#animated arcee

had 2 map this 2 get out of head, orange is stuff that we basically/actually know, black arrows r speculation. this head design map of Arcee only goes up to 2018 & doesnt cover everything. amazed that Blackarachnia is part of this & roots of prime arcee r basically unknown afaik!

would love to know whats going on with prime arcee's lil' upper cheek guard stubs that are like idw1 arcee's but hidden under her pointy cheek guard ridges. she also shares the chin armor that binaltech arcee & art of war #5 arcee were 1st to have followed by idw1 & animated 'cee.

Hello, Transformer fans.

As a woman, it was inevitable that sooner or later, I was going to do a character analysis of Arcee the most iconic if not recognisable female Transformer in the lore. Specifically, the G1 version. I personally always liked her and still like her now, and despite what many people think, she was very progressive for her time.

Arcee first debuted in the comics and initially, her inception was meant to poke fun at feminism at how introducing a female character for the sake of doing so is in fact sexist. It also caused the great confusion and rift among fans as to whether Transformers have genders or not. Her coming was supposed to reinforce that they did not, BUT since the Beast Wars era, this fact was retconned and it is now 100% official that Transformers do indeed have genders as they even have gender related biology and pronouns.

Even before that, Arcee was reintroduced during the 80s in the animated movie in which she was debuted as a female and darn proud of it with her voluptuous physique, pink and white colouring, her bright red lipstick and her Princess Leia style helm. Right off the bat, Arcee may have been all things feminine, but she was just as much a femme fatale. She nowhere near being a damsel in distress and what she lacked in size or firepower, she made up for in skill and courage. Plus, she had quite a long string of broken hearts behind her which included Rodimus Prime, Springer, Skywarp and many other impressionable mechs. Yet, she was always at the end of the day, a strong independent femme who despite enjoying the company of mechs, didn’t really need one. In many ways, she was the first sex positive female character in fiction. At least in Transformers. Yet, everyone only remembers her pink colouring and poofy lips.

I admit that in appearance, Arcee was kind of stereotyped, but in her defence, she wasn’t the only one. Just take a good look at Kup. And least she was not a negative stereotype. She was never catty or unkind towards anyone not even other women. Arcee was kind to everyone, she was diplomatic and perhaps even protective at times. Moreover, her kind nature was proactive not submissive. And just because she was kind doesn’t mean she took anyone’s trash. She didn’t. She spoke her mind. If anything, Arcee was a good role model for girls by showing them that being strong and having an opinion can be done without being mean or rude. And to not see men as the enemy. You should stand up for yourself, but not every disagreement merits aggression or is a personal attack against you. With this all said and done, Arcee was never unfeminist. She was just a feminist who also happened to be feminine and pleasant. Ok, maybe her comic introduction was rocky and controversial, but the cartoon reintroduction made up for it.

Since her G1 debut, Arcee went on to become an icon in the Transformers lore. She is even mentioned in Beast Wars as being Rattrap’s great aunt and she was originally supposed to be one of the main members of the Autobot gang in the first Michael Bay movie. At times, she was not shown in a very just light in my opinion like the Bay Era. Though I think the Animated Era really downgraded her character immensely especially since she was initially conceptualised to be a fighter.

In the comics later though and especially in Prime, Arcee at long last was given the respect she had always deserved by once again being portrayed as a strong independent femme and a skilled warrior. As always, she is still shamelessly feminine even when her dominant colour isn’t pink and more power to her that she is so. After analysing her first incarnation, this ought to be the definitive way we should always portray her as. She has influence over the Transformers lore after all.

Anyway, that is just my analysis and take away from her. I would like to hear yours.

If you have a Transformers theory or character analysis you want explored, please let me know in my ask box. And please, support me through Patreon or Ko-fi if you want me to make Transformers merch and videos. Or if you want a commission of your favourite bot, let me know in my shop. All links are on my profile page.

Bots helping out trans transformers - yes, all the circumstances depicted in this context are derivable from canon at this point. Also a post about part of how we got deep into transformers after watching Cyberverse, learning about trans ones, and the value of the stories. The thoughts are after the image IDs.

ID 1 of 4: A diorama of toy transformers on a trans flag floor in front of a sci-fi polity backdrop. On the bunk lying down is a IDW1 Arcee with her right hand raised in enthusiasm. Her left hand is held by PRID Arcee, who is also holding an energon goods box near her counterpart while turning to look to her left, as is Anode next to Lug, in turn near BBM, ER, IDW2, and Energon Arcees doing the same. Three medics are standing around PRID Arcee: BBM Ratchet with a hand to his head an MP Ratchet medical arm out his back, Minerva with an arm around him & clenching a wrench, & a custom Velocity sticking a cylindrical accessory into IDW1 Arcee's back stack as if a syringe. That Arcee has a cable running into her back. her sword hilts, a rifle, a red jetpack, & her old Spotlight Arcee back stacks by the bunk. In front is S86 Arcee with a sword over her shoulder & holding Jhiaxus's head, while Q-TF Arcee holds his rifle. Road Rage, Sideswipe, Chromia, & Animated Arcee block the entry of Ultra Magnus. End ID.

