User:PanagiotisZois/sandbox3

Background
In 1982 American toy company Hasbro licensed the Diaclone and Microman toylines from the Japanese company Takara; the former consisted of transforming vehicles, which were piloted by miniature figures from the latter. Hasbro combined the two toylines to create Transformers in 1984 and. In order to better market and sell the toys, Hasbro decided to work with Marvel Comics to create backstories for their characters. Jim Shooter and Dennis O'Neil were hired by Hasbro to create the backstory and narrative of the franchise. Afterward, Bob Budiansky created most of the Transformers characters, coming up with names and personalities for each robot.

The Transformers animated series aired from September 17, 1984 to November 11, 1987 in syndication, for a total of four seasons. A comic book also titled The Transformers began publication by Marvel in September 1984. Initially meant to be a miniseries, it went on to publish 80 issues until 1991. Within both of these mediums and most of the Transformers franchise, the Transformers are alien lifeforms that come from the planet Cybertron and are separated into two factions: the heroic Autobots led by Optimus Prime, and the villainous Decepticons led by Megatron.

Generation 1
According to Budiansky, he originally intended for Ratchet—who acts as the Autobots' medic—to have been a female character. However, one of Hasbro's executives told him that little boys would not be interested in a female character, and Ratchet's gender was changed to male.Ratchet Female

Between the second and third seasons of the cartoon, The Transformers: The Movie was released in theaters in 1986. According to Ron Friedman who wrote the movie, he had to fight with Hasbro for the inclusion of the female Autobot Arcee in the story. Friedman stated that part of the reason he wished to include a female Transformer was because his daughter was a fan of the franchise and had protested the lack of female characters.

Beast Wars
Female Transformers in the Beast Wars franchise—appearing in Beast Wars: Transformers (1996–99) and Beast Machines: Transformers (1999–2000)—included Airazor and Blackarachnia.

IDW Publishing
When IDW Publishing gained the licensing rights to the franchise in 2005, veteran writer Simon Furman created the new Transformers universe. Within this new continuity, the Transformers are genderless and the female Arcee—who first appeared in 2009—who became female due to a science experiment that attempted to introduce gender into the Transformers race.

In 2013 Hasbro held a poll that allowed fans to vote on the next Transformers character to be created, including their gender. Once the results came in, Hasbro created the female Autobot Windblade. Windblade would get a toy and four-issue miniseries in 2014. During the "Dark Cybertron" event, Windblade would be introduced alongside two other female Transformers; Chromia and newly-created character Nautica. Windblade and Chromia would have starring roles in The Transformers: Windblade, and Nautica in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.

Analysis and reception
Mikey Fahey of Kotaku responded negatively to Arcee's status as female being the result of an experiment in IDW's comic continuity.

Discussing Windblade's then-upcoming appearance in 2014, Jaydot Sloane of The Mary Sue discussed the some of the negative reaction toward a female Transformers being created. Sloane noted how, given the fact the Transformers are robots who lack a biological sex or genitalia, and do not reproduce, some fans believe they "do not need sexes". This statement is something that Mikey Fahey of Kotaku also discussed, noting that "some people are vexxed" by the presence of a female Transformed as a race that does not reproduce would not need separate genders. However, Sloane rebutted this belief by pointing out that while the Transformers may lack biological sex, or even gender identities, the majority of them are still male-coded and percieved as male.

Regarding Windbalde's creation, Sloane expressed her excitement at a female Transformers being added to the franchise, as "representation matters".

Response from insiders
Regarding the portrayal of female Transformers in IDW's continuity that began in 2005 with Simon Furman's The Transformers: Infiltration, comics writer Mairghread Scott criticized Arcee's backstory of being female due to a science experiment and her turn to violence. Scott stated that while the concept that "someone is fundamentally changed against her will and struggles/rages against that is a really interesting idea", the character's presentation was a negative portrayal of women, as it presented women's existence being and oddity and correllated to mental illness. Scott also criticize the scarcity of female Transformers in the franchsie, and that Arcee's backstory in conjunction with her status as the sole female Transformer is what made her character problematic.

Speaking about the 2014 The Transformers: Windblade miniseries, Scott and artist Sarah Stone stated that both Hasbro and IDW were very supportive of them being the "first female writer/artist team on a Transformers book", which Andrew Wheeler notes is a boys-franchise.

2010-14

 * 1) https://comicsalliance.com/transformers-windblade-comic-interview-idw-mairghread-scott-sarah-stone-female-women-creators/ (April 2014)
 * 2) https://www.themarysue.com/transformers-windblade-review/ (May 2014)

2015

 * 1) https://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/02/my-first-third-party-transformer-is-a-complicated-woman/
 * 2) https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/25/8496915/transformers-rolling-out-all-female-fighting-force-this-summer
 * 3) https://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/transformers-artist-unveils-new-fembot-designs-1.3076602
 * 4) https://www.themarysue.com/things-we-saw-today-866/
 * 5) https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/25/8496915/transformers-rolling-out-all-female-fighting-force-this-summer
 * 6) https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/2015/04/23/transformers-female-characters/26236633/
 * 7) https://screencrush.com/transformers-female-only-team/
 * 8) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hasbro-release-new-female-transformers-791262
 * 9) https://www.themarysue.com/female-transformers-crew/
 * 10) https://kotaku.com/transformers-first-all-female-combiner-team-is-all-the-1717199757
 * 11) https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/05/transformers-hasbro-unleashes-the-combiner-hunters-at-sdcc
 * 12) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/transformers-forming-epic-storyline-toys-830399

2016

 * 1) https://www.vice.com/en/article/mvkjvp/comic-writer-simon-furman-discusses-three-decades-of-transformers-and-new-game-earth-wars-707
 * 2) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/02/transformers-lost-light-comic-same-sex-partnerships
 * 3) https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/07/03/diversity-dream-casting-hollywood-movies/86566410/
 * 4) https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/transformers-rescue-bots-preview-introducing-160409759.html
 * 5) https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/06/toy-time-plays-with-victorion-transformers-first-female-combiner/
 * 6) https://comicsalliance.com/transformers-combiner-wars-victorion-review/
 * 7) https://www.inverse.com/article/24025-men-women-differences-transformers-study-facial-recognition

2017

 * 1) https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/transformers-comics-idw-1.4203312
 * 2) https://bleedingcool.com/comics/lug-anode-trans-transformers-lost-light/

2018

 * 1) https://screenrant.com/meet-newest-female-transformers/
 * 2) https://www.cbr.com/transformers-autobots-powerful-ranked/

2019

 * 1) https://comicbook.com/anime/news/transformers-war-for-cybertron-siege-linsay-rousseau-elita-1/

Scholarly Papers

 * 1) https://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=00145483&asa=Y&AN=87655859&h=sXlIpgnGs8%2fV9TWj6VFhW%2bSRwPzLvmc33xKQ2xq4%2fhjW0CoXLWbTnqKuLd%2bhcNUlw%2bL4JEHj8ZKjQRL1kOM33A%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d00145483%26asa%3dY%26AN%3d87655859
 * 2) https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=1984&q=%22transformers%22+and+%22female%22+and+%22autobots%22&btnG=
 * 3) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08824099509362058
 * 4) "transformers" and "female"
 * 5) https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED293187