Transformers Introducing More Female Characters

“People are more accepting now of women playing stronger roles in everything across the board, whether it’s animation or television or film,” actress Constance Zimmer, the voice of Autobot cadet Strongarm in the new Cartoon Network series Transformers: Robots in Disguise, tells USA Today.

Windblade is an especially important character. The fans helped build her by participating in online polls to determine her personality traits and abilities. Victorian, a “Combiner” made up of six other female Autobots, is another character created through polling, and is set to debut in IDW’s Transfomers: Combiner Hunters comic in July.

Female transformers like Arcee, Chromia and Solus Prime have been part of the Transformers mythology since Generation 1, but now they’ll be more a part of the present story than past mythology.

“Our female fans have demanded to be part of the story,” says Sarah Carroll, senior brand manager for Hasbro’s Transformers toys. “To have them be represented as well is something that’s only natural.”