Remember That Cool Battle Cat Transformer RAVAGE? You Won't Believe What the Name COULD'VE Been!

We saw the beast in the film REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, but famously enough, this feline Decepticon at one point might've not been called the excellent one-word name of Ravage. For good reason. During Hasbro's stint of "Beast Wars," the name 'Ravage' was completely unavailable legally. Technically Hasbro couldn't even use the word. Here's what they then came up with:

"Shadow Panther" Became Their Go-To, Until....

That name was even off limits, believe it or not. And you can agree -- that was a cool name! Hasbro had a problem that did not know how to fix except to go with a name arguably determined to be the worst name (if it ended up being the only way to go) --

TRIPEDACUS AGENT. We don't know exactly what it meant, but you can imagine when Michael Bay was given the go-ahead for REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, we weren't going to identify much with a battle cat transformer called that.... Thankfully, Hasbro was given a miraculous opening -- and right before their Energon toy line: the name became available again!

Hasbro was clever, though -- to avoid legal issues down the road, when the Energon toy line was released, the company added a prefix to the name. For a time, Ravage was actually known as "Battle Ravage." For another redeco of the character, the name was then changed to "Command Ravage." Just to be a bit confusing.

Thankfully, We'll Always Remember Our Cute Little Decepticon Kitten as Just the One Name

Ravage. Very much like Madonna, or Cher, or Lion-O of the Thundercats. Got a nice ring to it.

The Story of How the Transformer SHOCKWAVE Was Actually SHOCKBLAST for Awhile

That.... Is Shockwave! But did you know that the fierce Decepticon we knew and loved from Hasbro as well as the third Michael Bay film, DARK OF THE MOON, wasn't always named that? Such is the name of the game of trademark and copyright law. Remarkably, Hasbro had plenty of legal problems with naming a lot of their transformers as you already know, and Shockwave was yet another one:

The Name "Shockwave" Actually Legally Went to a Company Known as Lanard Toys, Ltd.

And wouldn't you know it? The company developed a set of military figures called "The Corps!", which ironically directly competed with Hasbro's other well-known toy brand -- G.I. Joe. Because Lanard owned the trademarked name Shockwave, Hasbro couldn't use it for the time being. Instead, they marketed the name Shockblast instead.

What's interesting about trademark and copyright law is that sometimes the registrations don't last for good reason -- companies need to upkeep on the registration as a means to prove that they're still sufficiently using the names or brands they've trademarked. If they abandon the registration, the trademark or copyright is then up for grabs.

It Just so Happened That Lanard Did Just That: They Gave Up on the Registration, for Whatever Reason

And they did so just before Hasbro's release of their Alternators toy line, unfortunately so late in the marketing game to snatch the trademark and plant it on the box. However, Hasbro grabbed the registration and christened the well-known transformer on their next Mini-Con. And there you have it: we have the Decepticon arguably resonating just as much as Megatron!

Ironically.... Hasbro kept the trademark Shockblast for their other brand -- G.I. Joe!

The Major Reason Why the Transformer BLUESTREAK Actually Had 3 Other Names

You'd begin to wonder if some of the TRANSFORMERS had trouble accepting their names. What with Optimus Prime being awesome, and other wicked names like IRONHIDE and SHOCKWAVE being the real winners (no rational transformer would have an issue with either name, right?). But Bluestreak? Sounds pretty cool. Just like Starscream. It's catchy. Yet, the name wouldn't stick at all on several occasions, but not because the transformer in question (a sleek silvery blue car, duh) had an issue with the name --

Rather, It Was a Legal Trademark Issue, All Thanks to a Toy Car Company!

Back in 2002, a little company called Gendron, Inc., registered a specific name with the USPTO: Toledo 'Blue Streak'. This presented a problem for Hasbro, not having the means to register the name, resulting in their transformer character to go with a change: Silverstreak.

This, of course, only affected Hasbro here in the U.S. and not in Japan. The exact same character was, in fact, simply called "Streak" -- short for, you guessed it, BLUESTREAK. That's two different names -- STREAK and SILVERSTREAK. Ready for one more name? You may have heard of it in a certain TRANSFORMERS film....

SIDESWIPE From the REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Sequel Was, In Fact, BLUESTREAK

Confused, yet? Don't worry. It all falls into place. You could easily watch the film and recognize the transformer known as Sideswipe, realizing that he's just a redesigned Bluestreak for legal purposes. Smart move, Hasbro. Once Gendron actually abandoned their trademark in 2009, it turned out that Hasbro switched the name back to what it originally should've been. Bluestreak.

Long journey for the disassociated and confused transformer.