I've said it before, but Spinout and Broadcast are better names than Sunstreaker and Blaster.

For Ratbat, how about Downsize? It references his diminutiveness and his business acumen.

 

Alan.

 

It could be Jamaican slang (meaning either being big or being afraid of bats) or it's Bahamian slang for an alcoholic beverage. Considering Bob Budiansky who came up with all the names (save for the movie bots) got ideas from all over the place, this is not impossible. Especially since Ratbat has a weird behaviour: he likes to drink his fuel like a vampire. He also isn't small.

It could also describe his character, since according to his Universe bio he's a business man (an accountant, to be more precise) who cares only about himself and about profit & loss.

I also wouldn't exclude the possibility that it's short for ration. Bob Budiansky also wrote the bio and his depiction in the marvel comics. And in the latter Ratbat was in charge of rationing fuel/energy, deciding who would get how much.

 

I'm still not fond of the name itself, but it doesn't sound that dumb and lazy now. Thank for the heads-up!

 

@Heavy Unit Not saying that's the explanation for the name Ratbat, just possibilities.

 

"Crumplezone" sounds really silly and I mentally lose it whenever I hear it

 

Slug need I say more

 

Dinobot….

 

Scourge, but only when applied to truck robots.

 

Huffer and Pipes sound more like stoners than a grumbler and a trash collector.

Springer. He's a triple changer who turns into a helicopter and he's named for a jumping ability he never actually uses?

 

How did he get that name, anyhow? If he named himself, then he's an idiot for the reasons you pointed out. If someone else named him that...well, that was setting the guy up for a very...interesting life. (Or they just really hated him.)

As for names I'm personally not crazy about...

• R.E.V. (Not the name itself, just the fact that his name is an acronym)
• W.A.R.S. (Both the name itself and the fact that it's an acronym)
• Rotor (It's a bit on-the-nose. And sounds like a He-Man character's name.)
• Movor (His name is Move-or. Because he moves. GET IT???) His Japanese name, Shuttler, isn't much better.
• Greejeeber (Rollbar's name in Car Robots). Where did this name come from?
• Baldigus. Again, how did we get this name?

 

Sky Garry was always weird to me. Did Wheeljack give the guys at takara the idea you can just slap any noun and male name together and call it a day? Is "garry" supposed to be a portmentau of galaxy and carry? Maybe he's supposed to be called Sky Girlie? The world may never know.

While a lot cooler sounding, I'm a little perpexed by Scorponok as well. Obviously I get the scorpion part, but what about he "-onok"? Is it some sort of obscure suffix I don't know about (the closest thing I can find is "onok" menaning "hump" in Indonesian, at least according to some dodgy online dictionaries)? The funny thing is, when I first read the Hungarian publication of the US Marvel comics it kinda made sense, as I thought the name was simply something the translator had come up with as a combination of "scorpion" and "parancsnok" (commander). Maybe it's another puntastic name, like Scorponok's supposed to be a scorpion that knocks things down, maybe Budiansky just thought it sounded cool. Do you guys know anything about the origins of this Humungus, Hegemonic Headmaster's name?

 

If I could have my way, Springer would be called Windblade, Windblade Jetfire (since she's mostly jet black and fiery red) and Jetfire Skyfire. I actually don't have any problems with Jetfire being Jetfire, I just didn't want to do Windblade dirty and leave her stuck with a name like Springer.

Oh, and sorry about the doublepost.

 

The name Windblade does fit him pretty well. I think the easiest solution is to merge him with Crossblades (mega pretender with a inner robot who turns into a dragster and outer shell that turns into helicopter, can't shut up about how good a pilot he is, sound familiar?).

I ran into a similar problem renaming the other characters I mentioned as you did (not trading names so someone else gets the stinker). I'm thinking of renaming Tracks Trailblazer and so the similarly named Trailbreaker becomes Roadblock which actually references his forcefield ability.

 

I find it hilarious that in Transformers the words "scrap" and "slag" are used as stand-in words for "shit" and "fuck" respectively. That means that Scrapper's name is actually "Shitter", Scrapmetal's name is "Shitmetal," and Slag's name is literally just "Fuck." I've been thinking about this and i can't stop laughing about it.

"Who are you?"

"I am Shitter, leader of the Constructicons!"

 

Don't forget Scrapface. He's got it really bad.

 

I can't decide what i like best for him: Shitface, Crapface, or Poopface.

 

Oh yeah, Crossblades does suit him quite well! If I can recall correctly, as a wee lad I also thought Crossblades was supposed to be Springer when I had first read Rhythm of Darkness. Little me was all like, "It's a green helicopter, it's close enough!".

And then there's Spotlight: Kup, where the phrase "son of a bitch" was replaced with "spawn of a glitch".

In short, these poor bastards never stood a chance:

 

I can't for the life of me understand why Hasbro would name Armada Cylconus' upgrade Snowcat. You could say it's because of the vehicle mode, but this one has wheels, not tracks - EDIT: Okay, it's half wheels, half track. Not to mention Snowcat just sounds lame. I easily prefer his Japanese name, Snowstorm, which is a logical evolution from the name Sandstorm, if a bit simple.



(On an unrelated note, can reformatting a bot with a flying vehicle mode into one with a ground-based alt-mode really be considered an upgrade?)

 

The name is due to Snowcat's vehicle mode being based on the Snowcat vehicle from GI Joe.