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Hasbro announced Friday via USA Today that it is creating a new, all-female team of Transformers. Although Transformers fans will be quick to tell you that the robots are genderless, a large majority have self-identified as male and have been depicted as such -- with only a small minority being female. That's changing now, as Hasbro is organizing some of its stand-out female Transformers at the behest of Transformers female fanbase.

"Our female fans have demanded to be part of the story," says Hasbro's senior brand manager for Transformers. "To have them be represented as well is something that's only natural."

The team, which as of yet has no name, will be composed of six new female Autobots who combine to form a new character named Victorion. This sextet will debut first in comics in July's Transformers: Combiner Hunters miniseries from IDW, with Hasbro planning a toy line later in the year.

This announcement comes coincidentally on the heels of Warner Bros' announcement of orchestrated marketing push for DC's female super heroes under the banner of DC Super Hero Girls.

This isn't the first time fan response has encouraged Hasbro to diversify the Transformers line. In 2013 an online fan poll resulted in the creation of a new Autobot, Windblade, which has been featured prominently in IDW's Transformers comics. Although some might think of the classic Transformers series as being just a "boy's club," female characters such as Arcee and Chromia were included early on in various television series, movies and comics.

"People are more accepting now of women playing stronger roles in everything across the board, whether it's animation or television or film," says actress Constance Zimmer, who voises the female Autobot Strongarm in the animated Transformers: Robots In Disguise animated series.

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Originally posted by Kazenji
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