Index
Bios
Fiction
Humor
Art
Sprites
Capcom vs. SNK cards
Downloads
The Walkthrough
Virus Gallery
Classic to EXE Checklist
BN5 Modification Cards
MM Name Origins
Secret Page?
Links
Which Navi Would You Be?
Names in Megaman Games
What follows is the contents of a forum thread from one of the old Mechanical Maniacs boards I wanted to archive. It's basically an incomplete article ranting and musing about name origins in MM games I was curious about. Oct 11, 2006
Raijin You know what?
It may be trivial, but if it's one thing I've gotten into lately, it's interpreting names. I'm talking about the more obscure
names of characters, enemies, items, etc. that the original writers stuck with something they thought was clever, but never
saw fit to share with the translators what that was, so it gets easily misinterpreted, and that's the name all of us end up
using, even though it makes no sense but nobody cares enough to figure out the real meaning.
Small examples: we all know musical names are a common trend in the series. Alia's name could have easily been Aria,
referring to an opera solo. Another naming convention in the X series is characters named after numbers or letters, something
narrowly missed by Zain and Geemel, who should be hebrew letters Zayin and Gimel. This is some meaningful...well, somewhat
interesting...okay nobody gives a rat's ass, but there's hidden meanings there that I at least want to look into. That way
whenever I think of a character's name, I know I'm thinking of their real name, and not the blooper typo of a name they ended
up with officially.
Other people in the community have done lots of research on this already. Mainly the ones good with Japanese. So far
I've been looking into what I could on my own, but it would be nice to hear the insight of the people in this community. This
may not be the same type of thing people around here get into like the gameplay and theory related topics, but I won't know
'til I try.
So lately I've had my sights set on the Legends series. There are two big problems with enemy names as we know them.
On the one hand we have the Bonne machines, which all seem to be named after either related German WWII artillery, or just
appropriate German words. About three or four of these were correctly interpreted by the official translators, and the rest
were misinterpreted a few times over by the fans. The other problem is the Reverbots, which as far as I can tell, make no
friggin' sense namewise.
Here's the list of those enemies I've looked at in detail. Only Legends1 so far, but I have a mental start on the
others. Starting with the Bonne machines that I'm certain about.
Drache - German for "dragon", more imprtantly the name of a WWII German helicopter, FA223 Drache. All of the
actual weapons here are German WWII, so I won't bother to type that again.
Brummbär (Blumebear) - means "Grizzly Bear", nickname given by allied intelligence to SturmpanzerIV
Möbelwagen (Maiberu Haagen) - means "furniture van", was a boxy-looking anti-aircraft gun carrier (little
odd since the Bonne Möbelwagen has no form of long-range attack)
Hornisse (Horunisse) - means "hornet", early name of Nashorn tank destroyer.
Leopold (Leopardo) - Name given to one of two KruppK5 railway guns.
Ferdinand (Feldinaught, Feldynaut) - nickname for tank destroyer, named after Ferdinand Porsche, the designer.
Schmetterling (Bon's flying body, named only in the OST tracklisting, I think) - means "butterfly", also
name of a Surface to Air Missile.
Focke-Wulf (Fokkerwolf, Falcrufe) - Aircraft manufacturer and subsequently the name of all the aircraft produced by
it. The name comes from two of the company's founders, Focke and Wulf.
Maulwurf (Marlwolf) - German for "mole". Doesn't seem to share a name with any WWII-related that I can find,
but as a digging machine, the name fits anyway.
Gesselschaft - means "society". Again, no apparent real-life reference, but a fitting name for the Bonne
home base.
Theodore Bruno - Just names, as far as I can tell, but they're German names, so at least it's still consistent.
Okay, that just leaves two Bonne machines I can't interpret. Zu-fu Gere-do and Barukon Gere-do. The boats. While
looking I even found a Japanese blog where some guy was trying to do the same thing I was. He had Ferdinand, Maulwurf, and a
few others correctly explained, but for these two he had question marks, so apparently the Japaense are just as confused by
this name as I am. Atomic Fire's OST tracklist calls them Such Gerat and Balcon Gerat, which despite some minor spelling
variance, seem to indicate the names are German for "Seeker Tool" and "Balcony Tool" respectively.
