Transformers were originally depicted as an anomaly, specifically called out as either a thought-to-be-extinct subgroup or simply never existing in the first place. But over the course of decades, while they are still comparatively rare, they have increased greatly in numbers, prominence and overall fairness of representation, and are considered an official part of the Transformers brand in pretty much every continuity. Female Transformers are basically considered a normal part of the Cybertronian population.

In the beliefs of the Nation of Islam (NOI), Yakub (sometimes spelled Yacub or Yaqub) was a black scientist who lived "6,600 years ago" and began the creation of the white race. He is said to have done this through a form of selective breeding referred to as "grafting", while living on the island of Patmos. Scientific consensus rejects the historicity of this figure.

Autobots
The Female Autobots (known in Japan as the Woman Cybertrons and alternately known as the Fatal Furies and Elita One's Squadron) were seen in the 1985 animated television series, in which they were indicated to be rare, and believed extinct by most other Transformers. They did not appear in the American Marvel comic book series, where it was specifically stated that Transformers do not have genders. It is very clear that the difference between male and female Transformers is much more than the shape of their bodies, it is a sociocultural difference, with each "gender" possessing—in a general sense—the traits usually associated, at least partially stereotypically, with the human genders. This list also includes females of the Maximals, the Mini-Cons and other heroic factions similar to the Autobots to give a better summary of the topic.

