Prime's Rib!

On July 15, 1995, in an attempt to forge better relationships with the humans on Earth, Optimus Prime unveils a new 'female' Autobot called Arcee to counter claims of sexism from human feminists. Much to Prime's bemusement, Arcee doesn't prove popular with the feminists who complain that she looks weak and shouldn't be pink.

Just like a woman! Complain, complain complain!

Jazz and Hot Rod are unable to understand what all the fuss is about as the only thing that they can see that separates Arcee from other Autobot warriors is a variation in the upper chassis design.

As Optimus Prime attempts to calm the feminists, the Decepticon Headmasters Fangry, Squeezeplay, and Horri-Bull, led by Shockwave, launch a surprise attack. Prime orders Arcee to stay back while he handles the Decepticons, much to Arcee's disgust.

Optimus Prime is soon overpowered and Arcee is forced to go to his rescue, managing to drive off the Decepticons. During the confusion, she and Hot Rod collide and end up in a heap on the floor, leading Hot Rod to declare that he's all for female Transformers, much to the feminists' displeasure.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Arcee (1) Optimus Prime (2) Jazz (4) Hot Rod (5)	Shockwave (6) Horri-Bull (7) Fangry (8) Squeezeplay (9)	Feminists (3)

Notes

Continuity notes

They're right, you know.

This belated origin story for Arcee came about for two reasons:
- "Recipe for Disaster!" had explicitly stated that, in the Marvel continuity, Transformers do not have gender. While this didn't pose any overt problems for the US series, as no female Transformers appeared in it, Arcee had already appeared in the UK comic several times, necessitating a story be written to provide an explanation.
- Simon Furman didn't think it made sense for Transformers to have genders, as they were robots that didn't reproduce sexually, so if there had to be an origin it wasn't going to be one meant very seriously.
In terms of story chronology, this is the first UK story set in a future timeline (1995) and centring on the movie cast. The next story, from the movie characters' point of view at least, would be "Ark Duty", followed by the Shockwave segment of "Aspects of Evil!".

Continuity and plotting errors

Optimus Prime appears in his smaller-robot Powermaster form. As he had stopped using that body before 1995 in the main timeline, then the story possibly takes place in the standard Marvel UK future timeline (which the notes above assume). He was never seen in that body in that timeline either though (which doesn't mean that he couldn't have been a Powermaster in 1995). It's probably best not to think too much about it.

Real-life references

The title of this issue is derived from the Biblical story of the creation of Eve, who was formed from one of Adam's ribs. It is, of course, also a reference to "prime rib" cuts of meat.

Other trivia

Issue #229's editorial said "Prime's Rib!" would be the next UK strip after "The Big Shutdown!", indicating plans got changed fast as "A Small War!" ran two weeks later. #229 also claimed this story was "for all you feminists out there" because someone was a troll.

Back-up material

Additional Transformers story: "King Con!"
Other strips: Action Force - "Airshow" and Combat Colin
Classic Covers Calendar: The ninth in a series of monthly calendars that showcased inks from covers of yesteryear with new colours. This September edition used Geoff Senior's inks from issue 130.
Free gift: temporary tattoo (Autobot and Decepticon symbols)