ID 2 of 4: On the same background as before is a diorama with boxes and books assembled to resemble two small apartment homes. A door made out of a sketchpaper cardboard cover is open to the apartment on the left, with a custom Velocity (from TR Blurr) standing in the doorway. Ahead of her to the right is a custom Nautica (from WFC Chromia) being embraced by a custom Lug (from TR Rewind) while a custom Anode (from RID15 Warrior Windblade) has her hands raised in excitement. Behind her IDW2 Arcee (from WFC Nightbird) shares an embrace with WFC Greenlight while the two have arms outstretched looking at the open home. Jetpack and prime armor accessories are at the feet of Lug, Anode, Arcee, and Greenlight, imitating luggage, and Anode has a fusion cannon firing chamber/grip stored in her back turbine, also imitating luggage of a sort. End ID.

ID 3 of 4: On the same backdrop with no additional structures are just some transformer toys. To the left is PotP Elita with and TR Overlord with arms on the hips or hanging to the side, and Origins Bumblebee waving. The three are watching with pride as BW Archadis and WFC Vertebreak run towards each other, WFC Acid Storm shares an embrace with Ion Storm and Nova Storm, and BBM Soundwave hugs a BBM Howlback who has leaped onto him, head and front legs on his shoulders. Gathered by those last two are BBM Buzzsaw sitting in bird mode, BBM Ravage sitting on back legs with jaws open in a howl, and BBM Frenzy waving back at Bumblebee. End ID.

ID 4 of 4: On the same trans flag and polityscape background as before, a tense situation is depicted with a transformer diorama. On the left side from back to front is Cheetor holding the Allspark & a sword, Legacy Prime Arcee holding the Omega Lock, & the Forge of Solus Prime is seen raised by a barely visible Smokescreen, standing behind the next row of bots: Legacy Bulkhead with his mace & rotary blaster out, FoC Jazz w/ a pistol raised, & Universe Tread Bolt with shoulder cannons up & his blaster over his shoulders. Next up are S86 Rodimus with a pistol and a blast effect lit Matrix, Siege Rung, WFC Airazor, a Mistress of Flame w/ hammer, IDW1 Arcee w/ swords, & CW Pyra Magna with her ax. Last in front are Cyberverse deluxe Grimlock in Trex mode, and TR Windblade holding the T30 Stormfall sword. Opposite the bots are SG Flamewar with a rotary blaster and shield raised, Cyberverse deluxe Dead End, Kingdom Cyclonus, Siege Megs, & Ultra Slipstream with blasters raised, & Motormaster with sword. End ID.

So- First image: IDW1 Arcee did actually have a reformatting surgery of her own volition from Ratchet in MTMTE #27 Dark Cybertron Chapter 10 The Becoming, and she was happy about it, unlike the extra bullshit Jhiaxus tacked on to her surgery from him! Anode helped her out in between those events for a while. Arcees generally, trans or no, care deeply about ethics and compassion of some sort, helping people out and willing to put their all into it. Showing up for the surgery of someone they care about is the kind of thing they'd do. Magnus is there cuz' he arrested her in Spotlight Arcee. Which well, prison wasn't what she (or anyone) needed for what her situation was. Sideswipe was there because even though he didn't understand her much until the end, HE TRUSTED HER ANYWAY, stood by her choices, risked his life for her as she did for him. Chromia is there because of how close she is with Windblade and how Windblade sees things, more on that later.

The second image is because Anode & Lug had been homeless for at least part of the duration of Great War, & Arcee in An Arcee Sort of Day having had trouble getting a housing loan. We chose Nautica to help them because she eventually understood Anode and Lug’s economic reasons for theft after initially taking issue with them.

The 3rd image doesn't have to do with the characters as much as it does things from IDW1 & AVP (although Archadis, Howlback, and Overlord’s gender expansive stories come up in Ask Vector Prime): in the former, the loneliness of trans characters shown, cut off from or having lost community & understanding from people, & eventually finding family. In the latter, working together for euphoria.

The last image is a bit more abstract/cobbled together. The Decepticons in e.g. Cyberverse, sought to meddle with Cybertron's reproductive autonomy: deciding form & role for new gens ('Perfect' Decepticons) with similar assignment for MTOs in IDW1, and forced weaponization (e.g. FoC). The Autobots have also sometimes been guilty of aspects of the latter two, but they more often champion autonomy as a way of life. Remaking/reforging derived from Solus Prime's story is an important metaphor/value for Camiens like Windblade, who respected Arcee when few would. The collective souls of reemerging generations in a cycle of life and death with the AllSpark parallels that reforging view, as shown by the words of Dai Atlas in the Escape miniseries, and the Matrix of Leadership had a direct link to the AllSpark in IDW2 as well.

From all this one can extrapolate that the fate of the AllSpark, the value of recreation of self and the access to capacity to do so have particular connotations both for trans transformers and all bots, just as building reciprocity, trust, wellbeing, and protection from malpractice do. Thus, to us, it's abundantly clear that while Transformers in regards to transformers does not deal with trans issues as a copy of Earth issues [this includes how in IDW1 Cybertronian androcentrism that (trans) gals face is not the same as ours] they speak to timeless aspects of autonomy. It is no accident that a number of trans people have been drawn to these stories over the years. Apart from enjoying them for other reasons, this aspect is there. Even when Transformers media is not talking about trans people, it is often dealing with things that effect us.

And that goes on a less dire level too. Like, the fact characters usually have two or more modes that are very different & related. And body modification is a deep & regular part of these stories, something a lot of people do. And the theme of change and agency itself in stories. This is say: if you either get what's happening in our world where gender expansive folks are in dire straits but we try to make joy and love anyway, just as the trans characters in these stories do, or if you can connect with how transformers is- there is something related.