The Energon Pub

[Va'al]

We have another brief update from the Takara Tomy Transformers @TF_pr account, featuring two more figures from the upcoming Unite Warriors EX Megatronia set - specifically, Mega Empress and Flowspade, the redecoes of the Victorion' set members Pyra Magna and Dust Up, respectively. Check out the image below!

[shauyaun]

Is that a female Megatron?!
I hope she can transform into a gun!

[Gallifreyan Autobot]

Is that a female Megatron?!
I hope she can transform into a gun!

Mega Empress turns into a Rosenbauer Panther 6x6

Flowspade turns into a Ferrari 458 Italia

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Is that a female Megatron?!
I hope she can transform into a gun!

Megatronia is a redeco of Victorion (excluding Rust Dust), and can be considered TakaraTomy's take on the toy:


Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Victorion Gallery


Each female limb is named after a card suit, and associated with a certain male Decepticon, like the Female Autobots from G1:

Mega Empress: Megatron's "husband" (though she's apparently into polygamy by proposing to Optimus Prime as well)
Luna Clover: Extreme Starscream fangirl
Moon Heart: cold like Soundwave
Flowspade: Spy sent by Shockwave
Trick Diamond: a schemer like the Combaticon Swindle

[steals_your_goats]

It's Luna club not clover.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

It's Luna club not clover.

Actually, both are correct. In a rather weird move, two have alternate names due to the suits being called by different names:

Luna Club's Japanese name is Luna Clover
Trick Diamond's Japanese name is Trick Dia

True, I messed up, big whoop

[Kurona]

Luna Clover's a better name tbh

[RAR]

I wonder if the shorted version of Trick Diamond's name is
said

Di-a
Dyer
Or
Deer
or Dee-ear

or what ?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I wonder if the shorted version of Trick Diamond's name is
said

Di-a
Dyer
Or
Deer
or Dee-ear

or what ?

"Dai-ya" (think "Diaclone"), as it's the first part of "diamond".

[Wolfman Jake]

Mega Empress: Megatron's "husband" (though she's apparently into polygamy by proposing to Optimus Prime as well)

I think you mean to say that Mega Empress is Megatron's "wife," correct?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Mega Empress: Megatron's "husband" (though she's apparently into polygamy by proposing to Optimus Prime as well)

I think you mean to say that Mega Empress is Megatron's "wife," correct?

Bah, I really need to start drinking coffee... "Considers Megatron her "husband"" sounds a lot better.

[Kurona]

I mean, the mold did start off life as Hot Spot...

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I mean, the mold did start off life as Hot Spot...

They all started out as male... At the very least they're not showing any Scrambling tendencies with other Combiners, unlike BWII Scylla who is the only female Space Pirate Seacon...

I'll shut up now.

[Kurona]

I mean, the mold did start off life as Hot Spot...

They all started out as male... At the very least they're not showing any Scrambling tendencies with other Combiners, unlike BWII Scylla who is the only female Space Pirate Seacon...

I'll shut up now.

Honestly, I think a combiner made up of different-gendered components could be fun and interesting. Proooobably something a bit too complicated for Hastak to start selling though lol.

[Sabrblade]

I mean, the mold did start off life as Hot Spot...

They all started out as male... At the very least they're not showing any Scrambling tendencies with other Combiners, unlike BWII Scylla who is the only female Space Pirate Seacon...

I'll shut up now.

Honestly, I think a combiner made up of different-gendered components could be fun and interesting. Proooobably something a bit too complicated for Hastak to start selling though lol.

Some of the Micromaster Six-combiners from Operation Combination have female members.

Why, Overlord himself is a combination husband-and-wife Transformer (with the husband simply speaking on behalf of the whole's identity in robot mode).

[Emerje]

Trick Diamond's Japanese name is Trick Dia

トリックダイヤ Torikkudaiya

ダイヤ daiya on its own is also Japanese for diamond, think of it as an abbreviation that still translates properly. So it's Trickdiamond in both languages, not Trick Dia.

Might as well point out that Lunaclover is technically proper since it's ルナクローバー Runakurōbā, but as we know the official English translation is Lunaclub which is weird because even the Japanese don't call the card suit clover, they call it club (クラブ kurabu) so you'd think her name would be ルナクラブ Runakurabu.


Emerje

[RAR]

Luna Club - is that like 2 stages higher than the Mile High Club ?

[Evil Eye]

For what it's worth, if anyone wants to part with just Megaempress (when she comes out), I'll be happy to take her off your hands.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Trick Diamond's Japanese name is Trick Dia

トリックダイヤ Torikkudaiya

ダイヤ daiya on its own is also Japanese for diamond, think of it as an abbreviation that still translates properly. So it's Trickdiamond in both languages, not Trick Dia.

Might as well point out that Lunaclover is technically proper since it's ルナクローバー Runakurōbā, but as we know the official English translation is Lunaclub which is weird because even the Japanese don't call the card suit clover, they call it club (クラブ kurabu) so you'd think her name would be ルナクラブ Runakurabu.


Emerje

Proper nouns usually get transliterated as is, so "Trick Dia" still stands regardless, as does "Luna Clover". That doesn't automatically make it their official English name however, as Convoy vs. Optimus Prime have shown. As you may already know, Unite Warriors as well as Legends give different English names where applicable, hence the "Trick Diamond" and "Luna Club" for greater familiarity for the Anglophone audience. Don't see it as a translation, more like providing proper analogs.

