Transformers notably has a significant narrative focus on reproduction for a franchise
that is generally PG rated. This is mostly to do with the plot element that they’re
robots that don’t reproduce sexually, and the war has imperiled their species’
future ability to reproduce at all, because the artifacts that allow them to have been lost
or destroyed. For instance, the whole central premise of Earthspark is that the first cohort
of Transformers born on Earth is the future of the entire species, because their previous
methods are now impossible. The Allspark is destroyed in the first Bayverse movie, Cybertron is dead in TFP, etc.
This focus is also coupled with the fact that, for a long time,
the vast majority of the characters in the franchise were men (from a Doylist perspective;
the whole issue of Transformer gender in universe is more complicated), this actually
being enforced by Hasbro as part of the brand identity, and all this discussion about
reproduction and the future of the species was happening in a situation where it was made
very clear that heterosexual relations resulting in female pregnancy was not what was going to happen.
I think it’s important to mention that this focus on the this topic that the franchise has
had has been there from the very beginning. In the original G1 Marvel comics, which was the first
place the Matrix of Leadership appeared, it was called the “Creation Matrix”, was the method by
which new Transformers were given life, and yes, Optimus still had it inside him
(via TFWiki).
Additionally, there was a plotline in said comics in which Shockwave captured him with the intent
of using the Matrix to create “the next generation of Decepticons” and told him that he would be
its “parent” and that he should be proud:
In the G1 Sunbow cartoon, Transformer reproduction was more varied, with new Transformers initially
just being built and later having to be animated by Vector Sigma in order to gain sentience.
Gradually over successive continuities the list of ways Transformers could reproduce decreased in
number and became more “centralized” around specific artifacts or around Cybertron itself.
The 2005 IDW comics continuity not only continues this tradition, but feels the need to come up with an in
universe explanation for why woman Transformers exist and why there are so few of them in the cast of established
characters they had to work with. The original backstory for Arcee in this continuity written by Simon Furman
(which is pretty blatantly transphobic) states that Arcee was forged male, was forcibly surgically feminized by
Jhiaxus, and had trauma/was violent and unstable because of it. (This was later retconned to be that she had gone
to him to transition on purpose and he also committed malpractice.) With it established that the normative
presentation for all Transformers on Cybertron was/is male, James Roberts canonized in MTMTE that male/male
romantic relationships between Transformers were completely commonplace and in fact the social default. At the
same time, the comic goes into detail about how Transformer reproduction is imperiled and has been for some time
(hot spots of sparks becoming scarce and the problems with cold construction), with an extended plotline
culminating in a character resolving to attempt to create sparks through bioengineered organic reproduction (the
infamous "pregnant Scorponok" panel). Additionally, pregnancy imagery is invoked repeatedly in unrelated contexts
(see: the scene where Overlord is being converted into a Phase Sixer having the dialogue "Congratulations,
Megatron, it's a superwarrior" "He takes after me".) It is also established that the closest equivalent to
sex/gender as a physical somewhat birth-determined social stratifier in Transformer society where everyone is
masculine presenting is actually alt mode.
All this to say, the Transformers fandom is in a unique situation with the state of its canon material to have
decades of precedent and thematic relevance to draw on to make fanworks where two male characters have children
together, and significant basis for the idea that Transformer masculinity does not have the same expectations that
Western human masculinity does where the assumption is that a hierarchical family will be built around a
heterosexual couple. The general trend in the Transformers fandom seems to be depicting
both male-presenting and female-presenting Transformers as being physically unisex/cosexual, gay relationships
being normative/commonplace, and queering of relationship dynamics around sex and pregnancy in relation
to the last two points. I find this trend notable because of how universal in the fandom it seems to be,
as opposed to being a subgroup of fans. It often feels like the default assumption for the “endgame” of
relationships between two male Transformers is that they settle down and have biological children.
I don't really know where I was going with this. I've had conversations with friends a few different times
about why there's such incredible amounts of Transformers mpreg, like, notably more than any other fandom
I've been in, and wanted to write up a consolidated explanation of why.
