Absolutely. There've been many memorable new characters in recent years. A lot of them are keepers. There's also been some good work done reviving interest in some of the more unique older characters from previous eras.

Ideally I'd like to see more Transformer characters become as iconic as Batman villains or Marvel superheroes, to the point where there's wider recognition among the general public.

 

Was there a Hotshot in RID? I don't remember him before Armada.

Bulkhead in Energon was definitely more of a Springer type.

As far as Animated Bulkhead goes, I think Ironhide was actually a better name for him (that's what he was called in Japan), until they actually transposed a G1-style Ironhide into Animated. The same way, I thought Lugnut should have been called "Shockwave" for numerous obvious reasons, but again, they introduced a more G1-style Shockwave later in the series.

To be blunt, both Lugnut and Bulkhead are dumb names that don't really have much resonance for either character, other than connoting "big and slow-witted" in both cases.

I know it's a minor thing, but one of my big pet peeves in Transformers is characters with names that don't seem to fit their overall concept very well. I mean, does Hasbro even know what a "bulkhead" is, because they've used it for a helicopter and a truck so far, so I'm thinking they have NO idea.  

Though to clarify, I actually like both Lugnut and Bulkhead as characters. It's really just the names that ruin it for me. Just like 99% of the reason I hate Rodimus is because his absofreakin' ******-tastic name.

If I had my druthers, I'd surgically lobotomize every Transfan in the world, just to wipe that goddam name out of history, I'm so sick of hearing it.  

zmog

 

Yeah, he was the leader of the Spy Changers team.

 

Ah, no wonder I didn't remember him. I think I blocked the Spychangers out.  

zmog

 

Don´t be soooo Rodimus SMOG

 

 

Can't speak for the Decepticons, but at least in-fiction the code names were handed out by Sentinel, who was not apparently the clever, creative sort.

While I wasn't a huge fan of "Bulkhead" as a name choice for a robot either, I'll take it over "Ironhide" (or another shoehorned G1 name) in this case any day. Aside from being 'the strong guy' of the team, there's nothing in common with other Ironhides, much like being how being green with a white star on him doesn't make him Hound. To me at least, he's taken that name and made it his own, so that since Animated, there is currently a certain set of expectations for body and personality type associated with it. Names like "Cheetor", "Rhinox", and "Waspinator" are poorly-crafted names as well, but I accept them much easier with strong media characters to 'grow the brand' so to speak, and it's the same for Bulkhead. In Animated he's the perennially underestimated, and that's how the name (said to be "all bulk and no brains", not to mention nearly an anagram of 'lunkhead'.) was bestowed upon him. In that sense Bulkhead's name is his society's view of him, that he works to overcome.

 

I didn't have a problem with either name. I thought Bulkhead and Lugnut were perfect for those characters.

 

Heh. In fiction, that's fine, but functionally, it's still Hasbro.

Well, he IS an armoured truck. And he has about as much in common with G1 Ironhide as Animated Prowl has with his namesake. And Animated Ratchet already cribbed the "grouchy old guy" schtick, so it's not like there's really any obligation for Animated characters to match their G1 counterparts at all... (although guys like Soundwave, Wreck-Gar, Starscream, etc... sure did). For that reason, I wouldn't really have cared if it was a "shoehorned-in G1 name", since Animated already uses so many G1 names and references.

His name and his persona have certainly become strongly affiliated. Still doesn't make the name "Bulkhead" fit as far as code-naming convention goes. Bulkheads are on boats. Following that logic, why not rename Animated Bumblebee "Seaspray"?

Can't do it. "Cheetor" is in the same category as "Rodimus"... no matter what, they can never been forgiven. They're just so pants-on-head stupid, it's like a knitting needle up the nose any time anybody speaks them.

You can justify it all you want... it's also the name for a part of a boat, so that's ALWAYS going to conjure up incongruous nautical associations for anyone who actually knows the proper use of the word. They might as well have called him "Broadside". They should have called him "Lunkhead" instead, or "Roadblock" or "Hardhead" or even "Lugnut" for that matter. But no, instead Hasbro had to rummage indiscriminately through their "copyright renewal" name bin...

Only because you enjoyed the characters, and never stopped to question their awkward names. It's like people who think "Rodimus" suits the character. That's only because we've been mass-brainwashed into accepting a name that actually decreases our collective IQ whenever Hasbro renews it. Of course, I think Beast Wars pretty much crushed any semblance of cool-name-awareness out of transfans long ago...  

zmog

 

What's wrong with Rodimus as a name? I always thought it was cool.

