Hey!

I didn't know if there was a thread for this anywhere out there, so I decided to make one for myself.

Here, I'd like to try to make a little dictionary-type of thing that has different terms and their definition. I'll try to update it frequently enough, as long as this thread gets enough replies. I've thrown out the four I see a lot, and I know that there's more, but I'd like to see what you guys can come up with.

THE TRANSFORMERS JARGON DICTIONARY

Army-building: Buying multiples of the same toy that represents a generic soldier or drone in the official fiction, with the goal of assembling an army of identical troopers.

Bayformer: The word used, usually in a negative way, to describe designs used in the Michael Bay series of films.

Beasties: What Beast Wars was called in Canada, sometimes used derisively for that part of continuity.

Brickformer: a toy that has little to no articulation, even in its transformation. A typical example is any of a large number of mini-car and late G1 toys that fold or telescope at the knees, maybe extend a nose cone or wings, and lie on their face to "transform" and otherwise have shoulder or (rarely "and") elbow joints otherwise.

Dull Surprise: The propensity for drawing characters with a slack-jawed non-expression as opposed to demonstrating any real emotion in any given media, particularly infamous in the Dreamwave era of Transformers comic.

Spoiler: "Dull Surprise" Images

Evergreen Characters: The term for characters who always have a presence in all version of Transformers. Or whose G1 self will alway sell: Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, Bumblebee, Soundwave, etc.

FiR RiB/FiB RiR: An old disagreement of what the default colors of G1 Minicons Frenzy and Rumble should be, because their toys and cartoon show colors were switched around.

Gang-Molded Alternate Parts: Both versions of certain parts come from the same tooling; the unused version is discarded or recycled.

G1/Geewun (Geewunner): Used to describe any Transformers-centric toy, cartoon, or comic book series from the years 1984-1993. Used in a negative way as "geewun." "Geewunner" is the negative way to describe one who likes this portion of the franchise.

Gold Plastic Syndrome: Used to describe the condition suffered by figures made from gold plastic, a form of ABS plastic with gold flakes added to give the plastic a pearlized look. Includes brittleness, crumbling, and other no-good things.

Palette swap - same paint layout, only the plastic and paint colors are changed.

Partsformer: Toy that separates into individual pieces for transformation, instead of transforming in one piece.

Pretool: a pre-planned alternate version of a toy using alternate parts to replace other parts that was planned from the get-go, along with the original version.

Kibble: Parts of one mode of a Transformers toy that serve no purpose in another mode. The more clunky, overt and obstructive kibble is, the more unpopular it is among fans. Alternate mode kibble is more common and often includes wheels, wings, helicopter blades, car doors that become "wings" in robot mode, or parts of the alternate mode that become a "backpack" in robot mode. Less common is robot mode kibble, which often affects toys that transform into jets and includes obvious arms, hands or heads.

Knockoff (KO): A cheap copy of a real Transformers toy, usually made with vastly inferior plastic, simplified transformations, and a bunch of sloppily applied stickers that quickly lose their adhesion. Not at all the same as recent high quality third party toys. Often have vacuum-chromed accessories or parts of the toy itself that were normal plastic for official versions.

Redeco: Plastic and paint colors are changed.

Repacking/repack: A term that can be somewhat confusing because it is alternatively used to refer to three different things:

1) Re-releasing an otherwise unchanged toy in altered/completely different packaging, sometimes branded as part of a new Subline Imprint or even a completely different line, sometimes re-releasing toys that were originally available separately as multi-packs. A popular fan theory is that these are literally old, unsold toys taken out of their packaging and put into new packaging, although Hasbro has gone on record officially denying this practice due to being commercially not viable, and confirming that those are indeed separate production runs.

2) Re-releasing a toy that was released as part of a previous wave in a subsequent wave,
oftentimes with no changes to the toy or the packaging, though sometimes coinciding with a running change variant. Although this practice is as old as the wave system itself (going back all the way to the days of the Beast Wars line), fans have recently begun to view it as an aberration, instead preferring waves to be strictly separate, featuring no repeats.

3) The practice of "toy swapping" (see separate definition).

Repaint: Same figure, same plastic colors, only paint differences.

Reshell: parts used for the robot mode are reused, only the parts used for the alternate mode are different.

Retool: altering parts or creating new parts to replace existing parts after the fact.