Transformers: Generation 1

 * Female Autobots - The team as it originally appeared consisted of six members, Elita One, Chromia, Firestar, Moonracer, Greenlight and Lancer. Elita One, Firestar and Moonracer are all voiced by Morgan Lofting, Chromia is voiced by Linda Gary, and Greenlight and Lancer went unnamed and had no dialogue. In the Dreamwave Productions comic books, the "Female Autobots" were an elite squad of warriors under the command of the Quintessons, while Arcee functioned as a sleeper agent of theirs in this continuity. Arcee was voiced by Susan Blu. In IDW Publishing's comic book series, the "Female Autobots" consisted of new fan-made character Windblade, along with another new character named Nautica, and a new version of Chromia. In most versions are the Transformers storyline (such as the cartoon, Dreamwave, etc.), the original and main line up consisted of:
 * Elita One – Originally, Elita One was Ariel, girlfriend of dockworker robot Orion Pax, but when the two were fatally wounded during one of Megatron's first attacks, the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, rebuilt them as Optimus Prime and Elita One, using the same set of schematics. Elita desired to accompany Prime on the Ark's mission, but he refused, saying it was too dangerous. When a Decepticon ambush struck the Ark launch site shortly before the craft took off, Elita disappeared in an explosion, and Prime believed she had died. However, this was not the case, and in the following four million years, she led her troops in a guerrilla war against the remaining Decepticon forces on Cybertron, advised and aided by Alpha Trion himself, unaware of her connection to him. In 1985, Shockwave uncovered the location of the Female Autobots' base and the Decepticons were able to capture Elita One, using her as bait to lure Optimus Prime to Cybertron. Prime almost met his end in an acid bath, but Elita used her hidden secret weapon – a stasis field which effectively froze time, allowing her to pull Prime from the path of the acid. However, the ability was a sacrificial one, as it drained almost all of Elita's energy. With Elita now hovering on the brink of death, Prime took her to Alpha Trion, where Trion revealed that only Prime's power supply could properly interface with hers (as a result of their shared schematics). Still unaware of Trion's hand in his creation, Prime re-energized Elita, and the two helped rescue their comrades from a Decepticon attack. Elita and her forces elected to remain on Cybertron and fight the battle there, while Prime returned to Earth.
 * Chromia – Chromia was one of Elita One's top agents and the friend/romantic interest of Ironhide. When Moonracer was caught in a booby-trap during one of the Autobots raids on Shockwave's energy stockpile, the continued existence of the Female Autobots was finally revealed to the Decepticons, and Shockwave was able to trail them back to their base and capture Elita One. When Optimus Prime was then lured to Cybertron, Ironhide, Inferno and Powerglide followed and Ironhide was reunited with her. In IDW Publishings' comic book series, Chromia was born from the hot spot contained in the Metrotitan Caminus, a distant colony was cut off from Cybertron long before the war and whose citizens had adapted to their new life with by developing differentiated genders. Her people's isolation ended with the arrival of Thunderclash, who had come seeking help from a Cityspeaker in order to aid Metroplex. However, the chosen Cityspeaker, Windblade, needed a bodyguard, and so Chromia (and Nautica) were enlisted. A Bot and Her City The three joined the crew of the Vis Vitalis shortly before it crossed paths with Alpha Trion. The legendary Autobot was preoccupied with an important quest, so the three volunteered to watch after Metroplex for him and keep him alive. Burning Bright Under their watch, Metroplex's insides were besieged with invaders, so Chromia and Nautica hunted them down to confront them and fight them off, if necessary. They found a small group of robots and Chromia threatened to put the hurt down on them.
 * Firestar – Firestar was one of Elita One's top agents and the friend/romantic interest of Inferno. When Moonracer was caught in a booby-trap during one of the Autobots raids on Shockwave's energy stockpile, the continued existence of the Female Autobots was finally revealed to the Decepticons, and Shockwave was able to trail them back to their base and capture Elita One. When Optimus Prime was then lured to Cybertron, Ironhide, Inferno and Powerglide followed and Inferno was reunited with her.
 * Moonracer – Moonracer was one of Elita One's top agents and the friend/romantic interest of Powerglide. When Moonracer was caught in a booby-trap during one of the Autobots raids on Shockwave's energy stockpile, the continued existence of the Female Autobots was finally revealed to the Decepticons, and Shockwave was able to trail them back to their base and capture Elita One. When Optimus Prime was then lured to Cybertron, Ironhide, Inferno and Powerglide followed and was reunited with her. At BotCon 2005, the Transformers: Energon Arcee figure was remoulded and repainted to resemble Moonracer, but the name could not be legally acquired for the toy, and so she was dubbed Chromia.
 * Flareup - Flareup was a student of the Autobot Firestar. According to the toy designers they originally planned for this character to be a new version of Generation 1 Firestar, but when that name was unavailable they called her Flareup and made her Firestar's student.
 * Greenlight and Lancer – Greenlight is mostly green colored, while Lancer is mostly orange. Both are members of Elita One's team and were present when the team's headquarters were severely damaged by Starscream's squad in the episode "The Search for Alpha Trion". Upon the team's escape from the damaged structure, they, Chromia, Moonracer and Firestar helped Ironhide, Powerglide and Inferno fend off the Decepticons. Greenlight and Lancer have no dialogue in the episode, nor do any of the other characters refer to them by name. Their identities were not revealed until 2010, in the story "Flames of Yesterday" published by the Transformers Collectors' Club.
 * Arcee – The best known of all female Autobots, Arcee was introduced in The Transformers: The Movie and remained a main character in the subsequent television series. In the Dreamwave Productions comic books, Arcee functioned as a sleeper agent of the Female Autobots in that continuity. In the IDW Publishing comics, Arcee was made into a female by Jhiaxus in an attempt to introduce gender to the Transformers, an idea conceived by Scott Furman. Arcee was voiced by Susan Blu.
 * Windblade – Autobot who turns into a VTOL jet. Windblade is the first "fan-built bot" ever — the result of various polls on Hasbro's official website to determine most of her character and physical traits. She was officially revealed as a female Autobot at SDCC 2013. In addition to getting a toy, she'll also get a special IDW mini-series written by Mairghread Scott and illustrated by Sarah Stone. Scott did not give details on Windblade's backstory, but she did say that she has "no intention of presenting her in any sort of stereotypical geisha or hand-over-her-mouth-anime-girl role." Windblade made her first comics appearance in Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #26, which was Chapter 8 of the Dark Cybertron event. Following that event, she was featured in a 4-issue miniseries, released from April-July 2014. This miniseries was notable for being first Transformers comic with an all-female creative team. Windblade also appears in Transformers: Combiner Wars where she embarks on a crusade to prevent the creation of an army of Combiners.
 * Nautica - an Autobot from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. An intellectual gifted to the point of possibly being an outlier, Nautica has studied more subjects than you can shake a stick at, from literature to cartography to moral philosophy. By trade she's a quantum mechanic—an engineer with focus on faster-than-light starships—and as such can usually be seen carrying her trusty wrench. Hailing from the colony world of Caminus alongside her friends Chromia and Windblade, Nautica can be rather clueless about the history of Cybertron and the war, but she's eager to learn from her new friends on the Lost Light. Nautica transforms into a submarine with limited space travel capabilities.
 * Rust Renegades - A group of six female Autobots from the colony planet Caminus and former members of the Torchbearers, a group of archaeologists.
 * Pyra Magna - The leader of the Torchbearers who turns into a rescue truck.
 * Jumpstream - Turns into a sports car.
 * Dustup - Turns into a sports car.
 * Stormclash - The twin of Skyburst who turns into a helicopter.
 * Skyburst - The twin of Stormclash who turns into a helicopter.
 * Rust Dust - Turns into a motorcycle.
 * Victorion - A female Combiner composed of the Torchbearers, inadvertently formed during Arcee's attempt to steal the Enigma of Combination. Named after a robot from Brave Saga 2.
 * Angela is a female Sparkbot who was available with her teammates at Japan's Toy Festival in March 2007. She is an agent of Unicron.
 * Minerva – In the Japanese-exclusive Masterforce animated series, Minerva was a teenage schoolgirl who became a Headmaster and controlled a Transtector (a lifeless Transformer body). At the conclusion of the series, the Transtector was bestowed with life, and briefly reappeared in the sequel series, Victory. (For unexplained reasons, the Transtector also used the name Minerva.) The toy of Minerva shared its design with the North American Headmaster named Nightbeat, who was male. (Because both were produced and sold the same year – 1988, it is unclear which is a recolor of which.)
 * Clipper is a female Micromaster from Victory. She is a Cybertron and the "girlfriend" of her fellow Micromaster, Holi/Stakeout.
 * Windy another female micromaster from the Japanese exclusive "Operation Combination" toyline of 1992. She is a member of a team that all transformed into trains and combined to form a larger robot, Sixtrain. This toy, along with the rest of her teammates, was re-issued in 2003. Windy is regarded for her ability to and great love of singing.
 * Discharge is a third female Micromaster. She was also available in Takara's 1992 "Operation Combination" toyline. Discharge came with her teammates in the Sixturbo team. She was re-issued in 2003.
 * Road Rage, bodyguard and advisor to a secret Autobot ambsassador to Earth, was a red redeco of the Autobot Tracks available exclusively through online retailer E-Hobby in Japan in 2002. (Although a redeco, Road Rage's colors were originally to be worn by Tracks, but used in mainland Europe and was the Diaclone colour scheme)
 * Rosanna, a hot pink and blue recoloured version of Flip Sides, was an e-hobby exclusive who formed part of the Kiss Pre-position cassette team in 2007. She is described as a Cybertron Idol who sings and lends moral support for her Autobot comrades.
 * Windrazor is from the fourth Micron Booster set and is the only female on her team. She says that "The crimson wind runs through!" She is a Mini-Con.
 * Path Finder and Smallfoot are female Transformers from another dimension. Calling themselves Go-Bots, they were part of a secret research team that is looking for a way to save their universe from Unicron. They were available with Takara's e-hobby Go-Bots mini-bot set.
 * Alana – Not born a Transformer, but an alien who used a shape shifting well to turn herself into a female Autobot.
 * Beta – Although she would be the last of the primary Female Autobots the cartoon series introduced, Beta was actually one of the very first – as one of the original Quintesson-created robots, she help lead the rebellion against their five-faced creators eleven million years ago led by A-3 (the young form of Alpha Trion). When a Quintesson scientist attempted to alter history by bringing A-3 into the present, a group of Autobots were displaced into the past, where they encountered Beta and helped to orchestrate the attack on the Quintessons' Hive City, the first major step in overthrowing the aliens. In the Beast Machines toyline, the bio card of Rav – who transforms into a crossbow – mentions that he was given his power by an ancient female Autobot resistance leader. It seems particularly likely that this is a reference to Beta, especially since her weapon of choice was also a crossbow.
 * A troupe of dancing girls, seen in a flashback to the early days of peace on the planet. Their design is identical to Elita One.
 * A female robot similar to Arcee viewed on a TV by Octane in the episode "Starscream's Ghost".
 * Nancy – a female Junkion from the episode "The Big Broadcast of 2006".
 * Paradron Medics – a medical corp on the Cybertron-like planet of Paradron, identical in design to Arcee, aside from their teal colouration. Several pieces of Arcee merchandise have been repainted in their colour scheme: a Heroes of Cybertron PVC figure, a statue from Palisades, and the Combiner Wars Arcee figure; the latter was assigned the name Lifeline after a G.I. Joe character.
 * Scorpia: Originally released in 1993, due to the name ending in the feminine "ia", many fans concluded that Scorpia is a female. Without an official bio in any form, there was nothing to support or refute this claim until 2015 when "Ask Vector Prime" canonized it. This series also indicated that she and Vector Prime were romantically involved.
 * Aileron: A Cybertronian colonist on the planet Caminus who transforms into a jet, and who with many of her fellow Camiens reveres Optimus Prime as a deity.
 * Velocity: A female Cybertronian from the IDW line who assists Ratchet aboard the Lost Light.
 * Proxima: A female Cybertronian from the IDW line; an alternate version was mentioned featured in "Ask Vector Prime".
 * Maxima: A new character introduced in Transformers: Combiner Wars with a similar body type to Windblade. Employing a sniper rifle, she perishes in the series' first episode during her and Winblade's battle with Menasor.
 * The Mistress of Flame: The former leader of the planet Caminus, who joins Starscream and Rodimus Prime on the Cybertronian ruling council and wields a long-handled hammer in the Combiner Wars animated series. Cold and calculating, she and Rodimus consider unleashing an army of Combiners to destroy those that already exist despite Starscream's objections.

