The Energon Pub

by **kaijuguy19** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:31 pm

Many characters in the franchise either greatly or at least somewhat resembles and acts like they did in either G1 or any other series but then we also have characters that bore and act little to nothing how they did back then. Like how in RID,Unicron Trilogy,the movies and Prime had characters like that. So what are your thoughts on nameslaps as a whole? Do you mind it or at least somewhat indifferent to it?

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:30 pm

Have you ever met a guy with your own first name? Did he have to be like you in order to have that name?

by **skynet1O1** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 11:28 pm

I disagree with RhA. In this case, this is a franchise which includes their names. I didn't care for Wheeljack being a wrecker in prime, I loved G1 Wheeljack and he really created his own personality that was unique (nerdy) so seeing it ruined in Prime bugged me.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 11:33 pm

I usually don't mind it. There's been an abundance of it in pretty much every series to come after G1, so why try to fight it?

by **Henry921** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:34 am

Usually I have no problem with it, but there are certain instances where it irritates me.

E.g.- Cybertron Shockwave; I realize Hasbro wanted to reacquire the trademark quickly, but they chose a mini-con who didn't look anything like one of their single most iconic characters, and who barely had any personality or fiction to speak of

Beast Wars Soundwave; Less a trademark thing than an attempt to cash in on G1 nostalgia, but still nothing like his namesake. Even radically different Soundwaves, like, say, his Animated incarnation, still retain enough aesthetic and personal similarity to get a pass

Until the retcon repurposing of the Machine Wars figures as clones and drones, I felt like the line had no real purpose, but now that they're full of army builders, I've warmed up on it quite a bit. Still didn't much care for it prior to post- Botcon 2013

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:55 am

Henry921 wrote:E.g.- Cybertron Shockwave; I realize Hasbro wanted to reacquire the trademark quickly, but they chose a mini-con who didn't look anything like one of their single most iconic characters, and who barely had any personality or fiction to speak of

To be fair, the Unicron Trilogy "Shockwave" characters at the time were already using different names (Tidal Wave, Shockblast, Mirage, etc.), so it's not like they could have just given the "Shockwave" name to any them since they were already established characters with their own names and identities.

Not to mention dead, as well.

Henry921 wrote:Beast Wars Soundwave; Less a trademark thing than an attempt to cash in on G1 nostalgia, but still nothing like his namesake. Even radically different Soundwaves, like, say, his Animated incarnation, still retain enough aesthetic and personal similarity to get a pass

Beast Wars reused old names all the time. And it made sense for his being a bat.

Henry921 wrote:Until the retcon repurposing of the Machine Wars figures as clones and drones, I felt like the line had no real purpose, but now that they're full of army builders, I've warmed up on it quite a bit. Still didn't much care for it prior to post- Botcon 2013

I hated how "Termination" made then all into being clones. Thank goodness for the original toy bios still existing.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:58 am

Henry921 wrote:E.g.- Cybertron Shockwave; I realize Hasbro wanted to reacquire the trademark quickly, but they chose a mini-con who didn't look anything like one of their single most iconic characters, and who barely had any personality or fiction to speak of

It's a fact that Cybertron Shockwave, Sky Lynx and Razorclaw were just "name reclamation" toys. If "Razorclaw" was given to the Terradive mold, the name at least made some sense...

Henry921 wrote:Beast Wars Soundwave; Less a trademark thing than an attempt to cash in on G1 nostalgia, but still nothing like his namesake. Even radically different Soundwaves, like, say, his Animated incarnation, still retain enough aesthetic and personal similarity to get a pass

I agree, but again, Soundwave being part bat makes sense name-wise (at bats emit sound waves for navigation). So does TM2 Prowl for the owl (Prowl).

In my opnion, the worst offender of nameslaps has to be the Unicron Trilogy, especially Armada Smokescreen. That irks me to this very day.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:04 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:In my opnion, the worst offender of nameslaps has to be the Unicron Trilogy, especially Armada Smokescreen. That irks me to this very day.

