Attempts to make Megatron into like Magneto or something generally fall flat for me because of his name. Its meant to evoke a nuclear bomb,.
Its not like darker versions Godzilla where he is simultaneously representing the bomb and those harmed by it. You would need to change a lot about the character to pull it off.
Names are like super important to me as a Transformers fan. I judge the American Transformers cartoons (I try to give the translated Japanese ones leeway due to translation, dubs, and nameslaps to hold onto rights) alot by how well the names suit the characters.
Its why attempts to make the Decepticon cause sympathetic fall flat for me outside of animated, where Decepticon was a reclaimed slur (and it still felt they didn’t do enough with that and continued playing them as straight up evil.)
The name Decepticon tells me immediately the Decepticon cause itself in most continuities is similar to something a “post-morality edgelord” would dream
Speaking of names, I’d like to vent about some names in the Aligned continuity:
Smokescreen Prime’s name is terrible because its a meta-gag about his role and doesn’t fit in universe
“Breakdown” was unfitting for a bruiser type character.
“Filch” is not a dumb name by G1 standards, and would fit perfectly in the micromaster days
Strongarm, I love you, but your name suits that of a villain and just screams police brutality and union buster.
I miss when names implied a special power.
On the other side, I don’t like names just be in-universe insults unless its adressed. It would hit the same wrong notes as the “negative theme” cutie marks we saw for joke characters in MLP:FIM.
I remember reading a fic from the viewpoint of the Stunticons upon their creation, and Breakdown was screaming internally as he went through “why do I have that name. Please let it not be the reason I think it is. That’s cruel”, and he felt so much relief when he reached the parts about
Well, while in toy concept Megatron was derivitive of Megaton, there is also the possibility of linking it with Metatron, a messenger/voice of God, and that is totally something Megatron would ascribe himself to. A LaVeyesque take on Megatronus is more than enough to justify it in fiction.
I can only imagine there was some internal reason Strongarm was picked as a name over Longarm for that character.
Good point about the Metatron thing, never thought of that before.
( I still think giving the Fallen the name Megatronus was dumb though, but that’s just because I don’t like the Decepticons being thematically tied too much to ancient forces of supernatural evil. Personal taste.)
Monsters and Stuff 