just a thought i had. have a friend or relative who never saw the cartoons or know alot of transformers that jsut saw the movies, been able to recongize a transformer after he/she started watching the shows or saw you with a non-movie toy, this easily despite not beign the movie counterpart?

i am asking this cause on december 7, i got Prime Deluxe Bee (since my dad was on USA on november to December 7) and one of my cousins was able to recongize the character as Bumblebee (i had not transformed bee yet, so he was on vehicle mode, so it was surprising she was able to know it was bee despite not seeign the robot mdoe yet)

what about you?

 

My parents went nuts looking for G2 Optimus Prime back in the early 90s for christmas. So when the films first came out they knew exactly who he was. They even remembed he was a truck.

That's about it, although they learned who Bumblebee was through the films, and although they couldn't remember his name, they knew "that black pick up guy" had been in every film. And they knew the name Megatron, but couldn't remember what he looked like.

Everyone else is just generic robots to them though. I had to remind them a few times who Ratchet was, despite him being in every film, and they think Jazz and Sideswipe are the same character.

 

Mom knows:

Optimus
Starscream
Bumbles
Ironhide
Ratchet
Megatron
Barricade

 

I think my mum can sorta recognize Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

 

Yea my sister knows bumble bee by heart like most kids and teens

 

My sister knows Optimus, Bumblebee, and Megatron.

 

Aside from Optimus and Bumblebee, they usually have trouble recognizing anyone else. It often irritates me because I make it my business to know what each of the Transformers look like and who they are.

 

My mother gets angry when she sees yellow Camaros because it reminds her of how immature and stupid she thinks my hobbies are.

 

My younger sister and brother are thankfully Transformers fans like me, but our mother only knows Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Sentinel, and Ironhide. The first two because they're Optimus and Bumblebee; Megatron and Sentinel because they were the villains (my mom even said that Sentinel was a heartless bitch); and Ironhide because my little sister is sadly an obsessed fangirl of Ironhide.

As for other friends, most people I meet seem to know who Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Sentinel, Ironhide, and Ratchet are.

I recall a friend of mine, mentioning, "Oh man, that red one is too real!" referring to Mudflap.

Usually, I have to mention a generic term for any friend to recognize them. The cat (Ravage), the Mercedes (Soundwave), the Einstein one (Que), the Ferrari (Dino), the jet (Starscream), the one who was made up of seven ones on top of each other (Devastator), the ghetto twins (Mudflap and Skids), the old jet (Jetfire), the Corvette (Sideswipe), the list goes on.

 

My mom knows...

Soundwave, mainly because he's my favorite Decepticon and I talk about him frequently
Bumblebee
Megatron

And my dad...to tell the truth, he's lucky if he can name Bumblebee. I think he's just dazzled by the explosions.  

 

Easily. People underestimate... uh, people, far too often. They think just because you're not a TF fan you can't tell Bumblebee from Laserbeak. Yeah some people fuck up the names of lesser characters (honestly that's only because they're bizzare names) but everybody I know recognizes the main movie Transformers. That's one clear advantage of the movie style. It's hard to forget.

 

This. My family is able to recognize Optimus, Bumblebee, and now, Sentinel as well at first sight without second guessing. Megatron, Starscream, Ironhide ...maybe, but those are really the only ones by name. My sister is able to guess Ratchet, Jazz (and surprisingly Que as well).

Otherwise, as Chopperface said, it's usually referring to them by generic nicknames based on their appearance and/or what they did. "That big massive wheel-bot guy in Shanghai", "that giant construction guy on the pyramid", "those silly twins", "the police car", etc..

 

My parents both recognize Optimus Prime even though my mom hasn't seen any of the movies. My dad could also identify Ironhide, Jetfire, Bumblebee, the Twins, Sentinel Prime, Starscream, and Megatron, but couldn't match any of them to their counterparts from any other continuity in the TF franchise.

As far as identifying characters in any other way, they both know Optimus Prime as a red and blue truck and Starscream as a jet, and that's about as extensive as their knowledge gets.

 

My wife knows quite a few of them by name. Whenever it comes up that she knows any of this, she glares at me and hits me for making her know it.

I think my parents know the names Optimus Prime and Megatron but I doubt they would be able to recognize them.

I remember going up to visit them once and Dad had bought the first movie (they live in on an island and don't get to go to the movies a lot, so before they got Netflix, Dad just bought popular movies as soon as they came out on DVD) and we watched it a few nights before Christmas. Mom started to get worried that one of the Autobots was going to die. When Jazz died, she pouted. I don't think, however, that she remembers his name. She just gets into movies.

 

+1. i usually do this so i dont seem to nerdy and geeked up when im describing tfs to parents at my job. or to my friends.

 

I don't know about my parents, but I know most my friends know who is who in the Transformers movies.

 

All my friends only know Optimus Prime & Bumblebee

 

My sister knows them for the most part, she may have some trouble with guys like Sideways, for instance.

My parents, on the other hand...thay're the type who can't tell who's who in the battles. But my dad is occasionally correct when he asks me "Is that (insert TF name here)?"

 

The only friends or family that don't seem to know any of the Transformers are my grandparents everyone else seems to know at least one or more of the incarnations of Transformers.

 

Grandmother.

Been a tradition. Every time I'm visiting her and my grandfather in Wisconsin, the new TF film would be in theatres at the same time. Despite my age, my grandparents insist I be accompanied everywhere I go since the nearest town is a 30 minute drive and they are the ones with the car.

But, I've seen ever TF film with her, and she watches them entirely and enjoys them oddly enough. I remember she told me she wanted to see if "that soldier ever got home to his daughter" in the first film.

Now lets hope for a TF4 to keep that tradition alive! =D