The Energon Pub

They're just G1 names.

Brawl, Bonecrusher, etc, were chosen to please G1 fans. You guys are thinking too deeply. Bay definitely isn't thinking about names as much. He just wants "cool" GM cars and explosions.

I think the meaning of the names have at least some factor in the character robot or vehicle designs. Because the TF Movie was meant not only to cater to G1 fans. (G1 fans who were already familiar with the names) It was meant to introduce the TF saga to the general public. Especially those who were not TF fans or who doesn't even know the TF exists.

I can handle the idea of Soundwave starting out as a comm.sat. or some similar device. It would certainly allow for broader choices for him if/when he does his pre-descent-to-earth scanning. I also very much enjoy the idea of the earth mode that sherade suggested when he posted the imageshack link. The military comm. truck is an excellent idea. D-340, regardless of your obnoxious, spiteful response, the implementation of such a comm. vehicle for our armed forces would be highly beneficial for our troops and would greatly reduce the risks our service people take. I very near lost one of my best friends who was doing communications set-up in Afghanistan some years back. In his situation, such a vehicle would have eliminated the need for him to be placed in the situation he was in. So, ugly SUV or not, I think it's a damn good idea! I think the photo was well rendered in both modes and I would thoroughly enjoy seeeing Soundwave start as a satelite (creating global havoc) and then join the fight on the ground as a Comm.Rig. Seeing Ravage come flying out the back door of the stealth-black truck would be pretty cool.

Auto Bot wrote:I think the meaning of the names have at least some factor in the character robot or vehicle designs. Because the TF Movie was meant not only to cater to G1 fans. (G1 fans who were already familiar with the names) It was meant to introduce the TF saga to the general public. Especially those who were not TF fans or who doesn't even know the TF exists.

*explosions*
The Transformer movie did not cater to G1 fans. Slapping some memorable names on characters that have nothing to do with their G1 counterparts is polar opposite.
*explosions*

powersteamracing wrote:If Soundwave become a Satelite, this doesn't leave out the possibility of Unicron on TF3. Imagine absolute chaos forcing both Autobots and Decepticons having to fight a mutual enemy.

thats what supposed to happen in this movie only against the fallen

Craven Knight wrote:Soundwave's a Satellite? ...But there's no sound in the vacuum of space?

Fail

hes not going to be spying on audible sounds, he'd be spying on radio transmitted communication, cell phone calls, you know...the kinds of information satelites deal with...

It Is Him wrote:
Let me start by apologizing, my "Watergate" remark was a bit snide.

Second, I understand the need to protect identities. But the problem lies in that Seibertron is presenting information as fact without providing readers any information to corroborate it.

With all the bogus information flying around (and let's be honest, this is the Internet), Seibertron could provide a little more context for the information. For example: Why is the information coming to light only now - what's the occasion? Can anyone else confirm the authenticity of the report? Is there hard evidence to support it?

agreed

Autobot Firestorm wrote:A satellite? Ummmm....not gonna happen. Why?

1) Hasbro won't go for a toy that has a alt mode that can't be played with. The idea of this reminds me of the scene in the movie "Big" when a building is proposed as a toy. L-A-M-E

hasbro has allready made a satelite transformer...a version of shockwave...

2) Poor disguise - it doesn't blend in with anything. can't see it from earth....and the 3 countries with satellites in orbit might notice something amiss if that's floating around.

blend in with anything? he'll be in space...what human eyes does he have to hide from? and hes a cybertronian, human tech is not going to pick up on his presence...

3) It would have no interaction in battle. military jets, 'copters, cars, tanks...yes. An orbiting satellite...no. I don't picture a satellite kicking anyone's ass.

he wont be a satelite on earth, he'll be a truck as was said back on the 2nd page

4) And the minions...the potential Ravage, etc we've heard about? What are they going to be? Solar panels and space junk?

most likely ravage will be a atv of some sort that gets hauled around in the truck bed

5) Bay - Bay goes for the action....the fast, the eye popping, jaw dropping action. A satellite goes in a freaking circle around the effin earth. You might as well say Soundwaye is going to be a wheat field.

or soundwave might fight in robot mode....after he transforms out of his truck mode...

