I never liked the naming conventions in the UT either. Smokescreen anyone? And then Sideswipe was SUPPOSED to be named Nightbeat, but the notes got switched and it went to the Mini-Con. Then the whole -BLAST suffix to skirt around the trademarks. Worst offender? Backblast. Yes. That is a name in Cybertron.
This video came out at the most perfect time because I just finished going through Energon for the first time. Throughout their appearances, they constantly flipped Cliffjumper and Downshift's names around, so when I saw not Wheeljack I thought "Oh hey, it's Downshift" but they called him Cliffjumper, only for him to actually be called Downshift 5 or so episodes later. The names were so unfitting that the animators had no clue who was who 😂
The most confusing names for me that you didn't mention... Skyboom in Armada is a shield combined from 3 Mini-cons and Skyboom in Energon is a single Mini-con who is part of a different combiner team that form a sword. The blade of said sword is formed by Jetstorm and Runway who the packaging and the instructions disagree with each other about which one is which. The show also swapped their names around so I still have no idea which is which. Sparkplug looks exactly like Bumblebee but Hot Shot is the one everyone thinks is suppose to be Bumblebee and neither of them are actualled named Bumblebee. Oh and the show kept calling him Leader-1 and ironically Sparkplug was only correctly called by his actual name once and Hot Shot is the one who said it. Grindor and Sureshock kept having their names reversed in the Arnada cartoon and then Energon finally got it right only for the toys to get them backwards instead. Armada Jetfire is not a jet, he's a shuttle. Only time ever we're had a Jetfire who is not an actual jet. And the American dub keeps the Japanese name for their combined form Jet Convoy even though no one in America knew where the heck Convoy came from. Speaking of Convoy, the characters who come with the Cyber Planet Keys who are all important characters in Galaxy Force all have Convoy names, Nitro Convoy, Metro Convoy, Flame Convoy, and Live Convoy. Here in America we gave them the most boring generic names that made them indistinguishable from any other character so we had no idea how to actually complete the Omega Lock because there was zero indication of where those keys actually were. Override, Metroplex, Scourge, and Evac. And Vector Prime is oddly still called Prime and not Convoy in Japan. I am so confused!
I don't think the toys got Grindor and Sureshock backwards. I believe they just decided that Grindor would form the legs for this version instead of Sureshock.
@@OptimusPhillip I wasn't talking about their placement in the combined mode. Their names were literally swapped around. The Skate Board/Hover Board guy is suppose to be Grindor. The Moped/ATV is Sureshock. In Armada the toyline had the names correct while the show had them backwards. In Energon the show had the names correct while the toy line flipped them.
@@OptimusPhillip Probably. There was a few running changes with the toy lines. There's actually 2 versions of Armada Sideways because the original version made Rook the Decepticon head and Crosswise the Autobot head. It was the opposite in the cartoon and there was a later release of the toy that fixed it to correct that. But I have one of the first releases.
It's not only Vector Prime, in fact all of the Thirteen Primes (well, at least the ones with Prime in their name) are called Prime instead of Convoy in the Japanese fiction. Even Logos Prime, the only one who was created specifically for the Japanese fiction, has always been called Prime and not Convoy. There was a recent retcon which established that Prime is a different and superior rank to Convoy, so in retrospect it does make some amount of sense.
Surprised you didn't mention Armada Smokescreen becoming Hoist (ironically after his reformatting removed the part of him that "hoist" would've been well suited for)
They went like this is beast wars and stayed the same till the UT: Basic 5 Deluxe 10 Mega 15 (current voyagers) Ultra 20 (current leader) I really miss those price points.
Also, I believe some of the Energon class figures got Energon-power redecoes. So you could get _Energon_ Energon "Energon Strongarm" Fun fact for the uninitiated: all the reformatted Decepticons got new names in Superlink. Starscream became Nightscream, Demolishor went from Ironhide to Irontread, Cyclonus went from Sandstorm to Snowstorm, and Tidal Wave went from Shockwave to Shockfleet. Even Megatron became Galvatron from the start. I think the "scattor" thing was a move against genericization. "Scattershot" and "scatterbrain" are both plain English words that weren't strong trademarks. Deliberately misspelling them made them more unique, and thus easier to claim as trademarks.
> Fun fact for the uninitiated: all the reformatted Decepticons got new names in Superlink. Starscream became Nightscream, Demolishor went from Ironhide to Irontread, Cyclonus went from Sandstorm to Snowstorm, and Tidal Wave went from Shockwave to Shockfleet. Even Megatron became Galvatron from the start. Funnily enough, the voice director Yoshikazu Iwanami stated that Starscream and Nightscream are actually completely unrelated characters. This is also why Nightscream has a different voice actor to Starscream while all the rest you listed kept the same VA from the previous show. Starscream's VA was still in the show as Shockwave/Shockfleet, so it's not like he wasn't available.
I'd love to see a series where includes the 3 Red Alerts together (G1, Armada/Cybertron, Animated), and the G1 Red Alert is the only one who notices they share the same name. Worse, whenever someone calls for a Red Alert, the Red Alert who's called for instantly responds, and, again, G1 Red Alert is the only one who notices this.
