Arcee (G1)


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



Arcee is a female Transformer, usually found 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 rein 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 relatives.


 * Hungarian name: Arszi
 * Italian name: Saturnia (Headmasters dub only)

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. During the assault on Autobot City she was 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, throughout Headmasters, she acted as Fortress Maximus' secretary. This is not an exaggeration. She was literally his secretary, filing reports, working computers, and monitoring events. At one point she wanted to go 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, 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 throughout 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 in an alternate future 1995 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 gender, Optimus Prime surrendered and ordered Wheeljack and Ratchet to make a new Autobot who would meet the humans' demands for sexual equality. However, when Arcee was unveiled at a public ceremony, her pink, skinny, pink, curvacious, and pink form enraged the very audience Prime intended to placate. Shockwave, Horri-Bull, Fangry and Squeezeplay who immediately attacked, looking to crush the "secret weapon" that was promised. Prime warned Arcee to stay back, lest she get hurt in battle, but the female Autobot, rightfully annoyed at the Autobots' lack of faith in her equal ability, singlehandedly forced the Decepticons into a retreat. Hot Rod thought that was pretty hot. The feminists were enraged beyond words.

Arcee and Hot Rod became quite friendly, but with his ascension to Prime status in 2006, they began to drift apart. She was stationed at Autobot City on Earth and got bored by her duties. The Quintessons attacked in 2008, stringing out the city's population to the wall and using a wounded Arcee as bait to attract Rodimus; when he tried to use the Matrix to heal her, they stole it and he reverted to Hot Rod. Despite her injuries, she assisted him in awakening Metroplex and devastating the Quintesson fleet.

On New Year's Day 2009, she was part of Rodimus' team in the time-jump to 1989 during the Time Wars and helped take down Galvatron. They returned to their time only to find it had reset so Galvatron never time-jumped and had instead conquered Cybertron. . She joined a hundreds-strong Autobot team in fleeing to Earth to regroup. When the Matrix-imprisoned Unicron possessed Rodimus, Arcee showed a more ruthless side in being the only one of the Autobots to advocate using lethal force on him. - As Unicron would go on to possess Rodimus again and devastate Cybertron in 2010 - an event she witnessed - her ruthless attitude appears to have been the right one all along...

(Her only appearances in the Marvel U.S. comics were in their Transformers: The Movie (Marvel Comics) adaption, -- and a profile in issue 4 of their Transformers Universe (Marvel comic).)

Dreamwave comics continuity
Arcee can be seen as a member of Hot Rod's underground rebellion team on Cybertron, battling the forces of Shockwave. Both Hot Rod and Springer appeared to be in love with her, though she seemed rather uninterested in both of them. In reality, Arcee was a sleeper agent for the Quintessons.

''Due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy, this story was never concluded. Thank god.''

IDW comics continuity
She's angsty. Again. Which puts her at odds with Ultra Magnus...but the interesting thing is, her current angst seems to be tied to the Dead Universe...

3H Universe: The Wreckers comics


During a battle against a horde of killer Nightbirds, Daniel and Wheelie sacrificed their lives to end the threat. The death of Daniel took a serious toll on Arcee's personality, turning her into a depressed and brooding stereotype. A pink one. She can foresee other characters' imminent deaths, except when she can't.

Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs Transformers comics continuity
She had a mutual attraction to Bumblebee and was devastated when Serpent O.R. killed him.

Generation 1

 * For some bizarre reason, despite her being a major character in the movie, no actual transforming toy of Arcee in her original cartoon model was ever made. (Maybe it's because she's a pink girl -- nah, couldn't be.) Images of a hand-sculpted prototype have appeared in several Takara publications, 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 "The Rebirth". (Presumably, then, this was a Hasbro-initiated idea.) The idea does not appear to have gone any farther.

Beast Machines

 * Arcee (Mega, 2001)


 * The very first true transforming Arcee toy (and currently the only official 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 Blackarachnia toy'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. Preorders 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.


 * Note: Arcee's packaging does not explicitly place her in the Beast Machines toyline; however, her box uses the BM-era "Transformers" logo, and the character is placed on BM-era Cybertron; by contrast, 2001's other BotCon exclusive, Tigatron, used a box with the Beast Wars name and Transformers logo.

Titanium

 * A 6" transforming Arcee toy was designed and displayed at BotCon 2007, but its release has been cancelled.

Merchandise

 * MyClone
 * Super Collection Figure
 * Super Hybrid Model (unreleased)

Trivia

 * When asked about Arcee's design in an interview, Floro Dery's reply was, "Arcee is the naked mechanical equivalent of Princess Leia of Star Wars." Well, that answers that question . . . while raising a whole bunch of others.


 * Arcee fires her gun twice in the original movie.
 * The first time, she tries to shoot a Decepticon in the back as they retreat the attack on Autobot City. She misses.
 * The second is inside Unicron, fighting his immune system. She tries to shoot a claw (missing again), and instead breaks open a giant container of water, separating Daniel from the Autobots.


 * Arcee has the most romantic attachments of any Transformers character: Hot Rod in the G1 movie, Marvel Comics and Dreamwave continuity, Springer after the G1 movie, Chromedome in Headmasters, and Bumblebee in Devil's Due continuity. And then there is the weird affection shown toward Daniel in The Rebirth, Part 3, but most fans don't read too much into it.