IDW plans for 2014 featuring Windblade

[griffin]

Some info has been released about what we can look forward to in 2014 from IDW...
X-Files crossover (revealed some time ago)
TF4 comic - it may seem obvious, but apparently they were claiming that there wouldn't be one (maybe TF3 comics did THAT badly)
Dawn of the Autobots - introducing Windblade, the female Autobot that won the fanvote earlier this year.

The Windblade story will be written and drawn by the first female duo in Transformers comic history. The writer is Mairghread Scott, while the art is being done by Sarah Stone.

For an idea of how Mairghread will be tackling the "female Transformers" concept after all this time with just Arcee being the example of what one is, or how one might act in the IDW-verse, check out this article, that has her speaking her thoughts on the concept, and how it will relate to what Simon Furman has already created for Arcee.

[griffin]

Some more info from the writer on the Windblade comic (SPOILERS) - which is being proposed as a 4-part "pilot" to be spawned into a regular series if there is enough pre-order demand.

Perhaps it is the 3rd ongoing series that John Barber was recently talking about, that he said would start up at the end of Dark Cybertron (which is when Windblade was announced to also be introduced).

(it all sounds like she's the new "Drift", with dedicated comics to sell a toy that is being written up as super duper awesome and critically important in the IDW universe)

[MayzaPrime]

Furman really dropped the ball with the whole 'trans-gender' issue with IDW hopefully this will correct this oversight

[Ploughmans Lunch]

Furman really dropped the ball with the whole 'trans-gender' issue with IDW hopefully this will correct this oversight

Yeah, agreed. Also, I've got a feeling they've learned a lesson from Drift and maybe Windblade will be better implemented. We'll find out after Dark Cybertron though!

[Zommael]

Furman really dropped the ball with the whole 'trans-gender' issue with IDW hopefully this will correct this oversight

I have no problem with Arcee (or any other TF) being "transgender". In fact, that's my fanon explanation for why Binaltech Arcee exists; Arcee originally had that more masculine body but reformatted into a more human-like feminine appearance after realising she identified as a female. But the simple distinction between gender and sex is what Furman missed completely and what makes his explanation so horrible. It's simple enough to say Arcee (or Windblade, or Blackarachnia, or Strika) feels like a girl and therefore they express themselves as being female through their appearance and behaviour. Furman failed to realise that gender expression and "biological" sex don't always go hand in hand and so he had to come up with some bullshit to "explain" Arcee, and what he came up with was an explanation that said being female was aberrant, traumatic, and unnatural; worse, thanks to his cack-handed explanation, all those things also apply to transgender, who are an even more marginalised group. This isn't the direction a franchise which is all about fluidity and transformation should be taking.

Fortunately, Scott's comments show her to be far more sensitive. I hope her introduction of Windblade is both workable in terms of canon and sensitive to the issues at hand. Even if she has to retcon something in about a long-lost line of female Transformers, it would go a long way to mending the damage done by Spotlight: Arcee to the notion of female Transformers in general.

I understand the aligned continuity has a slightly better explanation involving Solus Prime which also explains the apparent dearth of female characters within the franchise.