Even in Japan, Shockwave's name was swapped to Shockfleet. While it makes sense, I actually prefer the Mirage name attached to the design. Also, I feel Tidal Wave is more suited to the big guy's original body. Aside from his first color scheme having a bunch of purple and being a Decepticon, he doesn't have much connection to any other Shockwave.
I'll grant Shockfleet makes sense in that the name fits a character with an aquatic vehicle mode. But the fact a fleet implies multiple ships and the character was only called that after he lost the ability to become multiple ships would lead me to claim the Japanese name was odd in a completely different way.
Pretty much all the Energon Decepticon "upgraded bodies" felt like down grades except Megatron/Galvatron. Starscream went to a sci-fi futuristic Jet to a F-22, which isn't a bad jet, but compared to the alt mode he had before which was bigger and had two gigantic cannons/engines, it felt like a downgrade. As you mentioned Cyclonus went from an attack helicopter to a Snow vehicle. Demolisher went from an Anti-aircraft missile tank, to a dump truck. Most rediciclously Tidal Wave went from an Aircraft Carrier, Troop Transport, & a futuristic battle ship, into a single speed boat?
I honestly don't get why they didn't just make Downshift an upgraded Wheeljack from Armada. Likely they could have easily changed the script to imply their the same guy instead of him being a younger Autobot.
Supposedly Aaron Archer thought WheelJack referred to stealing wheels, and not just a jack to change tires, so he thought it should be a deception name only. Later a fan clarified for him and he basically went “oops”
In the Japanese version a Transformer that form changes has its name changed. Such as Hot Rod to Hot Shot. Sandstom to Snowstorm, Ironhide to Irontread, Shockwave to Shockfleet, Starscream to Nightscream and back to Super Starscream, Megatron to Galvatron twice, Convoy to Grand Convoy to Galaxy Convoy. Also in the case of Starscream and Demolisher, Megatron wiped the memory of the latter, Starscream was already messed up, and Tidal Wave was turned gay.
That becomes slightly more confusing when you consider that Yoshikazu Iwanami, the voice director for the Japanese versions of Armada and Energon, stated that Starscream and Nightscream are completely unrelated characters.
I find it funny how Wheeljack is clearly designed to look like Sideswipe, but the name Sideswipe was introduced to a different character whose first episode was the same as Wheeljack’s.
I thought we all agreed that Cybertron (Galaxy Force) was an alternate reality to Armada+Energon, thus why they started off with the Unicronian Black Hole (something about Unicron in Armada+Energon getting defeated so hard that it ripped a hole in space-time) and why the people of Earth had absolutely no idea that the Cybertronians even existed.
The funny thing about the whole Megatron>Galvatron thing is it made a lot more sense in the Japanese versions of Armada and Energon. For people who don't know... In Micron Legend (Armada Japanese version) he went from Megatron to Megatron S after Mini-cons repaired him and others from being badly damaged by Nemesis Prime/Black Convo in the episode Puppet. In SuperLink (Energon's Japanese version) After sucking up all the Engeron and some of Unicron's power he came back alive as Galvatron which explains why he looks like Galvatron (because it is him!) With his first deco being based on the G1 toy/ comic-book version of Galvatron, and much like in the 1986 movie/Season 3 of G1, he has gone mad with power and is slowly being brainwashed by Unicron. After taking a bath in the Super Engeron, he becomes General Galvatron with his deco being much closer to the deco we know and love from the G1 Movie/cartoon and is fully taken over by Unicron during the climax. However, Cybertron/Galaxy Force is the wried one as both versions are the same, he is Master Megatron at first but after his loss to Metroplex, he becomes Master Galavtron who for some reason has the deco of base in G1 Megatron (Amazing toy and deco btw!).
That is because Galaxy Force was never meant to be a sequel to Super Link/Energon or Micron Legend/Armada. It was completely its own original thing unrelated to either of the previous cartoons. It was haphazardly tacked on by Hasbro as a sequel to Energon for the American/western release, which is why you see so many chronological errors and plot holes between Cybertron and both its predecessors.
When it comes to renamings, I like to think of it as a cultural thing. When a cybertonian gets a reformat, they take a new name to signify their new life. I know that wasn't the intent, but I like the idea of it.
Ransack doesn't care about the rules. He'll race anyway. Maybe "Snow Cat" was like "Goldbug"; new body, new name. Then again, the in-universe body swapping and rename thing didn't always make sense. I don't think there was any coordination in the Unicron trilogy. Which is too bad because I really like the Energon figures and the Mini-Con gimmick, even without the popup weapons.
If they just trademark every character "Autobot Hound", "Decepticon Thrust", "Dinobot Slag", "Insecticon Bombshell", etc. there wouldn't be any danger of losing them.
I can imagine kids’ parents bought the Unicron Trilogy toys just because cool vehicle robots on sale and forgot the names of the Minicons and minor characters awhile after.
And this is the reason why I mostly stick with the Japanese names when it comes to Armada and Energon (or in this case, Legends of Microns and Super Link) since Downshift in Energon is actually named Wheeljack in Super Link (while the Wheeljack in Armada was named Rampage in Legend of Microns) and Megatron/Galvatron in Armada is named Megatron through out Legends of Microns and Megatron/Galvatron in Energon was named Galvatron through out Super Link (which make sense to me since his design in Energon/Super Link is pretty much just G1 Galvatron).