Neither makes much sense. Barukon has a Balcony, but I don't know if it's so important to the name.
And the Reverbots, if they mean anything in any language, I'd like to know it. These are all direct romanizations of
the Japanese names. i.e. All pronunciation based, none spelling based.
Horokko(Zakobon)
Mirumiji-(Mirumijee)
Shekuten
Arukoitan
Orudakoitan
Sharukurusu
Kuruguru(GuruGuru)
Jakko-(Jakkos)
Gorubesshu
Firushudotto
Mairoku(Miroc)
Fu-Ru-(Foo-Roo)
Kyannamu(Cannam)
Hanmurudo-ru(Hammul Doll)
Karumunabasshu(Culmnavash, Karumuna Bash)
Garudoriten
Gaini-to-ren(Gai-nee Tooren)
Karubun
This thread will likely serve for much more investigation later. This will make a decent start.
Kaos: Wow, that's
brilliant, I love this kind of information, by the title of the topic I thought I was going to read things like "Rock
and Roll are named after Rock'n'Roll rofl" but this is pure gold. Wish you find out more meanings.
By the way, which others X names are numbers/letters apart from X, Zero and Sigma?
_________________
Raijin:
Well, there's
Epsilon, and I think that's it. I guess it's not the most widespread naming pattern, but it makes up for it in that it hits
the three most major characters, I guess.
You may also consider Double a number, that guy was all about two-faced, two-timing, double-agent with two stages to
every attack and a double-edged weakness to Double Cyclone.
Kaos: Don't forget
he double crossed the Hunters xD
_________________
Raijin: I just
realized a moment ago that Command Mission's Chief R also applies to the letter-based naming scheme of the X series. And
since nobody else pointed that out in five whole days, I guess this topic is as uninteresting as I thought.
Oh well, that's not gonna stop me yet. While on the subject of Chief R, I might as well add that his cannon fodder
buddy Aile was most likely supposed to be named "L". It looks like the spelling in Japanese (E-Ru) is the same for
"Aile" as for the pronunciation of the letter L, and considering how L and R go together in both the Japanese
language and the shoulders of many video game controllers, it makes sense.
I think I presented this theory a while ago on the Proboards Mechs board at one point, though I may have just been
thinking about bringing it up.
Kayorei: Heh. This
is... something I never thought to think about. Then again, I wouldn't know a thing about the Legends naming convention you
theorize because I haven't played the games in that series.
Something I thought I'd bring up while Command Mission names are the subtopic of the moment. I heard somewhere that
there's some kind of connection between Nana's name and the fact that she wears 7s on her chest. Any insight on that?
_________________
Raijin: From some
angles the sevens on Nana's chest kinda look like the Japanese katakana character "Na", in other words it sorta
looks like "Nana" is written there.
Dunno if this'll show up correctly due to your browser settings or the forum coding or whatever, but this is what
"Na" looks like: ナ
As you can see (maybe), vaguely 7-ish, and in the 3D renders or on a low definition TV set it's easy to confuse them.
But Nana's official art shows it as "77" pretty clearly, so either it means something else entirely or the
similarity was intentional. That's as far as I know. Fay: Since I'm
native German (well, Austrian, but for that it doesn't matter really) I may be able to help you with your research on these
German names, if you want to. =)
_________________
Raijin: Well, right now the only names that need clarifying are those of the boats, as I mentioned. How much do you know about Japanese pronunciation patterns? There's a bit much in the names Zu-fu Gere-do and Barukon Gere-do that will translate to German (or whatever) much differently than it's spelled. It's a bit late for me to go into it right now though, so if you need some clarification it'll have to wait for tomorrow.
