A nonbinary robot on the cartoon series “Transformers: Earth Spark” has generated a heated debate on social media with the controversy spilling over to national TV talk shows.
In a recent episode of the cartoon, Nightshade—the name of the androgynous automaton—tells a teenage girl it encounters that its preferred pronouns are “they/them.”
The girl, who is donning a purse with rainbow-colored handles and gender affirming pins, reveals that she is nonbinary too.
She initially is scared of the robot and tells it she only feels safe when she is around her nonbinary friends.
“It is just sometimes the world can be a scary place,” the teen, who also has two-colored hair, says, “It’s hard to know who’s dangerous or not.”
The show is streamed by Paramount+ and is rated TV-Y7 or for ages 7 and up.
Nightshade, which has both female and male features and speaks in an effeminate voice, first professed its gender dysphoria back in December.
However, the issue surfaced after Libs of TikTok posted a video clip on social media from the recent “Transformers” episode.
Laura Ingraham of the Fox show “The Ingraham Angle,” which spotlighted the controversy on her show after the video went viral, accused Paramount of “shoving corrosives lies down the throats of kids.”
“As a parent, you often ask yourself ‘what do my kids need? A loving family, a roof over their heads, a life grounded in faith and freedom.’ But you probably never thought what they really, really need is a nonbinary robot,” said Ingraham on her May 13 show. “But that’s exactly what Paramount thinks they need.
LGBT media outlets reacted with outrage to criticism of the show by conservatives.
The day before the Ingraham episode, Pink News—which describes itself as the “world’s largest and most influential LGBT media brand—ran a May 12 commentary entitled ”Bigots are Raging at ‘Transformers’ cartoons with a nonbinary alien robot.
“Since the character’s debut, non-binary fans of ‘Transformers’ have said they felt represented by Nightshade’s role,” Pink News heralded.
Nightshade made its debut as a nonbinary robot in December. In the episode, he tells his masculine commander Optimus Prime that “he or she just doesn’t fit who I am.”
In response, the commander readily accepts without question Nightshade’s gender dysphoria, saying “they/them it is.”
Social media posts on the nonbinary robot are riddled with accusations that the cartoon is being used to groom children into becoming gay or transgender.
In a July 2022 article promoting the benefits of TV animations to kids, Kinderpedia—a digital platform aimed at schools and educators—said that cartoons help children “discover the most important values” of life.
“Cartoons bring positive benefits to child development in a variety [of] linguistic, cognitive, social-emotional and physical levels. Children improve their language, develop their sensory perceptions, and understand more emotions,” the article states.
“When watching animations, children rely on a variety of senses. The brain learns to make connections on its own, leading to better recognition and focused attention.”
Several young adults who went through gender treatment as minors have issued public warnings to parents not to be persuaded by the transgender movement.
Detransitioner Chloe Cole, who was born a biological female, has talked publicly around the country about the ill effects she experienced after her parents started her treatment at age 12.
By age 13, she was being given puberty blockers and testosterone. At age 15, she underwent a double mastectomy.
Cole has used words like “agony” and “painful” to describe the experience and recently told Fox News she was afraid her “generation will be led astray” by the trans movement.
In the 1970s and the 1980s, cartoon robots were among some of the most beloved characters among kids.
There was Rosey the Robot, the ultra-femme mechanical maid for “The Jetsons” and the deep-voiced “Lost In Space” robot.
The brawn bot, whose name was B-9, often uttered a line that became part of America’s TV pop culture: “Does Not Compute” and “Danger Will Robinson.”
The popular Transformers brand, which made its debut in 1984, also brought one of the most celebrated movie robots of modern times. The booyah robot was dubbed a Transformer for its ability to transform into awesome hot rods.
When Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy turned it into a toy, the action figure won several awards. Last year the Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures Dinobots Unite Smash Changer Optimus was a finalist for the Toy Association’s Action Figure of the Year.
The cartoon is not alone in quietly introducing non-binary, transgender and gay characters.
In episode eight of season five of of Netflix’s “Ridley Jones,” Fred, the main character—a child bison—comes out as nonbinary to his grandmother.
The show, which is aimed at preschoolers, was canceled in March shortly after the episode aired.
In 2021, in celebration of Pride month, Hulu introduced a non-binary character in its Madagascar: A Little Wild, a spinoff of the popular movie franchise.
Odee, the character, has both zebra and giraffe attributes and consequently decides he is non binary. The cartoon saw its last episode last June, ending just before Pride month.
Lori Clark, a Texas mom, told The Epoch Times, she almost “fell out of her shoes” when she happened to be walking by the television while her son was watching one of his favorite shows “Gecko’s Garage” and saw two mommy trucks in a romantic scene.
The Moonbug Entertainment cartoon, which is aimed at toddlers, is about fixing trucks and cars. The two lesbian trucks are the mothers of a character called Baby Truck.
“They are sleeping this stuff right under the parent’s nose,” said Clark, who no longer allows her son to watch the cartoon.