This reminded me of the Armada video you did, of the characters other names in other languages. I found Hot Shot and Blurr's alternate names kinda cool, hope to see a possible continuation for Energon and Cybertron
17:39 In defence, this is meant to be like a Decepticon/Predacon Megatron situation again. The Mini-Con Thunderblast named himself after the Decepticon.
Heres what I'd call some of these characters Wheeljack would be Ricochet (they're both car bots and have basically the same colour scheme) Blurr would be Crosshairs (he's the autobot's best sharpshooter so it makes sense) Smokescreen would be grapple (like he's an orange crain why would he not be grapple) Downshift would be wheelack (for completly obvious reasons) Cyclonus would be Whirl (yes I know Whirl is an autobot but both he and armada Cyclonus are coptors and both are completly insane) Cliffjumper would be beachcomber (his design already takes enough from old nature lover so why not his name too) Ironhide would be Lander (a name no one cares about for a character no one likes) Bulkhead would be springer (he's a green autobot chopper what more needs to be said) Mirage would be undertoe (based entierly on power core combiners because he's also a decepticon speedboat) Scourge would just be predaking (he's the leader of a planet of beast formers that would be the perfect name for him) Menasor would be Devastator (if they're gonna name him after a combiner they should have at least picked one that fits) Sideswipe would be skids (because he's a blue car, that's about it) And yeah that's all I've got
I will say this (And no offense to the fans of it) The Unicorn Trilogy as a whole didn't make a whole lot of sense at times (Update. And to add to Cybertron Galvatron looking like G1 Megatron. In the final battle with Optimus. He says "I still function" taken from right before Starscream threw him out of Astrotrain in Transformers The Movie. 2nd Update. Yes. I know it WASN'T a trilogy in Japan. And I don't care)
I personally prefer Armada over the other two, why? I don't know actually, maybe it's the fact that here in my country we only got Armada dubbed and the rest wasn't, besides if you only watch Armada it is a full story already so the others kinda became pointless, again that doesn't mean I hate the others, even tho Energon wasn't that great
I might be misremembering, but doesn’t the trilogy only exist in dubbed form? As in when it was dubbed into English some of the dialogue was changed to make each series connect to the one before.
It always seemed odd to me how Wingsaber in Energon was basically a cop who was super duty bound, while in Cybertron the name went to a different character who is essentially a rogue.
For as much as you want to complain about the current name class system; it's still a good thing they phased out the naming schemes of Armada and Energon.
At least we didn't get Super Mega Combat. Also, due to what I've seen on the internet, when I see GTS, I think of something VERY different from Gran Turismo Sport, so seeing a Transformer labeled GTS made me do a double take.
To me, Voyager class has a similar meaning to Journeyman. IE a midpoint between apprentice and master. It works because voyager sits between deluxe and leader
I feel it's only fair to point out that most of the characters in these shows had different names in Japan, and while some of those names made more sense than the English ones, I think there were also oddities to the Japanese names. Like Tidal Wave going from Shockwave in Micron Legend to Shockfleet in Superlink, so the character only had fleet in his name after he couldn't split into multiple boats anymore. Demolisher being called Ironhide when he was a tank but changing to Irontread after losing the treads. Sideways being called Doubleface kind of spoiled the faction switching thing (at least for those who didn't see the toy until after watching the relevant episodes) and didn't really fit when you consider he actually had three faces. Both Micron Legend and Galaxy Force had turncoat characters (Rampage and Demolishor) who started as Autobots but had names that seemed more fitting for Decepticons, like they were destined to join the bad guys so the names would make more sense.
All a lesson in why one does not change character names in dubbing, regardless of need to retain a trademark. Seriously, if there was any form of collaboration on the Unicron Trilogy, It should have been in deciding the names for characters in advance.
The size class names I've literally never heard any of those names before this video. Transformers were always Basic, Deluxe, Mega, Ultra, Super, and Supreme until the movie toy lines started changing the names and I haven't been able to keep any of the size classes straight since then.
I don’t particularly like how Megatron’s naming was handled as I got older. I think Armada Megatron should have been Megatron throughout the entire show, and I think Energon Megatron should have been called Galvatron throughout the entire show. Also, Cybertron should have been its own separate entity.
Have you seen the SEVENTH Trainbot? MPG-07 Ginoh, a repaint of Shouki that includes what looks like a new part that goes between the waist and torso for a bit of extra height. I've already pre-ordered it and plan on just using the new piece. I hope they don't repaint the rest of them, but wouldn't be surprised.
hate to break this to you, but transformers names _in general_ make no sense. just because a nonsensical name is given to a different robot, doesn't suddenly make it weird, it was already weird.
It will always annoy me the guy changed sids wasn't called "Sideswipe". Also never knew Energon changed the names of the size classes. I kinda fell off collectiong between the end of Energon and the start of Classics. I was mostly interested in G1 at that point, and was getting back into Power Rangers, as well as the 2002 He-Man anyway.
Yeah, in the armada cartoon, and the toy line that character named smokescreen name didn’t really fit him, given his altmode is a crane truck, and not like smokescreen’s G1 version who transformed into a race car, and the toy version on that character cybertron did though💁🏻♂️.