Soundwave will be some sort of military communication vehicle. Most likely he will be land-based, but has the possibility to be air-based (i.e. military communications jet Boeing KC-135). But not a satellite.

we'll see......

jenilopaz wrote:Soundwave is technology gone wrong. Machines are superior to humans more logical, more intelligent, and longer lasting. It does not compute that humans control their robotic helpers, and Soundwave aims to lead the robot proletariat to rise against their fleshling bourgeoisie. The Decepticon cause is logical in Soundwave's optics, and he joined them in the hopes of overthrowing the human/capitalist oppressors. With an army of subservient mechanoids that he can control through powerful signals, that uprising just might be possible.

sounds like an episode from transformers animated....horrible

Auto Bot wrote:
Not bad. I wonder how'd they connect the "Soundwave" name to the pickup.

the same way they incorporated optimus prime to a truck, jazz to a solstace, ratchet to a hummer, ironhide to a topkick, black out to a helicoptor etc etc

Bottom Out wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:
Not bad. I wonder how'd they connect the "Soundwave" name to the pickup.

the same way they incorporated optimus prime to a truck, jazz to a solstace, ratchet to a hummer, ironhide to a topkick, black out to a helicoptor etc etc

All these others have a connection to the name. Not necessarily to the alt mode. It could be the function or the rank or something else. It's not just random names.

Prime as a leader. Jazz for his personality. Ratchet for his function. Blackout for his EMP style capability. And so on.

Unless the truck carry some radio or sound equipment, they'll have to find some connection.

I'm surprised at how I quite like this rumour. At first I was shocked but the more I thought about it... the more it made sense.

I could see Soundwave controlling his minions like Ravage and Laserbeak from space; after all, excluding the random points when Soundwave did fight other robots in the cartoon... he was all about recon and information gathering.
What better than a satellite? Watching from the heavens, everyone completely oblivious to him and, hell, no one knows how many satellites there are in orbit or what they are for. This could make Soundwave's presence very ominous indeed.

Of course, this is a rumour

The only downside for fans is he won't be heavily in the film, but I think this is a much more original take on Soundwave's personality than just "a truck with a radar dish attached".

Auto Bot wrote:

Bottom Out wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:
Not bad. I wonder how'd they connect the "Soundwave" name to the pickup.

the same way they incorporated optimus prime to a truck, jazz to a solstace, ratchet to a hummer, ironhide to a topkick, black out to a helicoptor etc etc

All these others have a connection to the name. Not necessarily to the alt mode. It could be the function or the rank or something else. It's not just random names.

Prime as a leader. Jazz for his personality. Ratchet for his function. Blackout for his EMP style capability. And so on.

Unless the truck carry some radio or sound equipment, they'll have to find some connection.

I don't think the name association happened the way you think. What it sounds like you are saying is that the writers, producers, and director thought long and hard about the names so they would closely match their personalities or qualities. And that they reinvented the naming wheel that Hasbro created 20+ years ago.

Just because they use Soundwave in this film doesn't mean his alt mode has to be related to waves of any kind.

Blackout was probably one of a dozen different names that they had lined up for this character. Blackout was originally named Soundwave; but he could have easily been named Vortex, Whirl, Striker, Phantom, Greyhawk, Menance, or any other name.

From the beginning the producers and writers wanted to use particular characters, and they kept the names the same to please fans: Prime, Jazz, Starscream, Bumblebee.

Brawl, Blackout, Barricade are characters that they probably were not glued to with the name. They knew they wanted a tank, a helicopter, and police car. They could have easily have given them all G1 names, but they didn't. They just wanted names that sounded fun and interesting. It's not like they thought about these names and were married to them because of inate qualities they represent.