Scalping: A type of market manipulation (some may just call it capitalism, others consider it highway robbery) that involves buying multiple specimens of a new, popular toy (specifically, buying as many as the person can get their hands on), thereby creating an artificial scarcity, and then selling the hoarded "rare" toys for a multiple of the original retail price, in the process making (at least in theory) a huge profit.

Shared Engineering: Same basic functionality (including the transformation), but no existing toolings are actually reused, all the parts are new.

Shelfwarmer: Toys that fail to sell after months and/or years on retail. Some disappear after heavy discount bargains, others don't. Some stay up to 10 years after their release on extreme occasions like Beast Wars Injector.

Shellformer: Used for a toy where the robot is just curled up inside a thin layer of alt-mode, which breaks into a few pieces and hangs off of it awkwardly in robot mode. Typical of the low end of Beast Wars and Robots in Disguise (2000) toys.

Shrekformers: A negative term given to Transformers: Prime by certain fans.*

Subline Imprint: A partial rebranding of a toyline (though still retaining its main title) intended as a "refresh" to convince retailers to continue ordering it despite the line's (relatively) long lifespan. Often involves a partial redesign of the packaging. Might involve a changed focus that puts special emphasis on a new gimmick.

Toy Swapping: A specific type of store theft/fraud, which involves buying a new toy, replacing it with an older toy (or complete junk), then returning the packaging to the store and claiming the money back.

True Fan: Anyone who agrees completely with the person using the term. Anyone who disagrees with said person on any aspect is therefore not a true fan.

TRUKK NOT MUNKY: An insult used to sarcastically mock transformers fans during the 90’s when Beast Wars was introduced. many fans weren’t happy with the news with Beast Wars and that Optimus transformed into a gorilla.

*This is not a completely reliable definition or term. Please be wary when using it.

Credits:
@Arkimus Prime
@AutobotAvalanche
@Velocirapture
@Galvatross
@ObakaChanTachi
@Green Starscream hahaha
@Longitudinalwave
@Nevermore
@Necromaster
@Sixwing
@MechanovaKing

 

Category:Fan terminology - Transformers Wiki

This might give you a few more.

 

Thanks!

 

Beasties: What Beast Wars was called in Canada, sometimes used derisively for that part of continuity.

Brickformer: a toy that has little to no articulation, even in its transformation. A typical example is any of a large number of mini-car and late G1 toys that fold or telescope at the knees, maybe extend a nose cone or wings, and lie on their face to "transform" and otherwise have shoulder or (rarely "and") elbow joints otherwise.

Knockoff: a cheap copy of a real Transformers toy, usually made with vastly inferior plastic, simplified transformations, and a bunch of sloppily applied stickers that quickly lose their adhesion. Not at all the same as recent high quality third party toys. Often have vacuum-chromed accessories or parts of the toy itself that were normal plastic for official versions.

Shellformer: used for a toy where the robot is just curled up inside a thin layer of alt-mode, which brreaks into a few pieces and hangs off of it awkwardly in robot mode. Typical of the low end of Beast Wars and Robots in Disguise (2000) toys.

 

Shrekformers:

1) A negative term given to Transformers: Prime by certain fans.

2) A theoretical future Transformers universe (Onionverse?) or series that combines elements of the Shrek franchise with the Transformers brand. Also possibly includes Transformers inspired by Shrek characters in terms of design, concept, or personality.

 

Thanks! Great definitions! I will add those to the list now!

...

Maybe. Most likely not.

Was Prime actually ever called Shrekformers? I doubt that, but I also wouldn't be surprised.

 

Not by me, but I have seen the term thrown around in the past.

 

WRT Gold Plastic Syndrome, you don't actually explain what "Gold Plastic" is, specifically ABS with added reflective flakes or powder to give it a pearlized effect, but which leave it more brittle than the normal material. Other colors rarely had the problem to the same degree as the gold, for some reason, and the plastics used by Armada and later lines don't seem to suffer from it. It's not vacuum chromed plastic, though that is often prone to its own problems with scratching/flaking and a harder, more brittle base plastic.

I'd say you should add Rubber Band Fatigue as well, but I think the only toys to actually use GI Joe style rubber band waists were the Lazer Rods, and then not the motorcycles. Not really a common enough problem 25 years on for people who don't already have one to even hear of to wonder about.

