Modern day pop culture has much to answer for. We live in a time where political correctness dictates the necessity of ignoring all our old world prejudices. Yet sexism, racism and all other such examples of outmoded concepts still manage to seep into mainstream culture. For this essay, I intend to apply the literary theory of feminism to showcase such an example of glaring sexism in the origin and back-story of Arcee. Arcee is one of the very few female characters from the popular series Transformers. While there will be examples from alternate storylines, the one I would focus on primarily is the IDW Generation 1 Continuity comic books. The Transformers series has been ongoing for over 30 years. It has spawned various comic books, cartoon series, video games and movie remakes. Unfortunately this has led to numerous re-imaginings and alternate universes of the story. But the underlying theme centers around the robotic inhabitants of a planet called Cybertron. Here a war has been raging for centuries between two factions sharing completely opposing ideologies. The Autobots, who believe in the rights of freedom for every sentient being, and the Decepticons, who believe in establishing peace through domination. Arcee is a female member of the Autobots. Although portrayed as one of the 'good guys', she is nevertheless an example of the pervading sexism that exist in our society. The world of Transformers is comprised overwhelmingly of males, with females making very few, if any, appearances. Although the different storylines offer different explanations as to why this is the case, they all come off as weak and hurried excuses. The sole exception to this is the IDW Continuity which I will focus on. Arcee's introduction happens quite suddenly partway through the story. She is drawn as a pink robot, furthering the
