I was thinking that since the Autobots in Animated are meant to act more like superheros instead of soldiers, what if their names were changed to reflect on this? What would be an appropriate superhero name for each Autobot?

Well, my personal system goes a bit like DC's Silver Age naming system, except the word "Bot" is used in the place of the suffixes man, woman, and boy. This also unifies the names with their group name, Autobot:

Optimus Prime: Superbot or maybe Captain Robot

Bumblebee: Electrobot

Bulkhead: Stongbot

Prowl: Nightbot

Ratchet: Dr. Robot

Grimlock: Dinobot(well duh)

Wreck-Gar: Junkerbot

Yeah, it's kind of silly and lame but it's mostly for my own personal ammusement. Just imagine Prime trying to turn his crew into an earth-based superhero group and when Ultra Magnus shows up, he's all "What the slag is wrong with you?!" to Optimus

I think Transformers' names are already superhero names, and they always have been.

I was gonna say

Far be it from me to second (third?) what both Hobbes and LMH have said...but...yeah.

All together now:

SHUT UP, HORNET..

Then they'd be mega man villains.

Yeah, um, didn't Marvel name the core cast of TF characters with superhero/villains names in mind?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure "Autoboot Camp" cemented that idea for good.

Although it raises the question "what were their names before they signed up for the service?"

Protoform #98886642244, Protoform #98886642371, etc?

Jim? Frank? Billy-Bob?

Orion Pax?

FIX'D!

You don't know much about robots, do you?

Assumption: All Robots must work digitally.
Correction: This does not have to be true.
Extrapolation: It may be possible to have robots perform in an analogue fashion.
Conclusion: Caine's post was not in need of a fix.

FUTURAMA REFERENCE: MISSED

and also,


SENSE OF HUMOR: IMPAIRED

*reads above in Soundwave's voice*

^ We seriously in need of an actual Soundwave emoticon rather than substituting it with Jetstorm.

I thought it was supposed to be Omega Supreme...

Their dialog was pretty similar. "Soundwave: superior. Constructicons: inferior."

http://www.bash.org/?25464

to the four emoticons

Fixed.

It's okay, there's no such thing as 2.

What I would like to know is what is it that gives each Autobot their own superpower.

Marty Isenberg

Well they're robots, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're built with them already installed.

If your a robot built with jets in your feet, is that a super power? Is my car's supper power rolling? I have fingers, is it a super power that I can tie my shoes?

Ask Hornet, he used the term.

In fairness to Hornet, I would like to know why/how some robots get special magnet powers while some get wrecking balls and still others get crazy-ass lightning bolt hammers...it's a good question. But it's not an Animated specific question, it's been a question since Transformers began.

And I wouldn't apply the term "super powers" to these abilities.

Is a robot not entitled to the condensation of his brow?

...

Sorry got carried away.

Which just leads to another question: Why are Autobots built with special abilities already installed? Why don't they just use weapons like the Decepticons do?

Um, they'd all be "weapons" by virtue of being mechanical devices. Punch of Doom, Ice/Fire rockets, and Rouge-like power zaps don't seem too different from wrecking balls, magnets, and stingers.

No need, I LOL'd.

I donno. I have an idea/theory but keep in mind this is just my opinion, it's not grounded in any fiction.

There's a large amount of pre-set "protoforms" that all TFers are divided into. So say a robot is built on an assembly line in Cybertron Citizens Co. He or she's destined to be built with one of the many, many established protoforms as his or her basis.
The protoform that forms the basis for Bumblebee, Wasp, Cliffjumper, etc.... was designed with stingers built in, while the protoform that forms the basis of Bulkhead has the wrecking ball feature.

So like humans, TFers can be divided along the lines of basic archetypes, although the variety's probably greater concerning TFers.

So just like a certain number of humans are born with the ability to say, run fast, certain TFers are built with the ability to deploy stingers. And so forth.


I would say the Decepticons have more formidable weapons then the Autobots because of modifications. IDW's Megatron: Origins touched on this. Megatron started out as a simple mining bot, then upgraded himself into a war machine. Since these upgrades were added personally it's fair to assume that the result would be unique to Megs, making him substantially different from others that shared his basic model.
The same think happened in M:O when the Seekers were introduced. Megs had them modified to include null-rays and other fun features.

I would assume something similar exists in the Animated universe. The Decepticons, being the more war-like faction, put a lot of effort into upgrading themselves beyond the limits of their models.

This is heading quickly into "how are protoforms created, and is there robot secks involved" Tramp territory.

Nope, I draw the line there. No robo secks plz.

Wahahahahahaha! I like how this thread has veered off on a completely different direction by page 2 because everyone realised how 'tarded it was to begin with.


Lawl! Curse you... you nearly made me LOL for real which I can't do right now because I'm at work... I'm lawling in the inside but.


*another inner lawl*

stop it!

...man, this thread has made my morning.

I guess it's a case of "conventional" vs. "nonconventional". Why equip yourself with a hammer that can control the weather when a big old fusion cannon would be a lot more convient? While Magnus is summoning a thunderstorm, Megs could just pick him off with his fusion cannon from a safe distance.

And Boobies has another point: How did the Autobots make more of themselves if the Allspark was lost millions of years ago? Wouldn't a protoform remain lifeless until exposed to Allspark energy?

...

They had SEX Hornet.

There. Are you happy now? The pulled out their robo-dongs, screwed, and had babies.

OK?

Good. Now shut up.

Tramp'd!!

Man... ( . Y . ) is a prophet! Quick, gimme next week's Powerball numbers!! ;D

I been avoiding this thread.










now I know why.

But seriously, where did they get the Allspark energy needed to bring the protoforms to life? Mass-producing the protoforms in factories is no problem but they need Allspark energy to give them life.

You assume that the Allspark has been missing for millions of years.

Maybe you're wrong

Exactly. They only said they kept it hidden from the Decepticons, not that they lost it.

Although I will say this in Hornet's defense (OMG): the Autobots possessing the Allspark meant that the Decepticons were unable to create more Decepticons.

But as we have seen in this show, Decepticons aren't another race of Cybertronians; they *are* Cybertronians who oppose the Autobot command. So all they need do is recruit disaffected Cybertronians to their cause.

That's true. In the movie continuity, Transformers are all one species - merely divided on political lines. If you read the prequel comics you'll see that Optimus Prime and Megatron were originally co-rulers of Cybertron (hence why Prime refers to Megatron as "brother" in the movie). They were originally all Autobots (because all Transformers are Autonomous Robotic Organisms), then Megatron and his followers formed a separatist faction, who became known as Decepticons (according to the comics, a name given to them for their betrayal). So yeah, movie Decepticons are really just separatist Autobots.

I wonder if that means that the Autobots' language is as f'ugly as the Decepticons'.

But with more inhumane razor-sharp claws & teeth. RAWR!

..and red eyes. It's like in the movie I, Robot - good robots = blue eyes, red robots = red eyes.

'cept for Frenzy. He's just a blue-eyed freak.