 

Why was Transformers Prime called "Shrekformers"? Was it a reference to the animation style?

 

Shelfwarmer - Toys that fail to sell after months and/or years on retail. Some disappear after heavy discount bargains, others don't. Some stay up to 10 years after their release on extreme ocassions like BW Injector.

 

what do u call a transformer that can b anythung u no? like all da modes bruh

 

TRUKK NOT MUNKY - An insult used to sarcastically mock transformers fans during the 90’s when beast wars was introduced. many fans weren’t happy with the news with beast wars and the that Optimus transformed into a gorilla Instead of a truck however, the character itself wasn’t even Optimus to begin with.

 

Hehehee, I remember that, and the first/early appearances of RUNED FOREVAR. I'd question including them in a jargon file type document, though, they aren't really jargon as such, more memes from before the term was a thing.

 

Will add all of these! Thanks!

 

I think Galvatross is messing with you; he's a fanatical devotee to Shrek.

 

I'm actually NOT messing with you. Search for "Shrek-formers" or "Shrekformers" from the early 2010s, and you will see a bunch of posts using that term in reference to Transformers: Prime.

Now I don't know how much it caught on, but it is definitely fan jargon in my opinion.

 

I found one use of it. Still not sure what it was exactly intended to mean, as an insult.

 

I don't know the full story or context. Maybe it was meant to describe the fact both were CGI animated? That's as far as the similarities go though, so beats me.

They both had dragons of sorts?

 

Makes as much sense as anything else, I suppose.

 

Important addition: Only the cartoon was named "Beasties" in Canada. The toyline was instead named "Beast Wars" in English, and literally translated into French as "Guerre des Bêtes".

That's not accurate. Gold Plastic Syndrome has affected Universe Megabolt and Micromaster Superion, Energon Ultra Class Scorponok, Cyberrton Scout Class Repugnus, Star Wars Transformers Han Solo/Chewbacca (Millennium Falcon combiner), 2007 Movie Deluxe Protoform Starscream, and Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class Stratopshere.



More additions:

Army-building - buying multiples of the same toy that represents a generic soldier or drone in the official fiction, with the goal of assembling an army of identical troopers.

Kibble - parts of one mode of a Transformers toy that serve no purpose in another mode. The more clunky, overt and obstructive kibble is, the more unpopular it is among fans. Alternate mode kibble is more common and often includes wheels, wings, helicopter blades, car doors that become "wings" in robot mode, or parts of the alternate mode that become a "backpack" in robot mode. Less common is robot mode kibble, which often affects toys that transform into jets and includes obvious arms, hands or heads.

Repacking/repack - a term that can be somewhat confusing because it is alternatively used to refer to three different things:
1) Re-releasing an otherwise unchanged toy in altered/completely different packaging, sometimes branded as part of a new subline imprint or even a completely different line, sometimes re-releasing toys that were originally available separately as multi-packs. A popular fan theory is that these are literally old, unsold toys taken out of their packaging and put into new packaging, although Hasbro has gone on record officially denying this practice due to being commercially not viable, and confirming that those are indeed separate production runs.
2) Re-releasing a toy that was released as part of a previous wave in a subsequent wave, oftentimes with no changes to the toy or the packaging, though sometimes coinciding with a running change variant. Although this practice is as old as the wave system itself (going back all the way to the days of the Beast Wars line), fans have recently begun to view it as an abberation, instead preferring waves to be strictly separate, featuring no repeats.
3) The practice of "toy swapping" (see separate definition).

Subline imprint - A partial rebranding of a toyline (though still retaining its main title) intended as a "refresh" to convince retailers to continue ordering it despite the line's (relatively) long lifespan. Often involves a partial redesign of the packaging. Might involve a changed focus that puts special emphasis on a new gimmick.

Scalping - a type of market manipulation (some may just call it capitalism, others consider it highway robbery) that involves buying multiple specimens of a new, popular toy (specifically, buying as many as the person can get their hands on), thereby creating an artificial scarcity, and then selling the hoarded "rare" toys for a multiple of the original retail price, in the process making (at least in theory) a huge profit.

Toy swapping - a specific type of store theft/fraud, which involves buying a new toy, replacing it with an older toy (or complete junk), then returning the packaging to the store and claiming the money back.

True fan - anyone who agrees completely with the person using the term. Anyone who disagrees with said person on any aspect is therefore not a true fan.