 

That's such a terrible yet hilarious shame that I almost hope you're not exaggerating.

 

I TOTALLY see your point, and occasionally had the same thought about Bulky (I'm from boat peoople), but I also completely disagree with you that it's an issue.

Now, because TF-names are marketing-ploys as much as they are personal-designations, we're accustomed to there being a 1-to-1 correspondence between the character's name and their function/alt-mode/personality/whatever.

Whch is cool, but it's a VAST Universe with characters who have been around for millions of years and handing down names from one generation to the next.

Just like humans, only, we have but one planet and far fewer generations and years of cultural history.

Which brings me to my point: Names have meaning, yes. In TF names USUALLY have a meaning which corresponds nicely to the character it's attached to, but not always. Same is true for us. For instance, my real name is "Eric" which mean either "Strong Ruler" or "Eternal Ruler" depending on which side of the Germanic divide you want to look at.

I'm, perhaps, moderately strong, but I'm not immortal, and I really have no intention of ruling anything. I don't even enjoy being a low-level Manager when I'm placed in that position professionally.

Would you argue that my name is pants-on-head-stupid? Or that my parents were that stupid for calling me so?

Bulkhead comes from the farm-belt, and was a space-bridge-engineer, perhaps he's got some sea- or (more likely) space-faring cargo-ship ancestors in his history, and that's why he's named such.

Or Sentinel's an idiot.

My point is the frequency of name-correspondence in TF's is cool, but it's not necessary. And missing the mark with it isn't a failure. When was the last time you saw Buzzsaw use any kind of a buzzsaw in fiction? It's probably a pun on him being a 'BUZZard', which is equally dumb to making the bulky guy "BULKhead."

And before anyone cries "Tech spec says micro-serrated beak!!!" A serrated beak does not a buzzsaw make. He should have been called HaspNose or something if that's the key character feature.

D/L

 

New or not, he's overstayed his welcome for me.

 

 Poor Bulky. For me, by the end of Animated, I'd come to like him, but had gotten a *little* tired of his (MOSTLY) one-note-characterization. I was sort of concerned that it would be VERY old to watch it again in Prime.

But I feel like they've done a great job of taking the core of his character, adding a more serious tone to him, and making him much more nicely rounded while still calling back to his original portrayal where appropriate.

Animated-Bulkhead I enjoyed IN Animated, and don't really want to see again. Prime-Bulkhead feels like a real character, and one I'd like to see ba part of the Autobot-team going forward.

Sorry he's not working for you :/

 

Mark Twain wasn't even his real name.

 

How old were you when Rodimus was introduced as a character. I was just old enough to read the name, wrinkle my nose in incredulity, and repeat "Rodimus???"

I mean, his name was Hot Rod, and he transformed into a hot rod. I get that. And then he gets upgraded to leader status, so he calls himself Rod-imus? Seriously? That's the best they could come up with?

It makes him sound like a character in a roman-themed porn movie. At least Erector's name makes some sort of sense.  

I'm almost not exaggerating.  

Well, I did say that it's ultimately a meaningless pet peeve... but poorly named TFs create an instant divide between them and my ability to give a shit about them ever. That such an important character as Rodimus got such an ass-hat name only ensures that name will be recycled again and again... dammit.  

Right. Now I do realize that realistically, code names don't necessarily have to provide this function... but the best ones do.

On the other hand, some names are just too literal (like "Cheetor")... something that plagued Beast Wars, Go-Bots, He-man, etc...

As a kid, the superior naming conventions of Transformers and GIJOE always established a brand hierarchy in my head between them and the "lower" toy properties, whose copy-writers couldn't be bothered to even TRY earning their paycheck. Sadly, that tradition of quality fell into decay from 1986-onward.  

I see where you're going with it, but I still don't agree. Also, I think the analogy comparing the generations and years of cultural history of humans to Cybertronians falls flat when confronted with the fact that over the past 4 millions years, there doesn't seem to have been more than one or two generational turnovers on Cybertron, and a lot of the bots who were there millions of years/several generations ago are still walking around, taking active roles in society. In effect, we're talking about a race that probably has almost ZERO cultural evolution (and probably a far smaller populace) compared to Earth at almost ANY part of it's history.

