Bluestreak he’s not even blue

 

We could call them Charcoalstreak and Bluesmear!

I'm not a fan of the name "Huffer" because it makes me think of this guy:



Boy does he look happy, though.

 

Silverstreak works for an alternate, as a reference to speed (and a certain Gene Wilder movie). And I'd prefer "Nemesis Prime" retired in favor of the first evil Prime to use that basic color scheme.

Now that's a bad C3PO cosplay!  

 

We make poor use of the name these days. Nemesis was the greek Goddess of retribution or punishment. She showed up in tragedies to smack down heroes who got full of themselves. Her name came from the greek némein meaning "to repay what is due." I'm not sure how it came to mean "adversary" as it is commonly understood these days. I guess because it sounds cool? But in the vein of Transformers series using it as a sort of "evil mirror-image" mechanic, which arguably has an uncomfortable overlap with Shattered Glass, shouldn't Nemesis Prime be female? An evil version of Elita-1?

I think it would be more proper to name the evil Optimus Prime "Compositus" (non-Prime numbers are called composite numbers).

 

Finally! Someone else gets it!

 

Flywheels is an absolutely terrible name for a really cool transformer. I'm a much bigger fan of Skytread...Which I think they used as the name for the headmaster version. Sorry, the "titnamaster" version.

 

You know full well that the names of the toys came before characterisation.

And if you've been a fan of Transformers for the past 35 years, there's nothing to complain about. Its true that Armada Smokescreen is a random name slap but thats what you get when you don't want things to copy G1 too closely but you also have to reuse names to keep the rights to use them.

 

Maximals is a weak faction name. It has no connection to Autobots, and translates to "maximum animals". The activation code is also lame. "Maximals maximize" is like Megatron shouting "Decepticons deceive" before a battle. It took me all of three seconds to think up "Autobeasts", which sounds way cooler and has none of the problems Maximals does. How did the writers not think of that?

 

Even if the names came before characterization, you'd figure those would figure into their character somewhat. Like, Smokescreen is a name that evokes decepticon of some sort, like how G1 Smokescreen is a gambler and betting against the odds, a bit more sly than some of his comrades. Hell, Smokescreen would have been an apt (but nowhere near as cool) name for Sideways. And even if it helps keep names in trademark, it doesn't change that they're not great names for the characters.

Bad names, just to contribute to the discussion, some of the romanized names for characters from Japanese-exclusive series aren't great. They're either literal to the point of being lame, or just kinda dumb sounding. You called the robot who turns into a Lion from the Victory series Victory Leo. A++, gold star, fantastic job. Or Galaxy Shuttle, who transforms into a shuttle, shockingly enough. I enjoy the bad pun or wordplay names, like Rattrap or Quickmix, but there's no pun in that name. It's just a noun followed by his vehicle mode. And Deathsaurus, the less said about that name, the better. I vastly prefer Dezarus/Deszarus, it just rolls off the tongue so much more easily.

 

I only know this guy from watching the Action Master commercial but I love his design, especially the sharp optic visor and the mouthplate. Too bad the name "Rad" is ironically lame. How would you name a guy with that look? I went through the character list on unicron.com and I hesitate between Evac, Grindor and Lancer.

 

Yeah, the "phrase hip with '90s youth" + "animal or some other synoym" is kind of a corny combo. Still, at least we didn't end up with something like Extreminals or Radicritters or Slammals.

Not gonna lie, I would've loved to see Primal awkwardly shout "Maximals, Maximise!" in the actual show. Would've been pretty funny.

 

fucking Radicritters

 

The names of the coneheads always irked me,
Ramjet and Thrust just sounds like really bad robot pornostar names, in a really bad robot porno, and Dirge sounds like something they attempt to do at the end of every robot sex scene.

 

I assume it went "god of retribution" to "character seeking retribution against protagonist" to a more general "character seeking to take down protagonist"

 

J-Five, J-Seven, J-Four, and JRX from Car Robots (the Japanese names for Team Bullet Train).

 

I really can't help but find naming your bat cassette tape Ratbat dumb and lazy. What even is "rat" about him? Poor guy couldn't even get a creative name like Laserbeak or Buzzsaw. If I could rename him, I would definitely go with Nightscream.

 

Honestly, I've never been fond of Ramjet. Doesn't roll off the tongue, doesn't really inspire much.

 

Never a fan of random nouns or adjectives associated with the alt mode, like "Hubcap" or "Tailgate." Tell me you spent two minutes coming up with a bunch of names you considered throw-away characters without telling me.

For that matter, "Jetfire" is a generic name, whereas "Skyfire" is more epic as a character name. I'll plant my flag firmly on that hill.

So, does anybody know if there is any story behind the name "Kup?" Because, at the time, I was living in Chicago, and there was an old columnist named Irv Kupcinet who was on the news every night for "Kup's corner." He talked about what celebrities were spotted in town, and he was an old guy with a gravelly voice, and he was totally a persona of "old timey reporter."

 

It says in his profile that "Kup" comes from "pick-up" which is not very imaginative.

 

Pic-kup truck.