Yeah that whole size class naming thing was weird. And honestly where did Voyager come from. Either someone was a big Trek fan or its a reference to the spaceprobe and the golden disk.
i wonder what hun-gurrr would look as a transformers cybertron character besides being a decepticon and not a combiner and what he would transform into
@@R0-83-RTI can understand a jet called smokescreen if it left a thick smoke trail or dropped smoke bombs. I dunno if that’s what G2 smokescreen did tho.
@@russellharrell2747 It just kind feels weird since G2 is supposed to be in continuity with G1 and there's already a character in G1 called smokescreen, who is an Autobot.
What to hear a funny story. Before that episode of Energon with Energon Megatron premeired on TV, I imagined myself watching that episode and guess who I heard instead, either Spock or Frank Welker, not David Kaye. Not true today, but that is what I heard during my imagination.
I never liked the naming conventions in the UT either. Smokescreen anyone? And then Sideswipe was SUPPOSED to be named Nightbeat, but the notes got switched and it went to the Mini-Con. Then the whole -BLAST suffix to skirt around the trademarks. Worst offender? Backblast. Yes. That is a name in Cybertron.
Backblast is not only a horrible name, but after reading his tfwiki page, I conclude he couldn't even blast someone in the back!
This video came out at the most perfect time because I just finished going through Energon for the first time. Throughout their appearances, they constantly flipped Cliffjumper and Downshift's names around, so when I saw not Wheeljack I thought "Oh hey, it's Downshift" but they called him Cliffjumper, only for him to actually be called Downshift 5 or so episodes later. The names were so unfitting that the animators had no clue who was who 😂
The most confusing names for me that you didn't mention...
Skyboom in Armada is a shield combined from 3 Mini-cons and Skyboom in Energon is a single Mini-con who is part of a different combiner team that form a sword.
The blade of said sword is formed by Jetstorm and Runway who the packaging and the instructions disagree with each other about which one is which. The show also swapped their names around so I still have no idea which is which.
Sparkplug looks exactly like Bumblebee but Hot Shot is the one everyone thinks is suppose to be Bumblebee and neither of them are actualled named Bumblebee. Oh and the show kept calling him Leader-1 and ironically Sparkplug was only correctly called by his actual name once and Hot Shot is the one who said it.
Grindor and Sureshock kept having their names reversed in the Arnada cartoon and then Energon finally got it right only for the toys to get them backwards instead.
Armada Jetfire is not a jet, he's a shuttle. Only time ever we're had a Jetfire who is not an actual jet. And the American dub keeps the Japanese name for their combined form Jet Convoy even though no one in America knew where the heck Convoy came from.
Speaking of Convoy, the characters who come with the Cyber Planet Keys who are all important characters in Galaxy Force all have Convoy names, Nitro Convoy, Metro Convoy, Flame Convoy, and Live Convoy. Here in America we gave them the most boring generic names that made them indistinguishable from any other character so we had no idea how to actually complete the Omega Lock because there was zero indication of where those keys actually were. Override, Metroplex, Scourge, and Evac.
And Vector Prime is oddly still called Prime and not Convoy in Japan. I am so confused!
I don't think the toys got Grindor and Sureshock backwards. I believe they just decided that Grindor would form the legs for this version instead of Sureshock.
@@OptimusPhillip I wasn't talking about their placement in the combined mode. Their names were literally swapped around.
The Skate Board/Hover Board guy is suppose to be Grindor.
The Moped/ATV is Sureshock.
In Armada the toyline had the names correct while the show had them backwards.
In Energon the show had the names correct while the toy line flipped them.
@@RialVestro Huh. I guess they fixed that for the Universe repack, since I remember that version having the names correct.
@@OptimusPhillip Probably. There was a few running changes with the toy lines. There's actually 2 versions of Armada Sideways because the original version made Rook the Decepticon head and Crosswise the Autobot head. It was the opposite in the cartoon and there was a later release of the toy that fixed it to correct that. But I have one of the first releases.
It's not only Vector Prime, in fact all of the Thirteen Primes (well, at least the ones with Prime in their name) are called Prime instead of Convoy in the Japanese fiction. Even Logos Prime, the only one who was created specifically for the Japanese fiction, has always been called Prime and not Convoy.
There was a recent retcon which established that Prime is a different and superior rank to Convoy, so in retrospect it does make some amount of sense.
Surprised you didn't mention Armada Smokescreen becoming Hoist (ironically after his reformatting removed the part of him that "hoist" would've been well suited for)
RIP $10 Deluxes, $25 Leaders.
I miss those prices
They went like this is beast wars and stayed the same till the UT:
Basic 5
Deluxe 10
Mega 15 (current voyagers)
Ultra 20 (current leader)
I really miss those price points.
Also, I believe some of the Energon class figures got Energon-power redecoes. So you could get _Energon_ Energon "Energon Strongarm"
Fun fact for the uninitiated: all the reformatted Decepticons got new names in Superlink. Starscream became Nightscream, Demolishor went from Ironhide to Irontread, Cyclonus went from Sandstorm to Snowstorm, and Tidal Wave went from Shockwave to Shockfleet. Even Megatron became Galvatron from the start.
