The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[BigTransformerTrev]

Isn't Leadfoot on the Lost Light in the IDW universe atm? I thought he was one of the security officers that stop Trailcutter from drinking Megatron's energon thingy.


I will admit to, in the last week and a bit, binge reading the comics again. All of them. From iIfiltration/Stormbringer onwards, spotlights and one shots and all.

Close. It's Aquafend on the security detail (all those G1.5 race cars look kinda alike!). And PCC Leadfoot and G2 Leadfoot aren't officially the same 'bot,
But IDW threw out the "only G1 characters" thing a long time ago.

I thought G1ish Leadfoot got killed by Thunderwing or Cyclonus or someone during the whole dead universe saga, or maybe he just got kicked in the head or something - can't really remember

[prjkt]

Ah that's right, but Galvatron in Spotlight: Galvatron when he's there to retrieve Thunderwing

[BigTransformerTrev]

Ah that's right, but Galvatron in Spotlight: Galvatron when he's there to retrieve Thunderwing

There ya go - knew it was one of those buggers

[GoktimusPrime]

What the Night Sky Would Look Like if the Other Planets Were as Close as the Moon
^Doesn't include Pluto, which is 1172km smaller in diameter than our moon.

Anyway, this got me thinking about what Cybertron would look like in the Earth's sky. Now of course, Cybertron's size varies wildly depending on which continuity you're looking at. And there were two times where we saw Cybertron get close to Earth, which of course was in the G1 cartoon ("The Ultimate Doom") and the movieverse (Dark of the Moon). In the G1 cartoon, Cybertron appears to be about the size of our Moon. In the movieverse, Cybertron is massive -- possibly around the size of Jupiter. The G1 comics explicitly stated that Cybertron was about the size of Saturn. In the Unicron Trilogy, Cybertron is meant to be roughly the same size as Earth, so the nearest pic comparison there would be Venus.

So Cybertron might look something like this...

[BigTransformerTrev]

Heh - went to a pizza party last night where there were 3 little boys and only one TF toy. The arguments and whining were thick and fast until the host went and found two more of his in an old box. Funny thing is there was a cubby house and sandpit and bikes but nope - all the little lads wanted were TFs

[SuspectimusPrime]

Heh - went to a pizza party last night where there were 3 little boys and only one TF toy. The arguments and whining were thick and fast until the host went and found two more of his in an old box. Funny thing is there was a cubby house and sandpit and bikes but nope - all the little lads wanted were TFs

There is yet hope for the future.

[M-bot]

I'm sure there's a sensible explanation for it, but I always thought Sky Garry was a strange name for a Transformer. Not being very familiar with the stories in which he plays a part, I always imagine him hanging around with his mates Sky Bruce and Sky Kevin.

[GoktimusPrime]

I can't think of any logical reason for it. Bear in mind that English is an exotic sound foreign language to most Japanese people, and simply the sound or look of words can be more appealing than the meaning or any linguistic logic.

Hasbro has sometimes used illogical or even nonsensical names at times. e.g.
* Megatron. Mega is Greek for "great," but what's 'tron'? (other than the title of a Disney film franchise)
* Galvatron. 'Galva' actually comes from the name of the Italian physician, Luigi Galvani.
* Ultra Magnus. Conflicting feminine + masculine Latin genders. Not sure what the correct version should be... Ulter Magnus? Ultrum Magnus? Either way, I don't think it should be "Ultra Magnus." At least they used the correct feminine declension with Elita-1's name.
* Banzaitron. 'Banzai' (万歳) basically means, "Long live the Emperor." And yeah... Tron again.
* Kobushi. This just means, "Old Warrior" (古武士). It sounds more like a function than a name.
* Night Cruz. Cruz is just Spanish for "cross," as in the shape. It doesn't mean "cruise."
* Dr. Fujiyama. "Fujiyama" isn't a real Japanese word/name. It's the linguistic equivalent of saying words like "gooder" or "gooderest" in English. Yeah, you get what the person means, but it's wrong. Not even Thundercracker's that bad. #susanjourneyer #joshboyfriend

So yeah... English names/words matter about as much to the average Japanese person as Latin, Greek, French (etc.) matters to a lot of Anglophones. A lot of people just like it because it's exotic, but couldn't care less about the meaning or linguistic logic. Also, there are a few other odd Anglophone names used for Japanese Transformers, such as the Micromasters Joe and Alan!

[Zommael]

I can't think of any logical reason for it. Bear in mind that English is an exotic sound foreign language to most Japanese people, and simply the sound or look of words can be more appealing than the meaning or any linguistic logic.

Hasbro has sometimes used illogical or even nonsensical names at times. e.g.
* Megatron. Mega is Greek for "great," but what's 'tron'? (other than the title of a Disney film franchise)
* Galvatron. 'Galva' actually comes from the name of the Italian physician, Luigi Galvani.
* Ultra Magnus. Conflicting feminine + masculine Latin genders. Not sure what the correct version should be... Ulter Magnus? Ultrum Magnus? Either way, I don't think it should be "Ultra Magnus." At least they used the correct feminine declension with Elita-1's name.
* Banzaitron. 'Banzai' (万歳) basically means, "Long live the Emperor." And yeah... Tron again.
* Kobushi. This just means, "Old Warrior" (古武士). It sounds more like a function than a name.
* Night Cruz. Cruz is just Spanish for "cross," as in the shape. It doesn't mean "cruise."
* Dr. Fujiyama. "Fujiyama" isn't a real Japanese word/name. It's the linguistic equivalent of saying words like "gooder" or "gooderest" in English. Yeah, you get what the person means, but it's wrong. Not even Thundercracker's that bad. #susanjourneyer #joshboyfriend

So yeah... English names/words matter about as much to the average Japanese person as Latin, Greek, French (etc.) matters to a lot of Anglophones. A lot of people just like it because it's exotic, but couldn't care less about the meaning or linguistic logic. Also, there are a few other odd Anglophone names used for Japanese Transformers, such as the Micromasters Joe and Alan!

I believe Megatron is actually derived from megaton, as in the explosive power of a nuclear bomb. At the time Transformers was conceived of, nuclear war was still a looming threat, so a name derived from the destructive power of a nuke was appropriately sinister sounding.

"Tron" gets used to make things sound robot-y all the time, but I have no idea where it comes from.

ETA: I looked it up - apparently "tron" is derived from "electron", so now it starts to make sense. While "Megatron" isn't a name with a lot of meaning from a linguistic point of view, the combination of megaton with electron gives a name that has a lot of meaning due to connotation. It's a shame no-one ever decided to make anything of the similarity of the name Megatron to the Hebrew Metatron, though a religious fanatic Megatron probably isn't the best direction to take the character.

[M-bot]

There's some reasonable-sounding theories about the name Sky Garry here, but I still think it's a weird name.