The probe didn't find them because they were out of range and couldn't send a proper signal. They tried to set up a means to signal the probe but Megatron destroyed the array they built.

 

I was gonna say that most of these characters never had Cybertronian names, since they were protoforms. But then, so was Rampage and he was already a maniac Transformer before.
I like to think this was the exception to the rule, and that most Protoforms were new lifeforces, never having conscience/names before.

Did Rampage's proto-pod have his name "X" carved into it?

Hmmm, interesting.

I like the direction this thread is going in.

 

I don’t remember whether it was destroyed. I’ll have to rewatch the episode. But that’s irrelevant. The probes mentioned Optimus Primal’s name before they went searching for him. And there’s no reason why the probe would have needed to use his Earth name if he did indeed change it.

Either way, that’s enough evidence for me. YMMV.

 

Optimus primal- Optimus primal (can’t be prime because depthcharge knew him as primal) official
Rhinox- landfill
Cheetor- clocker
Rattrap- rattletrap official via animated
Dinobot- dynamo/dynobot semi official I think
Tigatron- unit 2 official
Airazor- wingsaber official
Silverbolt- n/a
Depthcharge- depthcharge (primal knew him by name)

Megatron- archforce (personal headcanon)
Waspinator- wasp via animated
Tarantulas- mesothulas via idw
Terrorsaur- terrorsoar
Scorponok- scorponaught (via theft of the golden disk)
Inferno- n/a
Blackarachnia- Elita-1 via animated
Quickstrike-n/a
Rampage- protoform x

 

"Official" status is debatable for some of these. Animated did a lot of stuff that's definitely not applicable to other timelines (how being a "Prime" or a "Magnus" works, for example), so there's no reason to assume alternate versions of characters have a similar background across universes. The degree to which Club fiction is or was official has also been debated.

Toward both, the Club fiction and TFA disagree over Blackarachnia's pre-beast identity (White Propionica). Never mind that the intention during the show was that she didn't even have one, being one of the several new protoforms.

 

Optimus Primal had the same name. Not only did they call him Optimus Primal when they sent out the Probes to search for the Axalon, but Depthcharge (who also kept his name unchanged) already knew him as "Primal" when he arrived on Earth.

Rampage of course was simply known as Protoform X.

As others have mentioned, Beast Wars Uprising gives Megatron the name Gnashteeth prior to taking the name Megatron. And Waspinator was Wasp, just like in Animated.

Can't say I'm really a fan of other 'official' pre-beast names they've given other characters.

 

That’s why I clarified where the names came from, of course they don’t apply across all continuities but there are only 3 characters in the show whose names are established as the same before the beast wars, anything else is a retcon. Those names are

Optimus Primal, depthcharge and protoform x

 

Cool.  

I'm pretty sure Megatron took his predecessor's name prior to the Beast Wars, since the Tripredacus Council knows who he is. But he'd have been called something else before that since we know he named himself after the G1 character. Archforce fits pretty well, since that was also a purple Megatron-like guy. Although I think BW Megs probably originates from some time after G2, personally.

 

Within their own continuity as well.
A lot of Expanded Animated Cartoon continuity comes from the Animated Almanacs books. ...which was NEVER in the actual cartoon.

 

Yeah, but didn't those at least have input from people who worked on the show?

 

Obviously Depth Charge would know him as Primal for the same reason the probe did.

As for Rampage/Proform-X we know he killed people on Cybertron, including a friend of Depth Charge which was the main reason Depth Charge was hunting him. When he was put in Stasis he was given the code Name Protoform-X. Only Optimus Primal knew who he really was, as far as the rest of his crew knew he was just another Protoform like all the others. I'm pretty sure he was always Rampage ever since he went on a literal murder rampage on Cybertron. Protoform-X was just a cover up not his name.

And finally it's really dumb for Megatron to ever have a different name. Especially something as stupid as Gnashteeth. That almost makes his supposed original name sound more beastly than his beast name. His name is Megatron, he was named after the original Megatron, he didn't name himself after his beast mode like others did. There's no reason for him to ever have any other name. Gnashteeth honestly sounds like a totally different character.

 

That reason being that Optimus never changed his name. They had no fore-knowledge of the Beast Wars.

Protoform X was created as an experiment to create an immortal spark, like Starscream's. Protoform X was both the name of that project as well as Rampage's original name. It wasn't a code name to cover up his name at all. He didn't get the name Rampage until Megatron gave it to him. This is also highlighted in the cartoon when Rampage explains to Depthcharge, "I'm called Rampage now".