Beast Era

 * Airazor the first female Maximal (the first Beast Wars female was Blackarachnia). She transforms into peregrine falcon.
 * Blackarachnia is a Predacon who often changes sides. Turns into a black widow spider.
 * Botanica transforms into a plant.
 * Sonar actually a male transformer misidentified as female in a Botcon comic strip.
 * Crystal Widow – Autobot who turns into a technorganic spider.
 * Glyph – Autobot who turns into a Volkswagen Beetle.
 * Roulette – Autobot who turns into a car.
 * Arcee – the original Autobot Arcee in a new body which transforms into white and pink spider.
 * Elita-One – Autobot who turns into a boat.
 * Flareup - Autobot who turns into a motorcycle; repaint of Prime Arcee.
 * Quickslinger is a fan created character which was made official by the club comic. She is a lavender repaint of Cybertron Ransack.
 * "Optimus Prime" - a yellow Spy Changer version of Robots in Disguise Optimus from Transformers: Universe who was identified as a female Optimus Prime by "Ask Vector Prime."
 * Legend Convoy - a member of the Primal Council featured in BotCon 2016 storyline. Little is known about her, but her voice was provided by Venus Turzo during the script reading panel.

Unicron Trilogy

 * Arcee – A second character named Arcee was part of the later Transformers: Energon series. This character was named Ariel in the Japanese version of the series, Transformers: Superlink. In the Japanese Superlink stories, Ariel, the female Omnicon is said to have taken female form to show her caring role for the other Omnicons. Likewise, in Generation One, Arcee showed a protective and nurturing role to human child Daniel Witwicky. In a Japanese-exclusive repaint of the Energon Arcee figure, named Ariel – Paradron Type.
 * Override – Long-time ruler of Velocitron, the Sonic Commander Override (Onsoku Shireikan Nitro Convoy)'s life is dominated by racing, to the extent that she would not impart information, or even hold a conversation with anyone if they did not face her in a race. When Hot Shot arrived on Velocitron, the noble goals of the young Autobot swayed her to their side, and she joined the heroes in the greatest race of all – the race to save the galaxy. Override transforms into a race car (most likely a Lotus), and her Cyber Key power allows her to boost her engine speed (Nitro Boost). She is armed with a double-barrelled blaster activated by her Cyber Key (Mach Shot).
 * Override was originally conceived as a male character, and appears as such as in Transformers: Galaxy Force, the Japanese counterpart of Cybertron. Cartoon Network's desire that the show have a greater female presence saw Hasbro recast Override as a female – a change that, though seeming sheer coincidence, functions very well, given the character's friendship with Lori and rivalry with Thunderblast.


 * The Transformers: Cybertron cartoon also featured an unnamed female Autobot civilian refugee on Earth who transforms into a motorcycle. This character is male in the Japanese version of the series.
 * Combusta is the leader of the Sonic Assault Mini-Con Team.
 * Falcia is a hot-headed Mini-Con, whose goal is freedom for all Mini-Cons.
 * Heavy Metal is the combined gestalt form of three Extreme Competition Mini-Cons: Mudbath, Kickflip, and Breakage. The team was renamed and given the female gender by the Official Transformers Collectors Club. Heavy Metal is the only Gestalt that is made up of an entirely female team and therefore the only known female gestalt in the Unicron Trilogy.
 * Treadbolt is a female Autobot recolored from Armada Scavenger, as revealed in "Ask Vector Prime."
 * Spiral is the leader of the Street Speed Mini-Con Team.
 * Sureshock is the thinker of Street Action Mini-Con Team.
 * Twirl is the youngest member of the Sonic Assault Mini-Con Team.
 * Road Rebel Released as Thyristor in Japan, this blue and redeco of Corona Sparkplug is a self-centered female Mini-Con with a loud sound system.

Shattered Glass

 * Elita One - Evil Autobot loyal to Rodimus and turns into a race car.
 * Arcee - Evil insane Autobot who turns into a motorcycle and wields a cross-bow.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

 * Arcee Sisters - In the IDW Publishing comics, Arcee and her sisters are distinct characters with individual personalities and have different names. They also are designed differently; the comics have them originally as a single entity turned into three by a Decepticon experiment. All three motorcycles feature customizations performed by custom sportsbike builder retroSBK. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, all three robots are referred to as Arcee and don't seem to be separate characters. They chased the Decepticon Sideways in an alley in Shanghai, but lost track of him. They were later present when the Autobots faced off with the Decepticons in Egypt, and were sent with Ironhide as an advance team to recover Sam. Upon finding Sam and Mikaela, several Decepticons attacked and Arcee and Elita One were shot, while Chromia was last seen taking cover.
 * Arcee - turns into a pink Ducati 848. Arcee is a tall but skinny pink robot.
 * Chromia - turns into a blue Suzuki B-King 2008. Chromia is the one that has a completely different design than her sisters, even the vehicle mode kibble and face. Arcee and Elita have a somewhat bird-like face, while Chromia has her movie appearance.
 * Elita One - turns into a purple MV Agusta F4. Elita resembles Arcee, just with different vehicle mode kibble, and a bit bulkier.
 * Jetfire claims to have a mother who may or may not have been a Transformer.

