Beast Hunters in Japan to be called "Transformers Go!"

[griffin]

An odd name for the current mainline series, but it explains the upcoming JP toy prefix for Beast Hunters toys... "Transformers Go!" is what Beast Hunters will be called in Japan.
The series name and toy images have been found in a trade publication in Japan.

[GoktimusPrime]

FFN was discussing this with me on Sunday. He told me about a fan theory that it might be a play on words that since "Go" is Japanese for "Five" that it could be a double-entendre and also referring to the 5th incarnation of a Beasties series in Japan, the first four being BW, BWII, BWNeo and BWR (assuming that one lumps BW and BWM together and count them as one)

However after seeing this article I would have to say that this theory is probably untrue, because the Katakana above "GO!" says ゴウ ('gou' - pronounced like "go" as in "goat") whereas "Five" in Japanese is ご ('go' - pronounced like "go" as in "God"). So phonetically they're not the same, so it can't be a play on that concept.

The English verb "Go" is normally written as ゴー ('goo' - pronounced as "go" as in "gorge"), as in the name of the G1 Headmaster Jr. "Go Shooter" (ゴー・シューター/'goo-shuutaa'), which was a phonetic play on the name 剛秀太 ('Gou Shuuta' - he's called "Go Shooter" when binary bonded w/ his Autobot Transtector, but "Gou Shuuta" in his unbonded human form). "Gou" (剛) means 'hard' or 'rigid' (it's the same gou as in Goujuuryuu) - so it might also mean "Transformers Hard!" (this Kanji is also used in the Chinese name for Transformers, 変形金剛 ("Henkei Kongou": "invincible transformation").

Alternatively it could also refer to 号 ('gou') which is a number assigned to vehicles or machines, similar to the English word "Mark" (e.g. Mk I, Mk II etc. -- like the names of Iron Man's armours). The original Japanese title for Speed Racer was "Mach Go! Go! Go!" which aside from the obvious meaning in English, also referred to the name of Mifune's (Speed's) car, the マッハ号 (mahha-gou), meaning the "Mark Mach" (it's possible that the American dub misinterpreted this as the Japanese word for "five", hence why it's called the "Mach 5" in Speed Racer).

[Paulbot]

Maybe it's not Go but G O (pronounced geo)?

Looking at those scans none of the Go figures have Arms Micron partners. I wonder if that part of the line is dropped with the name change? (Or if these promo materials are too early.)

The spikey Beast Hunter figures also don't appear to be all that "sticker friendly". Perhaps the difference between Go and Beast Hunters will just be deco (if that?!).

[Shirokaze]

Maybe it's not Go but G O (pronounced geo)?

Nah, it can't be. As Gok pointed out, the katakana "ゴウ" above it shows how it's pronounced.

I hope they do drop the whole sticker thing. I would prefer that TT went back to fancy paintjobs so fans have an alternative to the Hasbro cost-cutting figures.

[Starscream77]

Off topic but who is the TG20 silhouette on the 3rd picture ?

[Paulbot]

Pronunciation guides? Oh yeah. Geo doesn't really make sense but I like it more.

Off topic but who is the TG20 silhouette on the 3rd picture ?

Ratbat

[GoktimusPrime]

I hope they do drop the whole sticker thing. I would prefer that TT went back to fancy paintjobs so fans have an alternative to the Hasbro cost-cutting figures.

+1. Even if TakTOM's paint jobs were on par with Hasbro's, I'd still prefer it over stickers! TFPRiD Vehicon > AM Vehicon IMHO.

[Omega Metro]

So is Beast Hunters going to be called 'Stop' in Australia? We will probably only see wave 1 if that .