Just thought some of you may find this interesting. It may also sooth some frustrations with some of the rumours running around right now.

http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=535

 

Yup, I (and certainly many others) called it.

 

Makes perfect sense. This movie's all about making money, and I seriously doubt Hasbro wants to have to market a toy with a different name from the movie character because there were trademark issues.

 

Cool. Some are raising concerns about characterization, but I think he addresses that with the idea that they are aliases of "set" characters. Just not their real names. I was a tad worried that they were being a little bit random or slap dash with the characters they were picking, but at least some thought was put forth with Hasbro involved.

 

Woah! soundss good  

btw, is that my Alternator Bludgeon on Wonkimus avatar? O_O

 

I do believe it is!!! Let's get 'im! you should at least get a credit out of him or something!

 

Oh! Ok then.

 

That's pretty cool that hasbro have gone to that much effort to keep some character names a secret.

I guess we won't know for sure untill an Asian fan posts a pic on the image boards.

 

Okay.

Here's a few interesting thoughts: The writers supposedly don't know the characters' final names.

How the hell were they supposed to write the right characters then? I mean, you can't just write a blank slate and then attach a name later, unless you want it to be a non-character.

Also, Hasbro's designers supposedly don't know the toys' final names either.

How the hell are they supposed to design the toys correctly?

 

I would imagine those consultants in charge of the new Movie's bible would make certain they know who the hell they WANT in the film and who's most likely to be used. I doubt very much we'll see personality problems; this is Transformers we're talking about, besides in a sense though this is culling people and perhaps events directly from G1 it is NOT Officially ALL G1; I mean it just can't be, way too much camp and incongruous continuity issues exist alone for this film to be The Definitive G1 cast and crew any given fan remembers from their childhood... Be it Marvel Comics US, Marvel Comics UK or Sunbow's Cartoon. (Or heck even Dreamwaves or IDWs' new takes on the series/franchise. I mean there is no SET G1 to use, unless you want to get technical and go with the Tech Specs.)

 

hasbro will design the toys based off what designs the movie crew come up with [of course they have to be designs that would actually translate well into toys]

but i hear ya

if not even the writers know some of the characters real names then it musta been hard

[but then i'm thinking it doesnt apply to Optimus and Megs. seeing as how they'll probably be in the spotlight as far as the mechs go. At least they'll be right  ]

 

If I was writing it I would be pissed if I was told to write random TF names in and then the characters may or may not line up to what I was writing. By all means have the names on a need to know basis. But the writers NEED TO KNOW. I wasn't worrying about this movie until now, but I don't see how we can have good characters from the robots if the writers don't know who they are writing. I'm one of the most vocal "It's not G1, live with it" crowd, but even I admit that some characters have memorable traits that should be preserved. Tweak the names later if copyright problems come up for the toys, but let the writers write the characters they want.

 

Maybe the script will be written with very generic dialogue?

HERO CHARACTER
(angry)
Transform! You and your evil minions shall not have the Plot Device!

EVIL CHARACTER
(defiant)
HA! You and your pathetic [mockingly] 'heroes' can't stop me!

'SAM'
(cheering)
Go and get them, hero!

 

I'm sure he's more refering to the general minion-type characters such as this "Devastator" tank we've heard about or the "Brawl" police car. The main characters that we all know will be in it anyway such as Prime or Megs or Starscream would have no need of secrecy.

 

You know, I wasn't really remotly worried about the movie until reading this. There may not be a definative version of G1 and I never expected this movie to actually be a rehash of G1 at all, but some characters have very distinct personality traits that a writer just has to know who they are talking about when writing. I mean, wether you're writing a character from G1, BW, BM, RID or ArmadaEnergonCybertron... the characters from each of those series have distinct personalities. If they are writing for Bumblebee than he shouldn't go around acting like Hot Shot... and likewise nor should Hot Shot act like Hot Rod, because they are two differently distinct characters even if all three of them are based on the "cool teenager" kind of character. Same goes for Side Burn and Cheetor... all five characters are similar, but each one has different personality traits that made them, well, them. Sure, the writers could just write generic "teen robot" dialogue for Hasbro to fill in later, but that would be pretty crappy writing in my opinion. Hopefully, this news is better than it sounds.

 

That man is my fucking hero.

 

I think the chances of this film being very good are very, very small. (I want it to be awesome, mind you). Michael Bay was strike 1 in my book, Bernie Mac was strike 2, and this seeming disregard for characterization is 2.5 at least.

Now don't get me wrong, I will happily eat my words if I turn out to be wrong. I'll be thrilled if it's a good film, but absolutely nothing about it so far makes me optimistic that it will be.  

 

Makes sense. And it's kind of funny because every time a name is leaked and someone isn't happy, they vent about it. We all knew that the human names like Sam were aliases, so why not the Transformers? After all, they wouldn't want too much stuff getting leaked too soon.

On a personal note, glad Devestator isn't a tank.  

 

how does bernie mac kill it?
he's been casted for a very small role. we'll probably only see him for a few minutes when he sells the kid the car..then that'll be it...for the rest of the 2 hours....

o__O

honestly, dont be so critical

what characterization did some of the bots have in the first place anyways?

Optimus Prime = end all be all hero
Megatron = baddest villain in the universe
Starscream = whiny backstabber

every one else? fairly generic in my opinion

not to say it'll be like that in the movie but really, give them a little more credit. especially when you/we dont know squat

 

I'm guessing the writers were given personalities of various characters and perhaps even alt modes and abilities. Names can then be plugged in later. Unless these writers are very familiar with Transformers and characters, names are arbitrary to them anyways.