Transformers: Animated

 * Arcee – An Autobot who fought in the Great War. In several flashbacks, she is found injured by Rachet. Both of them are captured by the rogue bounty hunter, Lockdown. She was carrying vital information and orders Ratchet to wipe her memory so that the information doesn't fall into Decepticon hands. Her memory is wiped clean by Ratchet's EMP-generator. It is later revealed that she was carrying the access codes for Omega Supreme (the Autobot's secret weapon). She was originally a teacher, before joining the war effort and was intended to be its instructor, a role that was passed on to Ratchet.
 * Elita-1/Blackarachnia – An Autobot cadet and classmate of Optimus and Sentinel with the power to copy other beings' powers. She was lost on an unauthorized excursion and thought lost to a swarm of alien spiders; in reality, an attempt to adapt their powers resulted in her becoming techno-organic. Blaming Optimus for her condition and feeling that the Autobots would never accept her due to their Xenophobia, she joined the Decepticons, later going renegade and becoming a menace to Optimus' team of her own accord.
 * Red Alert – An Autobot field medic under the command of Rodimus Prime.
 * Sari Sumdac – Originally a female protoform which patterned itself after a human scientist, Professor Isaac Sumdac came in contact with it, resulting in the birth of a "techno-organic female clone" of Sumdac (part-human, part-Cybertronian), which he secretly adopts as his daughter. Unaware of her cybertronian origins (believing herself to be human), she befriends the Autobots. While on their ship, she finds the All Spark which scans Sari, but can only identify her key card as mechanical. The AllSpark bestows some of its own powers onto Sari Sumdac's key card – one of which allows the card to recognize when an Autobot is injured, and initiate seemingly-impossible repairs (according to field-medic Ratchet) – which reformats it into a curative spark key allowing her to heal Transformers. She helps them adjust to living on earth and aids them in protecting Detroit (and Earth). After her father is kidnapped by Megatron, it is revealed to her that there was no record of her existence. The Autobot tried to figure out why Sari has no documentation of being Professor Sumdac's daughter. Bumblebee suggested Sari is an alien and Bulkhead suggests Sari is a robot created by Sumdac. This led to wondering of who is Sari's mother. The truth is revealed when her arm is injured (while saving her father from the Decepticons), with the most of the skin peeled back on her elbow, revealing what appeared to be damaged, crackling circuitry. Professor Sumdac tells her how he found a "liquid metal being", which Prowl revealed them to be a cybertronian protoform. She later upgrades herself using her key (in order to fight alongside the Autobots), transforming her into a semi-robotic teenager. In this upgraded form, she possesses a teenage body (which functions like a techno-organic powersuit) equipped which energy-based roller blades and weapons. Her robotic-looking helmet can also dematerializes to reveal her human face. It is believed she possesses both human DNA and a Cybertronian spark.
 * Rosanna - First seen on Derrick J. Wyatt's blog as a collection of character designs who were intended as potential appearances for Season 3. Rosanna was one character who did appear in the episode 'Decepticon Air'. An update of the previous G1 character, she appeared among the crowd cheering Sentinel Prime as the new 'Magnus' upon his return to Cybertron.
 * Botanica - Also first seen on Derrick Wyatt's blog. An Animated update of her Beast Machines incarnation only this version of her is an Autobot rather than a Maximal. She does not appear in the third season.
 * Minerva - One of the Headmaster Jrs., who is involved in the BotCon story "The Return of Blurr".

Transformers: Prime/Robots in Disguise

 * Arcee (voiced by Sumalee Montano) – A female Autobot that transforms into a motorcycle, like in most modern incarnations of Arcee. Although Arcee was originally pink in the original franchise and other various television incarnations of Transformers, Arcee's color scheme was changed to blue. This change resembles the character Chromia, another female Autobot. Arcee is the smallest and most agile of the Autobot team. She was traumatized by the female spider-like Decepticon Airachnid who killed her partner Tailgate, and is gravely affected by the later death of her next partner Cliffjumper. She is assigned to be Jack Darby's Autobot guardian, and convinces him to rejoin Team Prime when he wants out. Arcee later had another encounter with an Ex-Decepticon, Airachnid when she arrives on Earth. After a long battle, Arcee was able to defeat Airachnid, but Airachnid escaped, again. She is the only character to appear in almost all of the series' episodes.
 * Ark is the Arms Micron partner to Arcee. Arc's name is pronounced as it would be in French, with a guttural R, and not as the English word "arc" (written in Japanese as アーク āku). She was available only with the Japanese release of Arcee.
 * Azimuth - A female Transformer (Pre-Autobot/Decepticon) and leader of a movement known as the Patterners as recounted in Transformers: The Covenant of Primus. She is known to have considered Galvatron, leader of the Random movement, her greatest enemy.
 * Elita One - A female Transformers (Pre-Autobot/Decepticon) who fought alongside Sentinel Prime and others against the Quintessons.
 * Moonracer - Another female Transformers (Pre-Autobot/Decepticon) who fought alongside Sentinel Prime and others against the Quintessons.
 * Quickshadow - A female Rescue Bot who turns into a sports car and works with Rescue Squad Sigma-17.
 * Solus Prime – One of the Thirteen Primes, archetype for all female Transformers. During the War of the Primes, she was murdered by Megatronus, but continued to be a revered figure among the Transformers. Strongarm is known to have used her name as an expression of shock.
 * Strongarm (voiced by Constance Zimmer) - an Elite Guard cadet who is featured in Transformers: Robots in Disguise fighting Decepticons alongside Bumblebee. She accompanied Bumblebee on a ride along, and ended up traveling with him to Earth despite his objections along with Autobot vandal Sideswipe. The trio would eventually be joined by the Dinobot Grimlock and the Mini-Con Fixit in their efforts to capture a shipload of escaped Decepticon criminals. Strongarm is a very by-the-book law enforcer, eager to follow the rules while also learning from Bumblebee as he learned from Optimus.
 * Windblade (voiced by Kristy Wu)- A female Transformer who arrives on Earth on a mission given her by Primus. She defeated Fancyclaws and met Sideswipe. Windblade works with Bumblebee's team to defeat Zizza, and after the battle with Megatronus, she opts to stay on Earth as a member of the group.