That's kinda the point, BW Megatron is a totally different character than G1 Megatron, whom he named himself after. And BW Megs didn't take the name after he got his beast mode, he took the name while still on Cybertron, given that's the name everyone already knew him by, including the Tripredacus Council.

And we know BW Megatron wasn't always Megatron because he even pointed out in the cartoon he took the name after he read the Covenant of Primus.

 

Rhinox knew the truth about Rampage too (his line about "Primus help us all if that thing survived" makes that pretty clear). The rest of the crew didn't, you're right about that, but only because Primal and Rhinox didn't fill them in. EDIT Also, Sparky Prime is correct, Rampage was originally called Protoform-X and only gained an actual name after Megatron captured him.

Megatron took his name from the Covenant of Primus (or at least he says he did--this is Megatron we're talking about, so his word is questionable at best, and the whole Covenant thing was blatantly shoehorned into the finale, but it is what it is). We're only left to assume that he either had a different name before and changed it after hearing about the original Megatron and reading about the figure mentioned in the Covenant, or he was nameless and named himself after being inspired by both. Most fiction portrays him as having had a different name, so that's what I'm going with. Being fair to the Gnashteeth thing, that's not even in the same continuity.

 

All I know is that I recall the dream wave comics stating that Dinobot’s name was the same before they came to earth

 

I think those are where dynobot came from

 

I don’t remember a different spelling but hey I might not it really paid that much mind

 

No the reason being that the name change happens in the past and they're all in the future.

That doesn't really make sense. A protoform is a shapeless Transformer kept in stasis so how could he kill people on Cybertron if he was always just a Protoform? You can't kill people from inside a stasis pod.

That's not what I meant. I said that it sounds like a totally different character from BEAST WARS Megatron. As for naming himself, a lot of Transformers are shown to name themselves immediately after being created. They're not like humans, they don't require others to name them. Transformers are shown to be intelligent enough to name themselves immediately after being created. By this logic Megatron could have named himself at "birth" there would be no need for a previous identity. There's no evidence he would ever be called anything other than Megatron.

It's been a while but didn't Rhinox say that after Primal explained what Protoform X was?

As for Megatron, wasn't it said that G1 Megatron took his name from the Covenant which as it turns out was actually the story of the Beast Wars, and BW Megatron took his name from G1 effectively making it a paradox since the name Megatron seemingly came from no where.

Supposedly the Covenant existed in G1 even though it's never mentioned there and came from the future so it tells G1 Megatron about events that won't happen till he's in stasis on Earth and he names himself after a dragon transformer in the book who is BW Megatron in his TM2 body, and he doesn't even realize that the Covenant of Primus was about him until he takes on the form of that dragon.

Time travel is really confusing.

 

Megatron says he took his name from the covenant/calls G1 Megatron his namesake heavily implying he either had a different name or no name. Also takara seems to be semicanonizing archforce/purple g2 megatron as BW Megatron via their legends line.

Optimus Primal was always Optimus Primal, that’s made pretty clear in the show

Rampage being named Protoform X is also made clear in the show as multiple characters refer to him as such, the name is also an allusion to weapon x being a government sanctioned project/experiment that results in a nearly unstoppable killer

 

That's why you can't use it as evidence that Primal changed his name. You seem to think that once the Axalon traveled back in time, all of a sudden everyone in the 23rd century knew about the Beast Wars. That was not the case. The probes were unaware of the Beast Wars or they would all have went right to prehistoric Earth and found the Axalon crew. Depth Charge didn't know about the Beast Wars or what happened to the Axalon either. He was just looking for Protoform X when he got sucked into a wormhole. The Tripredacus Council didn't know about the Beast Wars either, until the transwarp wave from the destruction of the Planet Buster went forward in time and hit their space station. And even then, the only reason why Ravage knew where to go was because he traced the wave back to prehistoric Earth. But he didn't know about the Beast Wars either.

Long story short: Primal's name was always Primal.

 

Maximals
Optimus Primal- Optimus Primal before Optimus Prime and OG Megatron's deaths it was Orion Apax.
Rhinox- Ironox
Rattrap- Rattletrap
Cheetor- Cheetus
Dinobot- Grimslash
Tigatron- Unit 2
Airazor- Wind Saber
Silverbolt- Jetbolt
Depth Change- same

Predacons
Megatron- Gnashteeth
Scorponok- Scorponaut
Waspinator- Wasp
Terrorsaur- Skyterror
Tarantulas- Mesothulas
Blackarachnia- Elita Venus
Inferno- Infernox
Quickstike- Stryker
Rampage- Protoform X