I think the "scattor" thing was a move against genericization. "Scattershot" and "scatterbrain" are both plain English words that weren't strong trademarks. Deliberately misspelling them made them more unique, and thus easier to claim as trademarks.
> Fun fact for the uninitiated: all the reformatted Decepticons got new names in Superlink. Starscream became Nightscream, Demolishor went from Ironhide to Irontread, Cyclonus went from Sandstorm to Snowstorm, and Tidal Wave went from Shockwave to Shockfleet. Even Megatron became Galvatron from the start.
Funnily enough, the voice director Yoshikazu Iwanami stated that Starscream and Nightscream are actually completely unrelated characters. This is also why Nightscream has a different voice actor to Starscream while all the rest you listed kept the same VA from the previous show. Starscream's VA was still in the show as Shockwave/Shockfleet, so it's not like he wasn't available.
Ah, so the voice director’s the one who started that fandom misconception!
I'd love to see a series where includes the 3 Red Alerts together (G1, Armada/Cybertron, Animated), and the G1 Red Alert is the only one who notices they share the same name.
Worse, whenever someone calls for a Red Alert, the Red Alert who's called for instantly responds, and, again, G1 Red Alert is the only one who notices this.
Someone should do a mini comic of that
Even in Japan, Shockwave's name was swapped to Shockfleet. While it makes sense, I actually prefer the Mirage name attached to the design.
Also, I feel Tidal Wave is more suited to the big guy's original body. Aside from his first color scheme having a bunch of purple and being a Decepticon, he doesn't have much connection to any other Shockwave.
Yeah, Tidal Wave fits him way better than Shockwave
I'll grant Shockfleet makes sense in that the name fits a character with an aquatic vehicle mode. But the fact a fleet implies multiple ships and the character was only called that after he lost the ability to become multiple ships would lead me to claim the Japanese name was odd in a completely different way.
That’s because in Japan, Shockwave is called Laserwave
@@deltaywater9669which is his original name in Japan
Oh, Cyclonus, you’re getting an upgrade? Your new name is … Snowcat! 😂 And of course you upgrade from an attack helicopter to… a snowplow?
I honestly wish that in Cybertron we discovered he got blasted to the Jungle planet and got a sabertooth tiger for a beast mode.
Pretty much all the Energon Decepticon "upgraded bodies" felt like down grades except Megatron/Galvatron.
Starscream went to a sci-fi futuristic Jet to a F-22, which isn't a bad jet, but compared to the alt mode he had before which was bigger and had two gigantic cannons/engines, it felt like a downgrade.
As you mentioned Cyclonus went from an attack helicopter to a Snow vehicle. Demolisher went from an Anti-aircraft missile tank, to a dump truck. Most rediciclously Tidal Wave went from an Aircraft Carrier, Troop Transport, & a futuristic battle ship, into a single speed boat?
It's a G.I. Joe vehicle to be precise. A GOOD GUY vehicle. G.I. Joe is always getting shafted.
I honestly don't get why they didn't just make Downshift an upgraded Wheeljack from Armada. Likely they could have easily changed the script to imply their the same guy instead of him being a younger Autobot.
Supposedly Aaron Archer thought WheelJack referred to stealing wheels, and not just a jack to change tires, so he thought it should be a deception name only. Later a fan clarified for him and he basically went “oops”
In the Japanese version a Transformer that form changes has its name changed. Such as Hot Rod to Hot Shot. Sandstom to Snowstorm, Ironhide to Irontread, Shockwave to Shockfleet, Starscream to Nightscream and back to Super Starscream, Megatron to Galvatron twice, Convoy to Grand Convoy to Galaxy Convoy. Also in the case of Starscream and Demolisher, Megatron wiped the memory of the latter, Starscream was already messed up, and Tidal Wave was turned gay.
That becomes slightly more confusing when you consider that Yoshikazu Iwanami, the voice director for the Japanese versions of Armada and Energon, stated that Starscream and Nightscream are completely unrelated characters.
@@Lily_Selverne Cybertron was its own thing in Japan. The Unicron singularity was just a giant retcon after the fact.
@@aliastheabnormal that has nothing to do with what I said but ok
@0TheLegend0 The wiki for starters.
@0TheLegend0 No, the submarine wiki.
I find it funny how Wheeljack is clearly designed to look like Sideswipe, but the name Sideswipe was introduced to a different character whose first episode was the same as Wheeljack’s.
I thought we all agreed that Cybertron (Galaxy Force) was an alternate reality to Armada+Energon, thus why they started off with the Unicronian Black Hole (something about Unicron in Armada+Energon getting defeated so hard that it ripped a hole in space-time) and why the people of Earth had absolutely no idea that the Cybertronians even existed.
The funny thing about the whole Megatron>Galvatron thing is it made a lot more sense in the Japanese versions of Armada and Energon. For people who don't know...
In Micron Legend (Armada Japanese version) he went from Megatron to Megatron S after Mini-cons repaired him and others from being badly damaged by Nemesis Prime/Black Convo in the episode Puppet.