Transformers Universe

 * Catapult - An Autobot sniper who transforms into a Dune buggy-style Baja bug equipped with a Gatling gun.

Decepticons
Female Decepticons are even more rare than Autobot females, having not been introduced until after the original series ended. This list also includes females of the Predacons, the Mini-Cons and other villainous factions similar to the Decepticons to give a better summary of the topic.

Transformers: Generation 1

 * Nightbird was a robotic ninja warrior created by Doctor Fujiyama the Famous Scientist, ostensibly to show how advanced human technology had become. The Decepticons stole Nightbird, and Bombshell implanted her with an enhanced brain chip which turned the drone-like Nightbird into a true butt-kicking machine. The Autobots used an electro mesh prison which drained Nightbird's power reserves and allowed the Autobots to capture her without serious damage. Doctor Fujiyama placed Nightbird into cold storage, but apparently did not see fit to fully deactivate her, as she seemed aware of her plight and gave an angry glare as she was stored away. While she did not appear again in the animated series, an army of Nightbird Drones appeared in the first installment of 3H Enterprises The Wreckers, in which they were responsible for the death of Daniel Witwicky. The character was brought back in 2015 as part of Takara's Transformers Legends toy line under the name Nightbird Shadow. A remold of Generations/Legends Arcee, she has a futuristic sports car alt mode and is now an official Decepticon.
 * Esmeral is one of the many mates of many of the Destrons from the Japanese exclusive Transformers: Victory. Esmeral is the mate of Deathsaurus. She appeared in the manga adaptation of the series, making her the first official female Decepticon character, albeit the one who only existed outside of America.
 * Lyzak is one of the many mates of many of the Destrons from the Japanese exclusive Transformers: Victory. Lyzak is the "sister" of Leozak. She appeared in the manga adaptation of the series, making her the second official female Decepticon character, albeit the one who only existed outside of America. She had an expanded role in Transformers: Wings of Honor.
 * Crasher was featured in IDW's Megatron: Origin comic book as a part of Megatron's original inner circle. This is significant because she is a character from the Go-Bots continuity. It can be assumed that she traveled to Cybertron from an alternate dimension in the same way as Takara's e-hobby mini-bot team.
 * Howlback of the Cobalt Sentries, a blue recolor of Ravage exclusively available from Takara's e-hobby online store, is female.
 * Flip Sides is a Decepticon agent and a recoloured version of the Autobot cassette mold used for Eject and Rewind that is available with the 2006 e-hobby re-issue of Twincast, is female.
 * Nightracer, an exclusive toy available at BotCon '95. A repaint of the Generation 2 Go-Bot, High Beam, Nightracer was conceived by Jovanka "Raksha" Kink, and was made to be a highly skilled female Decepticon, making the character the first official female of her kind in North America, as well as in toy-form. Another version was later released as an exclusive of the Transformers Figure Subscription Service.
 * Flamewar is a female Decepticon who in most incarnations transforms into a motorcycle. In addition to the other Energon Arcee repainted versions available at BotCon 2005 mentioned above was Flamewar, a red, black and blue coloured agent of the Tripredacus Council. Another version of the toy was featured in Botcon's 2014 "Pirates vs. Knights" series, this time as a repaint/remold of Prime Arcee.
 * Nickel is a member of the Decepticon Justice Division in the IDW Publishing Transformers comics, serving as their medic. Originating from the colony titan Prion, she is rescued by Tarn following the decimation of the rest of her people by an organic species, joining the Decepticons because of their views on organic races.
 * Swift is a native of Caminus and girlfriend of the Decepticon Barricade; transforms into a helicopter.
 * Megatronia is a Decepticon Combiner made up of five female Decepticons, four of whom are themed after card suits; her toy form is a recolor of Victorion with the omission of Rust Dust.
 * Megaempress is the leader of Megatronia's components with a color scheme that greatly resembles that of Megatron. She transforms into a fire truck, due to being a recolor of Pyra Magna.
 * Lunaclub is a recolor of Skyburst and thus transforms into a helicopter.
 * Moonheart is a recolor of Stormclash and also transforms into a helicopter.
 * Flowspade is a recolor of Dust Up and thus transforms into a sports car.
 * Trickdiamond is a recolor of Jumpstream and also transforms into a sports car.

Beast Era

 * Scylla is a female Seacon Pirate from Beast Wars the Second who transforms into a squid. Pronounced "S-Kyu-Leh", she was available in Japan in 1998. While a Predacon, she is in love with the Maximal Scuba. She is armed with a blowing kiss of death. Her toy form was a repainting of 1988 Seacon Tentakil. The name Scylla, is a reference to one of two monsters situated on either side of the Strait of Messina in Greek mythology.
 * Antagony is a mysterious Predacon from the future. She is the herald of the warlord Shockaract in the original Botcon storyline, and later serves as one of his minions in Beast Wars: The Ascending. Her toy was an exclusive black and lavender recolor of Predacon Inferno from the 1998 Botcon convention.
 * Manta Ray is one of the best energy scouts the Predacons have. Her toy was one of four McDonald's Happy Meal boys toys in 1996 during the first Beast Wars promotion. Her gender was established by the Beast Wars Sourcebook published by IDW.
 * Strika/Nemesis Strika - a Vehicon general from Beast Machines. Alternately a Decepticon in Transformers: Universe, she turns into a Cybertronian 6-wheeled combat vehicle.
 * Blackarachnia – Predacon who turns into a technorganic black widow spider.
 * Shadow Striker – Decepticon who turns into a car.
 * Spacewarp - turns into a space shuttle. Originally an unreleased repaint of Armada Jetfire as a female, she was later featured as a guest host on the Facebook page "Ask Vector Prime''.

