The Female Autobots are a team with a rather self-explanatory designation from the cartoon portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Amazon Autobots on Beta Moon?

The Female Autobots^[1], also known as the Shield of Solus^[2] or simply Elita One's Squadron^[3], are a team of female Autobots under the command of Elita One.

The group's members include:

• Elita One (the leader)
• Chromia (the tough one)
• Firestar (the charismatic one)
• Greenlight (the romantic)
• Lancer (the smart one)
• Moonracer (the precocious young scout sharpshooter)
• Arcee^[4] (the special guest star)

In some universes, five of them have the ability to form the divinely appointed combiner Orthia.

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

The Female Autobots were destroyed by a missile strike during the Ark's launch. Or so everyone thought...

Four million years later, in 1985, they had formed a resistance group on Cybertron, operating in secret. Shockwave discovered their continued existence (thanks to Moonracer) and tracked them back to their underground headquarters. A subsequent attempt by the Decepticons to capture Elita One resulted in the destruction of said headquarters, but also a reunion with the Autobots stationed on Earth.

Once the Decepticons were dealt with, the Female Autobots relocated to a new secret headquarters provided by Alpha Trion and chose to remain on Cybertron to continue the fight there. The Search for Alpha Trion

Unite Warriors

Megaempress's band of Decepticons were recognized as the "Woman Destrons" (ウーマンデストロン Ūman Desutoton), a counterpart group to the Woman Cybertrons. Megatronia Chapter

MC Axis mini-comics

When the team took out a humongous Decepticon, Moonracer began boasting about their success, claiming that they alone could retake Cybertron. Only Elita One failed to share in her team's exultation, as she knew they were only hiding and that the war was wearing them out. She prayed that her beloved Optimus Prime would return soon to save the day. The Transformers: Elita One

At another time, Arcee showed off to Firestar and Moonracer how "badass" she was by taking out a Decepticon the other two hadn't even noticed. She then continued to berate them that war seemed to be too tough for females in particular. Firestar was horrified at realizing that three beautiful women were at three times as much risk. The Transformers: Arcee

Generations Selects Special Comic

The Female Autobots were among the forces of the second Cybertron Alliance brought to bear against the Dinobots in the battle for Selector emancipation in Neo Scramble City. Having apparently picked up the ability to combine at some point, they formed Orthia on Alliance leader Optimus Prime's command in preparation as a Quintesson assault interrupted the battle. Volcanicus comic 2 The Female Autobots fared poorly against the Quintessons' ultimate champions, the Angolmois-supercharged Terrorcons, as a blast from Blot's slime gun forcibly decombined Orthia and began to dissolve them and the surrounding Alliance forces alive. Abominus comic 1

TV Magazine comic continuity

"I'm just the chaperone."

By the year 2010, the Autobot ranks were subjected to a new chain of command. The Female Autobots joined other subgroups, such as the Dinobots, the Junkions and the Autobot Cars, as now being under the command of Jazz. This is the Latest Autobot/Decepticon Chain of Command!

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Hey, watch where you point that thing.

The "Female Autobots" were an elite squad of warriors under the command of the Quintessons. Arcee functioned as a sleeper agent of theirs. Generation One #11

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

Solus Prime of the Thirteen planted her godly power within five chosen warriors: the Shield of Solus. This quintet, led by Elita-1, were gifted the power to combine into the mighty Orthia, a giant inheriting Solus's ability to forge weapons of immense power to light Cybertron's darkest hour. Siege Teletraan-1 Data Files

Legacy marketing material

Elita-1 led the resistance forces backed by her Special Unit, known as the Shield of Solus. Elita-1's Legacy bio

Games

Transformers Legends

Featuring tasteful underboob.

Hunting parties led by Slipstream and Flamewar managed to stop Elita One's Squadron. Fatal Furies

Toys

• Elita One (G1)#Toys
• Chromia (G1)#Toys
• Firestar (G1)#Toys
• Greenlight#Toys
• Lancer#Toys
• Moonracer (G1)#Toys
• Arcee (G1)/toys#Toys

Notes

Heck yes.

• In terms of real world history, the Female Autobots are the brand's first proper female Transformers to appear in published media. They were predated by: Aunty, a female Cybertronian, but not Transformer; Nightbird, a female robot who might have become a Transformer; and Alana, a female Tlalakan who got turned into a Transformer for a short while. Arcee, an Autobot warrior, was created prior to the Female Autobots, but "The Search for Alpha Trion" was broadcast first before her debut in The Transformers: The Movie.
• After spending many years as nameless background characters, Greenlight and Lancer were finally given names in the Timelines story "Flames of Yesterday".
• The Club Udon special edition cover to G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War issue 2, which is dedicated to the ladies of the two brands, surprisingly features what appears to be Lancer with Greenlight's colors. This is the only instance during the 25 years between the airing of "The Search for Alpha Trion" and the publication of "Flames of Yesterday" that these characters have been referenced.
• Had Dreamwave not gone bankrupt, the Female Autobots (i.e. the main four) would have received More than Meets the Eye profiles in the Generation One 2004 Datatracks Annual.^[5]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Woman Cybertron (ウーマン・サイバトロン Ūman Saibatoron)

References