To be fair, he did use a weaponized smokescreen in episode 13.

by **Shadowstream** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:29 am

In general I find the notion of complaining about names from older series being used for new series characters that may or may not be an exact reflection of said namesake to be utterly petty. Sure I don't care for number of Smokescreens out there that have little to nothing to do with each other, but in the end it's just silly.

News Credits: 767 · by **Dead Metal** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:49 am

It used to bug me, but I'm over it.

Especially seeing how some characters with G1 names end up being more memorable and better than the original owner of that name.

I mean, look at Rampage, you wanna tell me G1 nobody Rampage is better than BW Hannibal Lectar on steroids Rampage?

Same goes for Ratchet, Animated and Prime Ratchet are much more interesting characters than the original cartoon or comic Ratchet in the 80s.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:54 am

Dead Metal wrote:Same goes for Ratchet, Animated and Prime Ratchet are much more interesting characters than the original cartoon or comic Ratchet in the 80s.

I'd actually be willing to debate that since Marvel Comics made me LOVE Ratchet after they turned him into a compelling character who pretty much held the starring role from issues 5 through 8 and periodically returned to said role in later issues through the 1-80 run, going out with a bang towards the end. He lived a medic and died a hero.

IMO, he's right up there with his Animated and Prime counterparts (maybe even a bit higher than Prime Ratchet, but definitely on par with Animated Ratchet).

Though, yeah, Cartoon Ratchet ain't got nothing on Marvel, Animated, and Prime Ratchets.

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:53 pm

I really don't care if you reassign a name to a new character. I does not change the older character with the same name. Beyond that, wouldn't it be hilarious if Bumblebee would be a completely new guy next year?

News Credits: 7 · by **Noideaforaname** » Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:36 am

On one hand, I don't mind G1, RiD, and Cybertron Scourges all sharing the same name. They're all pretty distinct and the name feels appropriate for all of them.

On the other hand, I'm not fond of how seemingly every year we get at least 1 "Air Raid" and 1 "Dead End" each, which never have any on-screen counterpart and are awkwardly both semi-consistent due to all having one kind of alt mode (planes and cars, respectively) and at the same time are totally inconsistent since they never share any other details. RotF alone had 3(!) Dead Ends, which, save for being Decepticon cars, had nothing in common with each other. That's just bizarre.

Something else I don't like is how I hear about an upcoming "Silverbolt" toy and assume it's based on the Beast Wars character, and then get disappointed that it's the Aerialbot. But there's no helping that, oh well...

by **Windsweeper** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:05 am

I've gotten used to it especially with the constant reboots of the last decade but it still irks me when the toy is an obvious homage to another character.

Worst offenders in my opinion are:

Energon Divebomb. The head, the martial arts reference, the leg design all scream Banzai-tron to me.

Prime Smokescreen. Apart from the name and colour scheme, the guy is obviously Hot Rod.

But lets be honest, this franchise for the most part just continues to disappoint me.

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 6:23 am

Windsweeper wrote:But lets be honest, this franchise for the most part just continues to disappoint me.

So why continue to post here?

by **Windsweeper** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:03 pm

Because while I may not be a fan of the directions modern Transformers have taken us, I'm still a Transformers fan. I may not like the aesthetics of characters like Scalpel and Bulkhead or be a fan of deluxe cars and Legends but I still enjoy MTMTE, Regeneration and the Aligned continuity.

Freedom is still the right of all sentient beings, last I heard.

News Credits: 1 · by **scottimusprime21** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:29 pm

the ride evac toy got the evac name slaped on it the cybertron toy had that i hope in the 30 line they make a new evac cybertron based carictor and they should of tryed harder for the trailbreaker name and the colictors club barricade is prowl body painted black slaped with the name barracade

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 2:07 pm

scottimusprime21 wrote:the ride evac toy got the evac name slaped on it the cybertron toy had that i hope in the 30 line they make a new evac cybertron based carictor

News Credits: 127 · by **Counterpunch** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:40 pm

Windsweeper wrote:Freedom is still the right of all sentient beings, last I heard.

I read this as "Femdom is still the right of all sentient beings, last I heard." and I was like, "Good for you dude."

Anyway...

I think it would be nice if they held more mastery over how names were applied, but there are reasons for everything and this is one that just has no pull to upset me at all.