Fay: Well, in
comparison to the fact of a boat it "Suchgerät" (Meaning searching device) indeed makes no sense, but the word
itself is actually right and existing. Was that maybe a Submarine?
I'll tough have a look for other meanings of both words. =)
Edit: It's written Gesellschaft, not Gesselschaft. Just recognized it. ^^
_________________
Dom: Thanks for
posting this!
I have an interest in WWII and you've shown me a few new things.
Raijin:
| Well, in comparison to the fact of a boat it "Suchgerät" (Meaning searching device) indeed makes no sense, but the word itself is actually right and existing. Was that maybe a Submarine? |
Hell yes, a submarine is EXACTLY what it is! You're saying Suchgerät can mean submarine? I thought the German word for submarine was just U-Boat or U-Boot or Unterseeboot or "Das Boot". I even looked up a lot of stuff on WWII German subs to see if I noticed any names, but got nothing.
Knowing that, Balcon-gerät sounds feasible. Balcon is the boss of the same area with the Suchgeräts, and can go underwater as well. It's basically a much larger version and has a balcony added, so adding Balcon to the latter half of the other name could make sense.
Although if "Barcon", "Varcon", or "Valcon" make sense in there as well, it would be good to rummage around for the most likely name.
If you need to be more familiar with the Bonne machines, go here. The mechs in question here are named "Zuuf Geleido" and "Barukon Gelede" on that page.
| Quote: |
| Edit: It's written Gesellschaft, not Gesselschaft. Just recognized it. ^^ |
Again you call me on a minor little typo. You're as bad to me as I am to Gauntlet.
Edit: Been looking around, and this seems to be my best source for Legends2 names. It's a fan-managed glossary of Dash related terms. There's some speculation about name meanings, some of it helpful, though some of it less accurate than my own conclusions.
Main thing I learned from here was a bit of confirmation on my original theory about Reaverbot names. They're basically common words in english, japanese, and possibly other languages, but garbled slightly, just enough to make it a whole new word while still hinting at what it was derived from. Good example is Gai-Nii Tooren. As I always suspected, the latter half of its name is meant to sound like "Train" because this boss basically is a train. Though in Japanese "Train" is spelled Toreen, not Tooren. Problem is this doesn't help me figure out how the names should be romanized accurately since they're basically intentional misspellings. Might as well stick with the direct transliterations like the ones listed on Legends Station.
Still, at least figuring out all the name origins and recording them will be nice.
Fay: Well, yes, the
direct translation would be "Unterseeboot" (or its short form "U-Boot".). "Das Boot" is just
the title of a movie.
However, since submarines are equipped with lots of radars and such things, it could be, that they wanted to show this with the name Searching Device, to me the name makes sense.
"Valcon" somehow seems to me a bit like "Vakuum", meaning (duh) vacuum. However, as a Bonne
series, the Suchgerät just added with a balcony and made into a Balkongerät. Well, yes. Could be, but somehow I like the
vacuum-version a bit more.
"Bruno" could be another name for "Braun" (meaning brown), which is a REALLY common name in the
german speaking languages, especially Germany itself.
Leopordo can be your Leopold, but it also can be the Leopard (or Leopard-2), a tank from the Wehrmacht:
Image
Would make sense to me either.
I asked friend of mine, who knows a lot about the war machinery of Germany in WW2, for the "Maulwurf", he
said he doesn't know about a machine called like that in the Wehrmacht, but he wouldn't be surprised if it existed.
