High resolution images of upcoming 25th Anniv/Animated figures

[FFN]

But a lot of other Transformer names are words commonly found in the English lexicon, e.g.: Bumblebee, Barricade, Lugnut, Scavenger etc., yet Hasbro continues to use these names for Transformers without modification. :/

Also, "Perceptor" is not a word that exists in the Japanese lexicon, so why would Takara call the reissue "Cybertron Perceptor"? There's also the question surrounding the typography of Encore Swerve's name too (ウエーブ　vs　ウェーブ), and "Wave" isn't a word in the Japanese lexicon either.

Yet "Bumblebee" and "Barricade" are easier? :/

I asked a friend who knows an IP lawyer about this and hopefully he'll get back to me with clarification.

Generally, "common word" is a very VERY simplified explanation. An explanation from the lawyer is "cluttered market". Some words are used in so many different fields so it's hard to just claim them as trademarks in the "toys" field.

What I gather from this is that some words are just used *too* widely to be easily trademarked, while other words aren't. But... with trademark law there are no easy answers for us layman to understand.

Walky once said with trademark law there is no "1 and 1 equals 2". It's more like "1 and 1 equals 2.7".

I don't have a problem with them doing that... but I do have a problem with them slapping completely irrelevant names onto a Transformer that's meant to be called something else; e.g.: Universe Tankor. I understand that Hasbro may not be able/willing to use the name "Octane" on its own, but why not modify it? "Decepticon Octane" or hell, even "Mega-Octane" (which Hasbro used in RiD) would've been infinitely preferable than call it freakin' "Tankor." (-_-)

I don't have a problem with names like "Autobot Jazz," "Decepticon Frenzy" or "Shockblast"... I can even accept "Hardshell"... but "Tankor" instead of "Octane"?? They're just not trying...

I'll try to get an answer for this too. According to Hasbro, they had planned him as Octane, but ended up having to call him Tankor. They even hint his original name in his bio.

It is unlikely that Hasbro ditched Octane to protect Tankor as some have suggested, because if they wanted to protect that trademark they could just have easily slapped it on any other toy rather than knowingly give a toy the wrong name. Basically, there must have been some problem that prevented them from calling him some form of Octane.

I think the issue with Robot Heroes Bombshell/Hardshell is being confused with names lost due to lapsed Trademarks. Bombshell, IRC, is like Slag, in that the name itself would be difficult to market in certain countries (probably Canada, which saw Beast Wars renamed Beasties).
I don't think there would be a Trademark problem with Bombshell, because they could easily slap 'Decepticon' in front of it like they already do with Movie Brawl, Fracture, Movie Reverb, RH Rumble, Universe Dropshot and Universe Heavyload (it might be more common for Autobots, but it does get used for Decepticons too).

Since they probably couldn't use (or didn't want to use) 'Bomb', they would have had to find something to go with 'shell', to at least make it a little familar (like Shockblast).
If Hasbro answers all our submitted questions, including reasoning behind design choices, we could submit a question for next month, to ask why it is called 'Hardshell', and get it straight from the horse's mouth.

I don't believe Hasbro is unwilling to use "bomb" in a toy's name, since back in 2005 made a female GI Joe figure from the comics that would have been named Bombshell, but since that trademark was unavailable, they renamed her Bombstrike.