EarthSpark ArceeLita ♡ Ship Manifesto
“A ship manifesto is a meta essay meant to introduce fans to a ship and promote it by explaining its appeal.” — Fanlore
Unlike most other series with them, EarthSpark has put Elita-1 and Arcee on the same immediate team and on the same planet. This has allowed them to have on-screen interactions, which is a first for a Transformers show.
From the moment they're introduced, it's clear that they're both seasoned Autobot warriors, and have been for ages.
Elita-1 is second-in-command of the Autobots and this is reflected in her personality: she's perceptive, clever, collected, and decisive. She's also quick to step in to diffuse or deescalate situations, but this doesn't mean she's afraid to fight.
Elita-1's solemn blink while Megatron transports the injured Twitch is small detail that indicates she's hopeful for her recovery, but it also subtly alludes to that Elita-1 has seen many battle casualties before; which is congruent with her having been second-in-command for "megacycles" and the Cybertronian Remembrance Flowers seen in S1E16 "Warzone" being of Sparks lost during the battle on Earth.
On this point, perhaps Arcee can commiserate with her over their fallen comrades and friends. Arcee, given her extroversion, would likely have been friends with many who had fallen in battle and have friends left behind on Cybertron (<- as of S3, they remain ignorant of Cybertron's status).
Arcee is energetic, lively, cheerful, and extroverted with a rather physical nature. Following this, she values assertiveness/confidence in others; which is easily found in Elita-1. Much like Elita-1, she's eager to hop straight into a battle or a mission.
They're both adept at fighting (whether melee or ranged), quick on their feet, and brave. Which makes it very easy to imagine that they might train, exercise, spar, or shoot together due to their similar skill set. (And they did work together, more or less, when hunting Twitch while they were infected with the Hate Plague.)
In S3E5 "Fire and Ice" they're immediately portrayed as friends by their continual conversing.
When Elita-1 gets tossed by the infected Bumblebee, Arcee immediately tells him to back off and offers a hand to help her up, which shows that she cares about her.
Later when the temperature drop rids them of the Hate Plague, Elita-1 helps Arcee to her feet (complimenting the reversed and unsuccessful attempt at the beginning). Despite attacking each other when they were infected, they were able to bounce back immediately with no hard feelings at all; that is, their bond is very solid!
ELITA-1: "We still good?"
ARCEE: "Eh, you got to do a lot more than that to not be my friend."
S3E5 "Fire and Ice" wouldn't be the first time they've appeared together, as they were the ones escorting Soundwave to his cell at the end of S1E8 "Decoy".
With that in mind, perhaps they've been friends for a long while. Prior to Earth, they were presumably both on Cybertron.
In terms of visual similarity, they're both primarily pink and have blue eyes.
But most notably when they’re standing next to each other, Arcee is quite shorter than Elita-1.
Not many couples would get to know which one of them would turn into a zombie first (or in this case, infected by the Hate Plague), but EarthSpark answers: Elita-1 would get turned first.
For Elita-1, if including her "complicated" relationship with Optimus Prime, what would love be like after dating him, the Autobot leader? How would the experience of being with Arcee differ?
In these respects, Arcee differs by being smaller and not being the Autobot leader, so a relationship with her be without that weight, but her strength and skills shouldn’t be underestimated due to her size.
In Elita-1, Arcee could find someone who enjoys her physical greetings, shares her athletic nature so they'd be able to regularly do a lot of outgoing activities or missions together, and a long-time friend.
In Arcee, Elita-1 could find someone cheery who knows how to adequately challenge her (mentally and physically) to keep her her best self.
Together, they share interests, skills, experience (among that would be being mind-controlled by Mandroid and later being infected by the Hate Plague), history, and grief.