"Clover" for the Suit of Clubs is used a lot in pop culture, but not all the time. For instance, in the card-themed Sentai JAKQ Dengekitai the Club-themed member is "Clover King", and in the Shugo Chara anime, the Club-themed persona is called "Amulet Clover". On the flipside however, in Kamen Rider Blade when the "4 Card" (4-of-a-kind) attack is initiated, the Club suit is called out as "Club". They're pretty much interchangeable terms.

[Microraptor]

Luna Club - is that like 2 stages higher than the Mile High Club ?

[Emerje]

Proper nouns usually get transliterated as is, so "Trick Dia" still stands regardless, as does "Luna Clover". That doesn't automatically make it their official English name however, as Convoy vs. Optimus Prime have shown. As you may already know, Unite Warriors as well as Legends give different English names where applicable, hence the "Trick Diamond" and "Luna Club" for greater familiarity for the Anglophone audience. Don't see it as a translation, more like providing proper analogs.

Problem is Transformers tend to complicate things by using common nouns as proper nouns rather than the proper nouns written with common nouns in typical Japanese names. And further complicated by the use of borrowed English common nouns which you wouldn't typically see used as Japanese proper nouns outside of things like Transformers. So Torikkudaiya, two borrowed English words, is literally the word trick and the word diamond (daiya being short for daiyamondo).

And it is daiya, not dia which is pronounced dee-ah and is another borrowed word meaning deer or dear.

Emerje

[Sabrblade]

And it is daiya, not dia which is pronounced dee-ah and is another borrowed word meaning deer or dear.

Emerje

"Dia" as a Japanese shorthand for "diamond" is indeed said as "dye-ah", yes. I strongly doubt JelZe meant for anyone to read it as "dee-ah".

[Emerje]

And it is daiya, not dia which is pronounced dee-ah and is another borrowed word meaning deer or dear.

Emerje

"Dia" as a Japanese shorthand for "diamond" is indeed said as "dye-ah", yes. I strongly doubt JelZe meant for anyone to read it as "dee-ah".

What I meant is that dia doesn't really mean anything in English. In Japanese they may shorten diamond (daiyamondo) as daiya, but it wouldn't translate as dia, it would still be diamond. It's further complicated by there being a separate Japanese word dia that is pronounced differently and means something entirely different. Trickdia doesn't make sense when compared to Flowspade, Lunaclover, and Moonheart when the others spell out the name of the card suits, but she doesn't. If she's Trickdia then the others should be Flowspa, Lunaclo, and Moonha.

Emerje

[Sabrblade]

What I meant is that dia doesn't really mean anything in English. In Japanese they may shorten diamond (daiyamondo) as daiya, but it wouldn't translate as dia, it would still be diamond. It's further complicated by there being a separate Japanese word dia that is pronounced differently and means something entirely different. Trickdia doesn't make sense when compared to Flowspade, Lunaclover, and Moonheart when the others spell out the name of the card suits, but she doesn't. If she's Trickdia then the others should be Flowspa, Lunaclo, and Moonha.

Emerje

A lot of diminutives don't really mean anything in English when one takes them as they are without accounting for their context and/or sources of derivation.

Frankly, insisting that ダイヤ be rendered as "daiya" isntead of "dia", when it's very obviously a diminutive of the English word "diamond" (ダイヤモンド) sounds a little weaboo-ish to me. Otherwise, you might as well insist that トリック be rendered as "Torikku" instead of as "Trick" even if that does end up being a meaningful English word.

Besides, it's not like we're talking about an ordinary word anyway. We're talking about an individual's name (or, part of the their name, at least). Names don't always have to conform to every rule of the English language, especially in the cases of names originating from non-English-speaking countries, even if said name happens to also have a connection to English words. Not to mention the science fiction alien aspect of the name that also factors into its lack of conforming to English language rules, as that aspect enables a name to break any and all rules it wants to so as to be rendered as virtually anything the name wants to be.

[Emerje]

Frankly, insisting that ダイヤ be rendered as "daiya" isntead of "dia", when it's very obviously a diminutive of the English word "diamond" (ダイヤモンド) sounds a little weaboo-ish to me.

I'm saying it should be "diamond" outright just like it's printed on the picture of the figure. Both "daiya" and "daiyamondo" are borrowed words meaning diamond. Just because the Japanese choose to use an abbreviated version of the word doesn't mean "daiya" translates into "dia", that word isn't interchangeable for us.

Otherwise, you might as well insist that トリック be rendered as "Torikku" instead of as "Trick" even if that does end up being a meaningful English word.

No, because Torikku is also a borrowed word. Therefore, Trickdiamond.

Besides, it's not like we're talking about an ordinary word anyway. We're talking about an individual's name (or, part of the their name, at least). Names don't always have to conform to every rule of the English language, especially in the cases of names originating from non-English-speaking countries, even if said name happens to also have a connection to English words. Not to mention the science fiction alien aspect of the name that also factors into its lack of conforming to English language rules, as that aspect enables a name to break any and all rules it wants to so as to be rendered as virtually anything the name wants to be.

Like I said before, Transformers names don't follow normal Japanese name rules. Transformers names typically use common nouns as proper nouns while still keeping the meaning of the common noun rather than writing proper nouns with common nouns that have no meaning. This is further enforced by many Japanese Transformers using borrowed English words for their names. So where Ginrai might be spelled with the characters for "thunderclap", that isn't his name, but where all of these ladies are named for card suits and use borrowed English words for their names they definitely translate and retain their meaning.

Emerje