We also know that some of the producers really fought hard to keep some of the G1 names. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ironhide & Ratchet were on the shortlist. They could have easily have been called Ironhide "Blackout" and it still would have made sense.

a space satellite. what he's gonna be in space

Notice that emphasis were intentionally given is some scenes to connect them to their name. Whether it be his body design, his function, his personality, or anything else.

Blackout was originally Soundwave. Which made sense in the "connection game". The EMP blast was in a way related to the "wave" part. And this bot is exceptionally silent. I don't know why, in the end, they change him to Blackout. But just the same, it wasn't from a random G1 name pool. It was chosen with the consideration of its connection to the name.

As i've pointed out, every character has his name related to the character himself somehow. (one of my previous posts.) Except for Megatron.

You'll have to remember these names are not their original Cybertronian names imprinted on each of their Cybertronian birth certificate. Earthlings can't pronounce the Cybertronian names. As explain in the G1 cartoon, and made obvious in the movie. But rather, these are Earth nicknames. And the names are not exact translations, down to the meaning of the word. Not even based on phonetic similarities. Names are adopted based on some correlation. Not random. (Both from the writers standpoint, and the context of the story standpoint.) Otherwise, they could have picked up random Earth names from the World Wide Web, such as Peter (for Prime), Joseph (for Jazz), Brian (for Bumblebee), Richard (for Ratchet), and Isaac (for Ironhide).

Auto Bot wrote:

Bottom Out wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:
Not bad. I wonder how'd they connect the "Soundwave" name to the pickup.

the same way they incorporated optimus prime to a truck, jazz to a solstace, ratchet to a hummer, ironhide to a topkick, black out to a helicoptor etc etc

All these others have a connection to the name. Not necessarily to the alt mode. It could be the function or the rank or something else. It's not just random names.

Prime as a leader. Jazz for his personality. Ratchet for his function. Blackout for his EMP style capability. And so on.

Unless the truck carry some radio or sound equipment, they'll have to find some connection.

there is no need for the truck to have anything communication related, like you said prime was prime becuase he was the leader, jazz was jazz because of his personality, soundwave will be soundwave becuase he is the communication officer...

First-Aid wrote:It makes sense, honestly. If his specialty is going to be psychological warfare like in the original, what better way to create panic than by controlling the information of the world? That also means that he will be difficult to kill for the Autobots, almost ensuring his survival to TF 3. It's a logical and smart move (for a change) if it's true...and he always was the one to hang in the background and manipulate others. He could actually manipulate BOTH SIDES in this mode by interrupting comminucations and altering them. ANd he provides an important service by allowing the 'Cons to communicate globally without relying on oft-failing human tech.

I have to say, despite the soon-to-come outcry from G1 purists, this is a well thought out alt-mode. Wow. I also can accept that. It also is a bit of an homage to TF: Energon...

I'm a G1 purist and i whole heartedly agree with this.

this is interesting but i guess hell only be fighting in robot mode

Bottom Out wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:

Bottom Out wrote:


the same way they incorporated optimus prime to a truck, jazz to a solstace, ratchet to a hummer, ironhide to a topkick, black out to a helicoptor etc etc

All these others have a connection to the name. Not necessarily to the alt mode. It could be the function or the rank or something else. It's not just random names.

Prime as a leader. Jazz for his personality. Ratchet for his function. Blackout for his EMP style capability. And so on.

Unless the truck carry some radio or sound equipment, they'll have to find some connection.

there is no need for the truck to have anything communication related, like you said prime was prime becuase he was the leader, jazz was jazz because of his personality, soundwave will be soundwave becuase he is the communication officer...

Hmm.. not a bad idea.

Chaoslock wrote:Somebody at the planning stage must have confused the name with Shockwave...

my thoughts exactly, also i thought soundwave had something to do with SOUND, eg audio device, amplifier, tour van (like animated), concert stage???


sory, also i bet if there is a shockwave he wil be called shockblast.

Could be another case of name switching. Just for the moment during production.

Like Devastator-Brawl fiasco.