Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

[GoktimusPrime]

We could throw anecdotes at each other all day and it wouldn't really achieve much.

Not everyone may necessarily think of the Micromaster Combiners when they hear the term "combiners" but when someone says "Micromaster Combiners", then I'm sorry, but they have very specifically targetted the actual Micromaster Combiner sub-group. And you did actually say "Micromaster Combiners."

If you say, "RiD Combiners" then sure, you're talking about the RiD gestalts. If you say "combiners" just by itself, you could be talking about gestalts or other forms of combiners. It's ambiguous. But when you say "Micromaster Combiners" then I'm afraid there's actually no ambiguity there - you have very specifically stated that 'Micromaster Combiners' which is that specific sub group name! If you had said, "Micromasters that combine" then okay, it's more ambiguous - you could be talking about Combiners or gestalts.

Saying "Micromaster Combiners" when you meant Micromaster gestalts is like almost like saying "Australian Rules Football" when you meant "Australian football." Technically football does refer to soccer in Australia - after all the Socceroos are officially known as the Australian National Football Team and Football Federation Australia (http://www.footballaustralia.com.au) is a soccer federation. But Aussie Rules is technically and officially the name of an entirely different sport that is not football (soccer). Saying "football" is technically a reference to soccer (the football world cup is a soccer cup) but it can also ambiguously be interpreted as a reference to AFL, NRL, Grid Iron etc. If someone is talking about "football Super Bowl" then they're obviously referring to Grid Iron - as obscure as it may be (as it only seems to be prevalent in the U.S. whereas football (soccer) is the most popular sport in the world) in that context it is very much specifically qualifying itself as American Football or Grid Iron.

Likewise when you say "Micromaster Combiner" you have very specifically qualified what you're saying as referring explicitly to that sub-group. You might say afterwards, "oh I meant gestalts" - and that's fine - but be aware that when you say "Micromaster Combiner" you are using a very specific term.