Unicron Trilogy

 * Thunderblast (Chromia) – Thunderblast is a female Transformer who initially served Starscream, but turned to Megatron's side based on how hunky he was. She has a flighty, fun-loving, girlish personality, but ultimately, her only loyalty is to herself, and she will join whomever is most powerful. She transforms into a speedboat, and her Cyber Key transforms her missile launcher weapon into an even larger rocket launcher (Phantom Wave). She is also lava impervious as she once swam on it, and she is a master of water travel.
 * Ironhide is a female Mini-Con who transforms into a Dune Runner.
 * Offshoot, one of four Mini-Cons available with Primus as a Wal-mart exclusive. Although Offshoot did not come with a personal biography, she was given characterization on the Transformers Collectors Club web site.
 * Sunburn of the Aqua Raider Team is a female Mini-Con who sides with Unicron. These toys came with DVDs of the Japanese version of Transformers: Armada, and were featured in its accompanying mini-comic book, "Transformers: Legend of the Microns – Linkage" by Hirofumi Ichikawa.

Shattered Glass

 * Crasher – Heroic Decepticon who turns into race car.

Live action Transformers films

 * Alice is a Decepticon pretender in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen who earned an unusual nickname in the fan community for her sexually aggressive actions around Sam Witwicky.
 * Fracture a Decepticon who is based off the Gobots character Crasher. In fact, that was Fracture's originally intended name but was changed for trademark purposes.
 * Shadow Striker is a black and red redeco of Legends Class Wheelie.

Transformers: Animated

 * Elita-1/Blackarachnia – In flashbacks it is revealed she was originally Elita-1, a young Autobot Academy recruit. After being bit in the arms, legs, and stomach, she went haywire and turned into a techno being. She has a deep-seated hatred for Optimus Prime (who she blames for her condition) and desires to return to her original form by any means.
 * Strika – Leader of the Decepticon strike force, Team Charr.
 * Slipstream - A character in the Animated series, this transformer was unintentionally created by Starscream in his image with an aspect of his personality she advises him not to figure out. Like her creator, she is short-tempered and snippy as well as merciless when she targets a weakspot in her opponent. Her color scheme is an homage to the Generation 1 Overlord. Although not named in the show, the Hasbro panel at BotCon 2009 confirmed her name. Amazingly enough, Starscream himself was made into a woman in the French dub of The Transformers: The Movie.
 * Flip-Sides- Originally seen on Derrick Wyatt's blog, she has the same appearance as Rosanna, but is a Decepticon, much like their previous incarnations. She has been briefly seen anumber of times in crowd scenes in the series.
 * Drag Strip is a female Stunticon featured in Transformers: Timelines.

Transformers: Prime/Robots in Disguise

 * Airachnid (voiced by Gina Torres ) – A twisted, spider-like Decepticon who traumatized Arcee by killing her partner Tailgate in front of her very eyes. An homage to Blackarachnia. She left the Decepticons and became a collector of trophies from the heads of various species, and became stranded on Earth after an encounter with Arcee and Jack. She later collaborated with Silas and M.E.C.H. in a plot to take revenge on Arcee and Jack by using Jack's mother June as bait. She scanned a helicopter alternate mode in order to escape from Agent Fowler. Upon being forced to rejoin Megatron after being inadvertently captured by Breakdown, she quickly found herself in Megatron's favor for her intelligence and skill, and conspired to discredit Starscream. In the 3-part season final "One Shall Rise", Airachnid believes Megatron has abandoned them (and possibly been driven insane by his Dark Energon shard), and suggests they may need to consider in continuing on without him. Airachnid claims to the other Decepticons present that they have had to prepare an exodus, much to the objection of Soundwave who manages to defeat Airachnid. Following this attempt at mutiny, Megatron orders her assassination, only for her to retaliate using several Insections, whom she has some strange power of control over. She is eventually trapped in a stasis pod and held at the Autobot base until its destruction, at which point she is discovered by Megatron and relocated to the Nemesis. She later escapes, only to be banished with her Insecticon army to one of Cybertron's moons and become a vampiric Terrorcon who drains the Energon from other Transformers. Her "beast mode" is actually her second robot mode in which the rotors can be unfolded and extended to be used as spider limbs for crawling.
 * Slipstream – Unconfirmed in the animated series, confirmed in the prequel comic. She is based off the Animated character of the same name in that she is seemingly a female counterpart to Starscream. Also appears in Transformers: Exiles, in which she is a female Seeker under Starscream's command who is eventually left behind on Junkion.
 * Ripclaw - A female Predacon who transforms into a dragon with a claw tail; described in her bio as a mother figure to the other Predacons.
 * Ser-Ket - A female Decepticon modified into Predacon form exclusive to the Prime comics. A member of the Forged, a Decepticon faction created by Shockwave, she attempts to bring the Dinobots back into Shockwave's fold, but is killed by them.
 * Flamewar is a female Decepticon. A homage to how the original Flamewar was Energon Arcee repainted black, this version is also a black Decepticon version of Arcee.
 * Filch - One of the many prisoners aboard the Alchemor, Filch was freed from her stasis pod when the ship crashed on Earth but was captured by Team Bumblebee. She possesses a crow alternate mode, and is known as a Corvicon, after the genus Corvus. She also has a kleptomaniac tendency centered on collecting shiny objects.
 * Zizza - A female Decepticon with a bee theme and the ability to take control of the minds of humans and Cybertronians. She intended to take over the planet Earth by spreading her mind control abilities to the entire human race, but was thwarted by Team Bumblebee during their first team up with Windblade. Like a queen bee, Zizza was large and awkward in movement and preferred a warm environment.
 * Slink - A catlike Decepticon featured in the Robots in Disguise junior novel Sideswipe vs. Thunderhoof. She was part of a trio that also included the rat-based Snitch and the weasel-like Sneak, who worked together in an operation to steal pet food. Thunderhoof briefly attempted to take over their operations, but was thwarted by the efforts of the Autobots, who took Slink and her comrades into custody.
 * Overhead - A Buffaloid (similar to Terrashock) featured in the Robots in Disguise comics series as the leader of the Cybercomrade Sect crime syndicate. She and her cohorts were among the inmates of the Alchemor freed when the ship crashed, and their efforts to restart their criminal enterprises brought them into conflict with both Bumblebee's new team and his former teammates under Ultra Magnus.
 * Retrofit - A low-ranking member of the Cybercomrade Sect.
 * Glowstrike - A female insectoid Decepticon who with Scorponok leads a small group of escaped Decepticons.
 * An unnamed female Decepticon resembling Airachnid who is part of Glowstrike and Scorponok's crew.