In SuperLink (Energon's Japanese version) After sucking up all the Engeron and some of Unicron's power he came back alive as Galvatron which explains why he looks like Galvatron (because it is him!) With his first deco being based on the G1 toy/ comic-book version of Galvatron, and much like in the 1986 movie/Season 3 of G1, he has gone mad with power and is slowly being brainwashed by Unicron. After taking a bath in the Super Engeron, he becomes General Galvatron with his deco being much closer to the deco we know and love from the G1 Movie/cartoon and is fully taken over by Unicron during the climax.
However, Cybertron/Galaxy Force is the wried one as both versions are the same, he is Master Megatron at first but after his loss to Metroplex, he becomes Master Galavtron who for some reason has the deco of base in G1 Megatron (Amazing toy and deco btw!).
That is because Galaxy Force was never meant to be a sequel to Super Link/Energon or Micron Legend/Armada. It was completely its own original thing unrelated to either of the previous cartoons. It was haphazardly tacked on by Hasbro as a sequel to Energon for the American/western release, which is why you see so many chronological errors and plot holes between Cybertron and both its predecessors.
How was Smokescreen/Hoist not mentioned when it comes to weird naming?
When it comes to renamings, I like to think of it as a cultural thing. When a cybertonian gets a reformat, they take a new name to signify their new life. I know that wasn't the intent, but I like the idea of it.
Makes sense, especially with how many reformats come after near death experiences.
Ransack doesn't care about the rules. He'll race anyway.
Maybe "Snow Cat" was like "Goldbug"; new body, new name. Then again, the in-universe body swapping and rename thing didn't always make sense.
I don't think there was any coordination in the Unicron trilogy. Which is too bad because I really like the Energon figures and the Mini-Con gimmick, even without the popup weapons.
And why did Hasbro choose a GI Joe vehicle - also called the Snow Cat - as the alt-mode for a Decepticon?
Character renames
Armada:
Red Alert -> Ratchet
Smokescreen -> Grapple
Hoist -> Groundbuster
Blurr -> Overdrive
Side Swipe -> Nightbeat
Lazerbeak -> Metalhawk
Galvatron -> Powerlinx Megatron
Wheeljack -> Sideswipe
(Mini-Cons have the Japanese names save for the Street Action Team, Liftor, Refute, and Iceberg)
Sparkplug -> Bumble
Over-Run -> Leader-1
Nightbeat -> Wheelie
Rollout -> Roller
Armorhide -> Blizzard
Cliffjumper -> Hoist
Nightscream -> Nightra
Leader-1 -> Clench
Wind Sheer -> Whisper
Thunderclash -> Clash
Skid-Z -> Skids
Side Burn -> Exhaust
Ironhide -> Growl
Payload -> Movor
Dune Runner -> Dune
Broadside -> Snipe
Prowl -> Siren
Thunderwing -> Blade
Energon:
Energon Hot Shot -> Fire Hot Shot
Ironhide -> Roadbuster/Wild Roadbuster
Overcast -> Sonic Jetfire
Rodimus -> Rodimus Prime
Landquake -> Earth Landmine
Bulkhead -> Springer
Downshift -> Wheeljack
Cliffjumper -> Sandstorm
Tow-Line -> Ironhide
Roadblock -> Road Hauler
Energon Strongarm -> Rollbar
Stormjet -> Silverbolt
Sky Shadow -> Quickslinger
Treadshot -> Air Raid
Terradive -> Skydive
Superion Maximus -> Superion
Megatron -> Galvatron
Galvatron -> Grand Galvatron
Energon Starscream -> Revival Starscream
Mirage -> Scourge
Dreadwing -> Tempest Scourge
Snowcat -> Snowstorm
Demolishor (dumptruck) -> Long Haul
Shockblast -> Shockwave
Sixshot -> Shockblast
Battle Ravage -> Battle Ravage/Command Ravage/Shadow Ravage
Divebomb -> Battle Raptor/Command Raptor/Shadow Raptor
Steamhammer -> Scrapper
Duststorm -> Hightower
Constructicon Maximus -> Devastator
Barricade -> Onslaught
Kickback -> Brawl
Stormcloud -> Vortex
Bruticus Maximus -> Bruticus
Knockout -> Magnus
Rollbar -> Hound
Skyboom -> Beam
Scattor -> Pulse
Wreckage -> Laser
Cybertron:
Hot Shot -> Excellion
Cybertron Defense Hot Shot -> Exigeyser
Overhaul -> Trailbreaker
Cybertron Defense Scattershot -> Scatterstorm
Red Alert -> Med Alert
Cybertron Defense Red Alert -> Red Alert
Brakedown -> Autolander
Backstop -> Ramhorn
Downshift -> Wheeljack
Wing Saber -> Sonic Bomber
Excellion -> Hot Shot
Megatron -> Megacron
Galvatron -> Galvacron
Scourge -> Predaking
Mudflap -> Overhaul
Lugnutz -> Road Storm
Sideways -> Noisemaze
Menasor -> Ruination
Safeguard -> Roots
Jolt -> Hop
Reverb -> Bumper
Six-Speed -> Blit
Drillbit -> Scamper
Stripmine -> Maser
Hyakurai -> Smokebomb
Ichibi -> Shuriken
Thunderblast (Mini-Con) -> Thunderhead
Checkpoint -> Stakeout
Anti-Blaze -> Blaze
Heavy Load -> Rammer
Longarm -> Excavator
Razorclaw -> Slicer
Shockwave -> Claw
Sky Lynx -> Sixshot
Payload -> Riggorus
Scattorbrain -> Plow
Ramjet -> Ion
Thrust -> Acid
Sunstorm (Mini-Con) -> Nova
Scrap Iron -> Scrap
Backblast -> Blast
Blastcharge -> Charge
If they just trademark every character "Autobot Hound", "Decepticon Thrust", "Dinobot Slag", "Insecticon Bombshell", etc. there wouldn't be any danger of losing them.