We're getting into the world-building aspects of it here, but it's hard to deny that life on earth (human and otherwise) is logically WAY more diverse and "evolved" than Cybertronian life has ever been demonstrated to be.

I also take it that "Bulkhead" isn't his real name, but some transliterated english-language corollary... but then we're getting too much into the realistic workings that nobody... not Marvel, Hasbro, Nickelodeon or IDW ever seem to touch on. I have to give Bayformers ONE thing... they're I think the first time in the history of the medium that anyone actually addressed the issue that Cybertronians don't speak english (as opposed to IDW's Spotlight Cliffjumper, which just tried to be cute and dodged the question).  

Again, I get it... but I think it's a spurious comparison.

No, he's named that because Hasbro had the name "Bulkhead" on their copyright list, and out of the prospective names the lega/marketing dept probably presented Derrick Wyatt with, it was the only one he wanted to go with.

My point was that you can come up with all sorts of explanations for it, none of which would even be necessary if they'd just given him a more appropriate name to begin with (ie: one that fits both his personality and his alt-mode, or failing that, does not clash with one or the other).

Sentinel = apathetic Hasbro employee?  

When was the last time I saw Buzzsaw in the fiction ANYWHERE, is a better question. Transformers is poorer for it... he was much better than Laserbeak.

And Buzzsaw connotes his razor-sharp beak that he uses to carve up enemies. There need not be a literal buzzsaw, because the "violent cutting action" association is strong and fits the character. Never occurred to me that there might be a "buzzard" play-on-words there. I doubt it though... that became a bigger thing with Beast Wars, when names were more about bad puns than anything else.  

Let's face it... in the first 3 years of Transformers, there's hardly a misstep in terms of naming. I think that having a "Soundwave" and "Shockwave" feels a bit redundant, and I'm probably one of the few who would have preferred "Spinout" to "Sunstreaker" (if for no other reason than already having Bluestreak). Also, Powerglide, Astrotrain and Ratbat are admittedly pretty weak.

It's only later when they started to get slack. The '86 movie characters were bad that way in general (nonsense names like Rodimus, Springer, Arcee & Kup), but almost worse is when Hasbro started blithely recycling old names seemingly based on whichever ones were sitting near the top of the list... names like "Hardtop" on vehicles with no roof, "Mudflap" on trucks that wouldn't navigate unpaved roads, "Rollbar" on delivery vans, or yes, "Bulkhead" for an assault helicopter.

No matter what justifications you can make after the fact, when it comes down to it, it's just laziness, pure and simple.

zmog

 

no, I genuinely thought (from the start) that they were appropriate and fitting names. They're not awkward at all. I think they almost fully convey the essence of the characters. Better than most names.

Lugnut sounds every bit as heavy and stupid as he is.

Bulkhead works for the opposite reason, it's quite endearing for a good-guy character to have a name that sounds like a playground taunt.

Anyway, you want to talk about awful, awkward, stupid names, Gobots was the pinnacle of that.

I've known two Erics in my life. One was an older, bald, sort of miserly slumlord. The other was a short, fat, nerdish kid. I never knew it meant 'eternal ruler'... and I doubt it would have done much to change my perceptions of them.

Names take on different meanings depending on your experience.

 

Snipped, but I think this captured your essence.

I figured this was the response I'd get, and you're not wrong. If you only apply the out-of-fiction reality filter, and are disinterested in seeking in-fiction justifications (and you made some GREAT arguments as to why even those might not make total sense), then there's no saving it  

I had to try though, 'cause I'm all about "take the stupid canon and make it work" because, it's canon, and we're stuck with it.

Good bit of sparring, my friend  

D/L

 

yeah he ferried Blurr around before the war!

 

Which was sort of my point (not sure if you're elaborating or disagreeing with me, honestly), the "meaning" of the name is nuetral to the character who bears it.

TF's have a higher-name-to-archetype ratio than most fiction, and there's some in-canon indication that they GET their names as part of a "coming of age" ritual, which also implies that theirs SHOULD match more than for most of us modern 1st world folk who just get whatever our parents fancy slapped on us randomly as babies, but still, I don't think we need to be TIED to assuming there's always going to be a 1:1 correspondence.

D/L

 

Anyone find it funny that we never see Bulkhead and Hound in the same place at the same time? Don't make Hound hungry, you wouldn't like him when he's hungry, lol.