Transformers Universe

 * Astraea - A Decepticon with a talent for explosives who turns into an off-road truck.
 * Diabla - A small female Decepticon similar to Prime Arcee, she turns into a Gatling gun-equipped Japanese superbike. Her weaponry includes a missile launcher and blades that deliver devastating venom to her opponents.
 * Duststorm - A female Decepticon who turns into a dune buggy and attacks her enemies from long distances.

Transformers: Timelines

 * Blackarachnia - A female Cybertronian who plays a role in Lio Convoy becoming the leader of the Maximal/Predacon resistance in Beast Wars: Uprising.
 * Stiletto - A female Decepticon modeled after Windblade who is an expert in martial arts and, as her name suggests, a deadly shot with a knife. She killed her own partner after he went on a rampage due to an overdose of Nucleon, and had her memories altered which resulted in her believing that she had killed a civilian instead until she learned the truth. She later sided with the Autobot/Decepticon "Builders" against the Maximal/Predacon resistance.
 * Ser-Ket - A female Predacon based on the Transformers: Prime comics character who appears as a member of the Beast Wars: Uprising resistance and a friend of former gladiator Buzzclaw, whose trust in the resistance is shaken when her friend is used in a ploy to cripple and destroy Fortress Maximus.
 * Aura - A security officer in Beast Wars: Uprising and a former colleague of Stiletto's who took part in a cover up after Stiletto killed her own partner.
 * Scylla - An alternate version of the Beast Wars II character who appears in Beast Wars: Uprising as a recolor/remold of Cybertron Thunderblast with an eye-patch over her left eye.
 * Nightracer - A Decepticon sharpshooter who was among the Decepticons cloned by Jhiaxus.
 * Crash Test - A female Decepticon with a racecar alt-mode, part of Counterpunch's Decepticon unit; killed by Punch. Another version of her would also appear in fiction posted on the "Renegade Rhetoric" Facebook page.
 * Raptoricons - A four-bot team of female Transformers who adopted raptor-based alternate modes:
 * Thrashclaw/Thrash - Team leader, appears as a blue-colored raptor.
 * Slice - Sniper, appears as a black-colored raptor.
 * Shred - Junior member, white-feathered raptor.
 * Gnash - Mutated member, appears as a green raptor with mechanical parts exposed; was experimented on to give her the ability to process a different strain of Energon.

Early life
Kirsty Marianne Bentley was born on 18 January 1983 at the Christchurch Women's Hospital. She was the second child of her parents, Jill and Sidney Bentley; she had an older brother John.

Bentley was by all accounts a normal teenager. Her mother has described her as vibrant, honest and compassionate. She was confident and direct with people she knew, but could be shy and reserved with those she did not. Bentley had a strong creative streak that she expressed through drama classes and poetry. She attended Ashburton College, and at school she was well liked and had a close-knit friend group. She had recently begun dating a local boy from one of her classes.

Disappearance


On the day of her disappearance, Bentley met a friend at the Ashburton library at around 10:30am on 31 December 1998. After doing some shopping, they had lunch at McDonald's around midday. Bentley was dropped off at her home by her friend's sister at around 2:30pm.

After returning home, her brother John told her that her boyfriend had called and left a message, asking her to call him back. Phone records show she made a call to her boyfriend at 2:38pm, but he wasn't there so she left a message asking him to call her back.

From here, it appears Bentley decided to take the family's black Labrador dog, Abby, for a walk. This was not unusual for Bentley; she often took the dog for a walk to pass the time. John did not hear her leaving the house. A neighbour witnessed her walking by his house with the dog at 3:05pm, but from this point on the exact timeline of what happened to her cannot be clearly established.

Search
Bentley's boyfriend called back at 4:30pm, and at this time John noticed his sister was still absent. When his mother, Jill, returned home from work at around 5:15pm, he immediately told her Bentley had not come home. After calling Bentley's boyfriend to confirm he did not know where Kirsty was, Jill conducted the first search, by walking the route Bentley would normally take down to the Ashburton River. However, she was becoming increasingly anxious and soon decided to turn back.

After returning to the house, she and John agreed to wait until 6pm before conducting another search, in case Kirsty came home of her own accord. John left to search the dog walking route just before 6pm, and shortly afterwards Kirsty's father, Sid, returned home. When he was told Kirsty was missing, he immediately notified police.

After Police became involved the search rapidly grew more intense throughout the evening, with a mixture of police staff, family members and friends canvassing the area looking for Bentley. This first search continued through the entire night. Nothing was found.

The official Search and Rescue operation began at 8am the next day. At around 10am, the family dog, Abby, was found tied to a tree in a patch of dense foliage beside the Ashburton River, close to Robilliard Park. The general area had been searched the previous night, but the dog had not been found; the dense foliage means it is possible she was missed during this search. The dog was found tied to a tree with a lead of the same type that the family owned, however the family initially believed the lead did not belong to them.

Nearby two items of clothing, underwear and boxer shorts, were found. These were later confirmed to belong to Bentley.

Over the next 16 days, police and volunteers meticulously searched the Ashburton area of Canterbury. Initially the search was focused on the Ashburton township but it expanded out to cover a much larger area of Canterbury. The New Zealand Army sent troops from Burnham Military Camp to help in the effort also.

Discovery
On 17 January, two men in the Camp Gully area of Rakaia, roughly 40 km away from Ashburton, found a badly decomposed human body lying in a patch of overgrown scrub and planted pine. The body was later confirmed to be Bentley's.

The body was lying at the bottom of a steep embankment, covered in a thin layer of branches and leaves. She had been placed in the fetal position and was fully clothed in what she had last been seen wearing, with the exception of the underwear that had previously been found at the scene of her disappearance. A large paddock was at the top of an embankment above her, and the location was close to State Highway 72, part of the Inland Scenic Route.