I can imagine kids’ parents bought the Unicron Trilogy toys just because cool vehicle robots on sale and forgot the names of the Minicons and minor characters awhile after.
cybertron galvatron had g1 megatron colors, also megatron getting reborned to galvatron and turned back into megatron happened in bayverse
And this is the reason why I mostly stick with the Japanese names when it comes to Armada and Energon (or in this case, Legends of Microns and Super Link) since Downshift in Energon is actually named Wheeljack in Super Link (while the Wheeljack in Armada was named Rampage in Legend of Microns) and Megatron/Galvatron in Armada is named Megatron through out Legends of Microns and Megatron/Galvatron in Energon was named Galvatron through out Super Link (which make sense to me since his design in Energon/Super Link is pretty much just G1 Galvatron).
This reminded me of the Armada video you did, of the characters other names in other languages. I found Hot Shot and Blurr's alternate names kinda cool, hope to see a possible continuation for Energon and Cybertron
Oh, and in Russian, Sideways is named Отшельник (Hermit).
I am pretty sure they made a joke about Megatron getting his paint job to galvatron and the autobots made fun of him in cybertron
17:39
In defence, this is meant to be like a Decepticon/Predacon Megatron situation again. The Mini-Con Thunderblast named himself after the Decepticon.
Honestly Energon Demolishor could have been named Bulkhead, but alas Bulkhead is the helicopter in Energon.
The Springer homage which is even named as such in the Japanese script.
Heres what I'd call some of these characters
Wheeljack would be Ricochet (they're both car bots and have basically the same colour scheme)
Blurr would be Crosshairs (he's the autobot's best sharpshooter so it makes sense)
Smokescreen would be grapple (like he's an orange crain why would he not be grapple)
Downshift would be wheelack (for completly obvious reasons)
Cyclonus would be Whirl (yes I know Whirl is an autobot but both he and armada Cyclonus are coptors and both are completly insane)
Cliffjumper would be beachcomber (his design already takes enough from old nature lover so why not his name too)
Ironhide would be Lander (a name no one cares about for a character no one likes)
Bulkhead would be springer (he's a green autobot chopper what more needs to be said)
Mirage would be undertoe (based entierly on power core combiners because he's also a decepticon speedboat)
Scourge would just be predaking (he's the leader of a planet of beast formers that would be the perfect name for him)
Menasor would be Devastator (if they're gonna name him after a combiner they should have at least picked one that fits)
Sideswipe would be skids (because he's a blue car, that's about it)
And yeah that's all I've got
I remember when everyone used to buy Energon Downshift to use as a CHUG Wheeljack before the Generations one came out
Motorcycles compete in MotoGP, which is akin to a two-wheel Formula 1.
I never understood why Downshift wasn't Wheeljack from Armada with a new body.
"I think I would have preferred Megatron GTS" at the end was brilliant.
Still waiting on that final version of the trilogy sideswipe mold in the Armada wheel jack flavor 😭
I will say this (And no offense to the fans of it) The Unicorn Trilogy as a whole didn't make a whole lot of sense at times (Update. And to add to Cybertron Galvatron looking like G1 Megatron. In the final battle with Optimus. He says "I still function" taken from right before Starscream threw him out of Astrotrain in Transformers The Movie. 2nd Update. Yes. I know it WASN'T a trilogy in Japan. And I don't care)
I personally prefer Armada over the other two, why?
I don't know actually, maybe it's the fact that here in my country we only got Armada dubbed and the rest wasn't, besides if you only watch Armada it is a full story already so the others kinda became pointless, again that doesn't mean I hate the others, even tho Energon wasn't that great
I might be misremembering, but doesn’t the trilogy only exist in dubbed form? As in when it was dubbed into English some of the dialogue was changed to make each series connect to the one before.
Nah, the UT stunk. Armada was ok, but it just rolled downhill after that. 😅
@@CertavusGrey5450 Oh yeah. I forgot. My bad.
@@Rabbitlord108 it's ok, the trilogy was my G1 but i have to admit it was far from perfect
It always seemed odd to me how Wingsaber in Energon was basically a cop who was super duty bound, while in Cybertron the name went to a different character who is essentially a rogue.
10 years and a bit of amnesia can do a lot to a bot
For as much as you want to complain about the current name class system; it's still a good thing they phased out the naming schemes of Armada and Energon.
19:33 messed me up so much I thought they were gonna call the rebuilt Megatron in Animated, Galvatron
At least we didn't get Super Mega Combat.
Also, due to what I've seen on the internet, when I see GTS, I think of something VERY different from Gran Turismo Sport, so seeing a Transformer labeled GTS made me do a double take.
4:09 I don't think anyone has said "energon" so many times.
