Arcee (G1)


 * Arcee is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family.



Arcee is a female Transformer, usually seen in the same general area as her friends and fellow Autobots Hot Rod and Springer, both of whom she cares for deeply. The level-headed and logical one of the three, it is usually Arcee who needs to reign in the other two when their egos or attitudes are getting out of control. In addition to being a fierce warrior and talented gunner, she also just might be one of Rattrap's ancestors.

Generation 1 animated continuity
Voice actress: Susan Blu (US), Masako Katsuki → Yōko Kawanami (Japan)

Although there are many other female Autobots, Arcee appears to be the only one to hold any sort of rank or position amongst the forces found in Autobot City. She seems to share the same basic design as the medical bots on the planet of Paradron, implying that she may have begun her life as a medic before picking up the art of war. Certainly, during the assault on Autobot City her main role seemed to involve gathering the injured and dying Autobots (possibly for triage). Arcee was also instrumental in helping Springer transform Autobot City to repel the Decepticon invaders, buying precious time for reinforcements and likely saving many lives. She was among the few Autobots to survive Megatron's savage blitz on the city, and was nearly left behind when Galvatron forced the Autobots to evacuate.

Arcee survived the attack, and the crash landing on the planet Junk, all the while going to great lengths in order to protect and care for young Daniel Witwicky, a human friend of Hot Rod's who had wound up on the shuttle with her. Throughout the entire battle with Unicron, Daniel's safety was Arcee's top priority. The almost maternal connection between Daniel and Arcee was a powerful one, which was only strengthened some time later when they became binary bonded as Headmaster partners during an adventure on the planet Nebulos.

The Headmasters
(The Headmasters anime ignores the events from the 3-part "The Rebirth" story arc)

In 2011, Arcee either lost her taste for combat or was slapped into her place by the male Autobots. Mostly because, through-out Headmasters, she acted as Fortress' secretary. That is not an exaggeration... she was literally his secretary, filing reports, working computers and monitoring events. At one point she wanted to leave with Rodimus Prime, Blurr and Kup to search for a new homeworld after Cybertron blew up, but Rodimus told her to stay because she's a girl, and girls can't do anything but stand around and worry and make coffee for the men. During a party shortly afterward, she slow-danced with Chromedome and the pair had something resembling a mutual attraction through-out the show (at one point, Chromedome becomes aroused at seeing her transformation from a car).

Dammit, Japan.

Marvel Comics UK continuity


Arcee was constructed by the Autobots as a good-will attempt to placate angry humans who thought that they were "sexist" for having no women in their group. After trying multiple times to explain that Autobots, being robots, had no genders, Optimus Prime gave up and ordered the resident mad scientists Wheeljack and Ratchet to make a new Autobot who would meet the humans' demands for sexual equality.

Arcee's creators built her to resemble a human female, and programmed her with "feminine" responses in her personality matrix. Just to be on the safe side, they even painted her pink so that there could be no doubt that she was a girl. Optimus Prime gave her life, and held a public unveiling ceremony to introduce her to the public.

The humans' reactions were mixed, as were the rotten fruits and vegetables that many people started to throw at the Autobots. Apparently, according to the human females present, Arcee had been made too feminine - now, she was just supporting sexist stereotypes of what women were supposed to look and act like. They especially hated the fact that she was pink.

Being less picky when it came to appearances than the public, Optimus Prime decided to keep Arcee around after she managed to fight off a Decepticon attack on the stadium where she was being unveiled. During this attack, Arcee also managed to save the life of a young Autobot named Hot Rod, who was suitably impressed and loudly declared how great she was.

Realising that even though they liked Arcee, the humans did not, and that they had no idea what would make the protestors happy, the Autobots decided to stop trying. This left Arcee in the unenviable postion of being both the first and the last female Autobot to ever exist.

Generation 1

 * No actual toy of Arcee in her original cartoon model was ever made. Images of a hand-sculpted prototype have appeared in several Takara publictions, but it appears the toy never progressed beyond that stage.




 * The Japanese Transformers Generations book shows a piece of concept artwork of the Headmaster Chromedome car in pink and white labelled "Arcee", a proposal for a redeco of the toy as Headmaster Arcee from Rebirth. (Presumably, then, this was a Hasbro-initiated idea.) The idea does not appear to have gotten any further.

Beast Machines

 * Arcee (Mega, 2001)


 * The very first true transforming Arcee toy (and currently the only one of the Generation 1 character) is a redeco and minor retooling of the Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia, transforming into a malformed mish-mash of machine and organic parts in the form of a large spider. The spider-mode fangs become a grappling weapon for her robot mode which extend on a retractable string. The robot mode also features a spring-powered waist-swivel for "power kick" action. Arcee lacks the retail version's additional chest armor, and the oddly-placed holes in her... well, chest, that keep the armor in place.


 * Arcee was available only as an exclusive to BotCon 2001, and along with Tigatron were the first time since the inception of 3H that they were allowed to use pre-existing characters for convention exclusives. Arcee is also the first convention toy to feature retooling. Attendees to the semi-formal dinner recieved their Arcees with a bonus; the box contained a light-sensitive sound chip featuring voice actress Susan Blu's voice saying "Don't underestimate me, I'm more than just a pretty face. Arcee, MAXIMIZE!". These chips are VERY light-sensitve. Many won't shut up to this day.