The area she was found is known for being used by illegal cannabis growers, and the men who found her were out looking for a cannabis patch. Initially they were reluctant to contact police, but decided the discovery was too important not to report.

Investigation
After the discovery, Police closed the scene and ordered a no-fly zone over the area as they conducted their investigation. They conducted an extensive scene examination over several days, and took plaster casts of tire tracks in the area.

It was the height of summer, and so Bentley's body was in an advanced state of decomposition. She was recovered and transported to Christchurch Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted. It took three days before dental records were used to formally identify the body.

Bentley was killed by blunt force trauma to the right-side of the back of her head. The blow or blows was inflicted with enough force to severely fracture her skull. The pathologist determined she would have died shortly after the wound was inflicted. Police initially withheld her cause of death from the public for operational reasons. The pathologist believed she was killed soon after she went missing, and likely placed in the Camp Gully area the same night, based on an examination of her stomach contents and the state of her body.

Police asked for help from the public regarding vehicles that may have been seen in the area at the time. They also asked for cannabis growers to come forward if they had seen anything. These calls to the public did not reveal anything useful.

Funeral
A funeral for Bentley was held at St Stephen's Anglican Church in Ashburton on 25 January 1999. Between 500 and 700 people attended. Bentley's body was cremated, and her ashes sealed in a steel urn. The urn was buried in a specially planted memorial garden at the family home. After Sid's death in 2015, the ashes were transferred to Bentley's mother, Jill.

Media coverage
Media coverage of the case was extensive, making it one of the most high-profile unsolved crimes in New Zealand history. At the time, all major news outlets in New Zealand closely followed the case. The intensity of the coverage was both a help and a hindrance to the investigation. For instance, the men who found her body cited seeing Bentley's mother on evening news television broadcasts as the reason they had decided to come forward, despite the fact they were engaged in an illegal activity when they found her.

However, the relationship between the media and the police and family would also be strained at times. Decisions by media to publish reports that Bentley's body had been discovered before she had been formally identified were publicly criticised by police. In addition, the family expressed distress at the pressure they received from media during the several days that Bentley's body remained formally unidentified.

Suspects
Police have stated that hundreds of individuals have been considered suspects at one time or another, and a list of several hundred people have never been formally eliminated from the enquiry. At times the list of suspects has been as small as 20 people. Some possible suspects have received media attention in relation to the case.

Sid and John Bentley
At an early stage in the case, media reported that Sid and John were considered suspects in Kirsty's disappearance. Both denied any involvement, although John acknowledged in media interviews that it was only common sense that police should consider them as suspects. Police later confirmed that they were considered suspects in the investigation.

Police conducted a scene examination at the family home in the early stages of the investigation, including carrying out Luminol testing. However the tests did not find anything of value to the investigation.

Sid was unable to provide a strong alibi for his whereabouts on that day. He initially claimed he had been in Christchurch and Lyttelton at the time, but later claimed he had hit his head on a cupboard door and forgotten that he had actually been in Ashburton for part of the day. His exact whereabouts at the time remain unknown. Family members have stated they believe Sid was embarrassed to admit whatever it was that he was doing on that day, but they do not believe he was involved in the murder in any way.

Police later consulted retired British Detective Inspector Chuck Burton, who stated that in his opinion, the perpetrator was likely to have known Bentley and been close with her, based on the nature of the crime and the way her body was left at Camp Gully.

Despite this, police never laid charges against either Sid or John, suggesting no strong evidence of their involvement was ever found. Since Sid's death, police appear to have been focusing on other suspects.

Green van
In the months after Bentley's death, Police asked the public for information about a green Commer van, registration number EP9888, that was of interest to the inquiry. The van was described as a 1961 model set up to be used as a camper, with a distinctive Commer branding badge attached to the front. The van was either blue or a faded blue-green. It was last registered with the NZTA in 1995. This type of van was commonly used by tourists and drifters at the time, and in many cases these vehicles were not registered. The van was rare; as few as 2 matching its general description are believed to have ever been in New Zealand.

An experienced mechanic originally reported the van to police after seeing it in the area around the time of Bentley's disappearance. Due to the distinctive nature of the van and the man's experience with them, he took special note of the van at the time and was able to give a highly detailed description of it. The van was also seen by other witnesses in the Ashburton area in the weeks before Bentley's disappearance, and there were reports it was also seen in the Camp Gully area.

Police believed that such a distinctive vehicle could not go unnoticed by the public, and a sighting could lead to a break in the case. Many people came forward to police with possible sightings, but all were discounted as not being the van that police were seeking; the distinctive nature of the van made it very easy for them to rule out mistaken sightings. No further leads on the camper were ever revealed, and it has never been found.

In addition to this, police distributed fliers asking for information on a girl seen near the van on Chalmers Avenue, close to where Bentley had disappeared. The girl was known to the dairy owners in the suburb of Netherby as a customer. However, despite this, and repeated public requests by police, the girl never came forward. Her identity and her connection to the suspicious van remains unknown.

Russell John Tully
In March 2017 media reported that police were investigating whether Russell John Tully, a local man who murdered two staff members at the Ashburton Work and Income office in 2014, may have been involved. Tully had been known to camp in the area of Ashburton Kirsty went missing from. Tully strongly denied any involvement.

In May 2018 Police announced they had eliminated Tully from the enquiry. He had provided a detailed account of where he had been living and working during the time Bentley disappeared. Police confirmed he had not originally been interviewed because he was living in Nelson at the time, and was no longer suspected of any involvement.

Others
After Sid's death in 2015, an unidentified woman came forward to say that she suspected her ex-boyfriend had been involved in the murder. He had been a suspect in the original investigation, and they had both been interviewed by police and media at the time in relation to the case. According to an interview with her in 2015, her ex-boyfriend, while intoxicated, had admitted his involvement to her on several occasions. It is unclear whether she ever came forward to formally change her statement to police.

Recent developments
In 2014 the case was transferred from Detective Inspector Greg Williams to Detective Inspector Greg Murton. At the time he commented that the investigation was open and would continue to be until it was resolved.

In 2015 Bentley's father, Sid, died of esophageal cancer. His death briefly renewed public interest in the case.

In 2018, Police confirmed that Russell John Tully was no longer of interest to the enquiry.

The case remains open and police are still urging anyone with information about the case to come forward.