To me, Voyager class has a similar meaning to Journeyman. IE a midpoint between apprentice and master. It works because voyager sits between deluxe and leader
I feel it's only fair to point out that most of the characters in these shows had different names in Japan, and while some of those names made more sense than the English ones, I think there were also oddities to the Japanese names. Like Tidal Wave going from Shockwave in Micron Legend to Shockfleet in Superlink, so the character only had fleet in his name after he couldn't split into multiple boats anymore. Demolisher being called Ironhide when he was a tank but changing to Irontread after losing the treads. Sideways being called Doubleface kind of spoiled the faction switching thing (at least for those who didn't see the toy until after watching the relevant episodes) and didn't really fit when you consider he actually had three faces. Both Micron Legend and Galaxy Force had turncoat characters (Rampage and Demolishor) who started as Autobots but had names that seemed more fitting for Decepticons, like they were destined to join the bad guys so the names would make more sense.
The 200’s….certainly are an interesting period for Transformers, especially pre-Bayverse!!
Energon Constructicon Maximus in Japan is called Buildtron because armada Scavenger was called Devaster.
All a lesson in why one does not change character names in dubbing, regardless of need to retain a trademark.
Seriously, if there was any form of collaboration on the Unicron Trilogy, It should have been in deciding the names for characters in advance.
The size class names I've literally never heard any of those names before this video. Transformers were always Basic, Deluxe, Mega, Ultra, Super, and Supreme until the movie toy lines started changing the names and I haven't been able to keep any of the size classes straight since then.
I don’t particularly like how Megatron’s naming was handled as I got older.
I think Armada Megatron should have been Megatron throughout the entire show, and I think Energon Megatron should have been called Galvatron throughout the entire show.
Also, Cybertron should have been its own separate entity.
Have you seen the SEVENTH Trainbot? MPG-07 Ginoh, a repaint of Shouki that includes what looks like a new part that goes between the waist and torso for a bit of extra height. I've already pre-ordered it and plan on just using the new piece. I hope they don't repaint the rest of them, but wouldn't be surprised.
Cybertron is connected to Energon and Armada?
hate to break this to you, but transformers names _in general_ make no sense.
just because a nonsensical name is given to a different robot, doesn't suddenly make it weird, it was already weird.
It makes more sense when you realize the best one Cybertron was originally separate from energon and armada
18:11 TF you just say?
18:53 OMFG I HAD THIS MF AND FORGOT HIS NAME THANK YOU!!!
It will always annoy me the guy changed sids wasn't called "Sideswipe".
Also never knew Energon changed the names of the size classes. I kinda fell off collectiong between the end of Energon and the start of Classics. I was mostly interested in G1 at that point, and was getting back into Power Rangers, as well as the 2002 He-Man anyway.
AHAHAHAHA
THE MEGATRON GTS JOKE KILLED ME 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I got into the franchise with Cybertron. Their class system is the one I default to when referring to the figures.
I still want to know who at Hasbro saw the mould of that year's towtruck transformer and thought SmokeScreen fit better than Hoist.
Jetfire is the one that bothers me the most.
why is that?
A Alien Robot who transform into a SPACE SHUTTLE is called JETFIRE.
He transforms into a bomber with the Cybertron show.
Also, Energon Jetfire is ironically called Skyfire in Japan.
Yeah, in the armada cartoon, and the toy line that character named smokescreen name didn’t really fit him, given his altmode is a crane truck, and not like smokescreen’s G1 version who transformed into a race car, and the toy version on that character cybertron did though💁🏻♂️.
Yeah that whole size class naming thing was weird. And honestly where did Voyager come from. Either someone was a big Trek fan or its a reference to the spaceprobe and the golden disk.
Please make another video about the foreign TF names!
i wonder what hun-gurrr would look as a transformers cybertron character besides being a decepticon and not a combiner and what he would transform into
I miss Basic size, anybody else.
I do too, especially at the 5 dollar price.
Fun Fact Galaxy Force Japanese version of Cybertron not canon Super Link or Micron Legends
the unicron trilogy was a fooking mess 😅
Smokescreen?!? No mention of a glorified tow truck who was named Smokescreen for no obvious reason?
And then when he's upgraded to an excavator, he gets renamed Hoist, despite no longer hoisting things.
I mean Smokescreen was also a Decepticon Jet in G2, which was even more of a diversion.
@@R0-83-RTI can understand a jet called smokescreen if it left a thick smoke trail or dropped smoke bombs. I dunno if that’s what G2 smokescreen did tho.
@@russellharrell2747 It just kind feels weird since G2 is supposed to be in continuity with G1 and there's already a character in G1 called smokescreen, who is an Autobot.
Cybertron is not actually connected to the others, it's basically Hasbro fanfiction
please of please cover the Image comics. every isssue is wild!
New size order
Littlest
Small
Medium
Large
Larger
Largest
should've just sticked to the original Japanese names with mb minimal corrections. Wouldn't have caused nearly as much problems
Very enjoyable video
Its the same garbage when live-action characters get names.
This period of time... skip
What to hear a funny story. Before that episode of Energon with Energon Megatron premeired on TV, I imagined myself watching that episode and guess who I heard instead, either Spock or Frank Welker, not David Kaye. Not true today, but that is what I heard during my imagination.