And yes, I'm cruel with spelling errors, German is my native language. =P
_________________
Raijin:
| Skiver wrote: |
| Well, yes, the direct translation would be "Unterseeboot" (or its short form "U-Boot".). "Das Boot" is just the title of a movie. |
Yeah, that was just a joke though.
| Quote: |
However, since submarines are equipped with lots of radars and such things, it could be, that they wanted to show this with the name Searching Device, to me the name makes sense. |
Well, since the other mechs have such specific references, I'm not too comfortable making a stretch like that, but it is the most likely name we have so far...
| Quote: |
"Valcon" somehow seems to me a bit like "Vakuum", meaning (duh) vacuum. However, as a Bonne series, the Suchgerät just added with a balcony and made into a Balkongerät. Well, yes. Could be, but somehow I like the vacuum-version a bit more. |
Too bad. Like I said, pronunciation is everything in this writing system, and "Vakuum" lacks the neccessary l/r and long o sounds. It's way too much of a stretch.
| Quote: |
Leopordo can be your Leopold, but it also can be the Leopard (or Leopard-2), a tank from the Wehrmacht: Image Would make sense to me either. |
Nope. "Leopold" is spelled "reopOrudo" in katakana, and I checked some more Japanese sites to be sure, and "Leopard" is spelled "reopArudo". Again, pronunciation is everything here. So it's most definitely Leopold. It could be argued based on the similarity in tank concepts that Capcom simply misspelled "Reoparudo" though.
Raijin: I wanna post
what I've gathered about the Reaverbots so far. Most all of this is from the page I posted.
Arukoitan, Orudakoitan, Korutokoitan, Ji-pukoitan: That glossary didn't seem to suggest name origins for any of these.
They're all obviously connected by the latter part of their name. The third and fourth are from MoTB, which I haven't played,
even though I want to (can't find the damn thing anywhere these days) but maybe if I saw them and could complare them with
the Aru and Oruda I'd get come more clues. I only have one guess on Orudakoitan, that Oruda could be either Older or Order,
both of which kinda describe the bot's purpose.
Horokko/Zakobon: At first it seemed like "Zakobon" was just a misinterpretation of in-game text. You know in
the Legends1 Junk Store there's a stuffed one of these Reaverbots on display in the shop? Zakobon is just the name the owners
of the Junk Store give it in the Japanese version, which is changed to "Rover" in the english version. In other
words "Zakobon" doesn't refer to the enemy in general, it's just the specific one in the Junk Shop. However, he
glossary also mentions Zakobon was going to be the enemy's name in the development stages, and that the rejected name just
survives through the Junk Store reference. No clues on meaning of "Horokko", but "Zako" means "small
fry" in Japanese, and a lot of the Japanese sites I've seen have put the smaller Reaverbots in a category marked by that
word.
Mirumijii: It looks very much like a distortion of "Mimizu", jp for "worm". This is the worm-like
Reaverbot, so it fits.
Jakko: I'm not convinced, but the glossary suggests either "Jakkou", meaning "weak in execution"
or "Jako", a kind of sardine.
Firushudot: Derived from "fish" most likely. "Filshdot" looks like about the right reading.
Miroc: The Japanese name "Mairoku" is just "Maikuro" with the last two characters swapped. So this
name is most likely derived from "Micro". And so it turns out the "official" english name was right the
whole time, although before now I always thought it was pronounced with short "i" and "o" sounds, when
both vowels should be long.
Hanmuru Doll: Spelled similarily to "Hammer", so "Hammul Doll" (as many others have already
interpreted it) is probably right.
Karumuna Bash: The glossary suggests it's derived from Garumu/Garm, to go with the wolf-like appearance. I still like
"Culmnavash" myself.
Garudoriten: Now THIS one was an interesting revelation. It seems this is one boss that would be nicely recognizable
to Japanese players yet utterly obscure to westerners. Just the kind of thing I'm looking for. Here's what Babelfish says the
Glossary says.
| Babelfish wrote: |
| Origin of name: Animation "golden soldier ゴールドライタン" of タツノコプロ production |
Next step, plug "ゴールドライタン" into Google and get these helpful pics. And then according to ja.wikipedia, this "Goldraitan" anime aired from 1981 to 1982. If it goes by another name in english, I couldn't find it. Either way it seems pretty damn obscure, even for a 25 year-old cookie-cutter Giant Robot anime. Once you see it, it looks like a pretty spot-on reference though. "Galdriten" is most definitely the intended reading of this robot's name.
The rest of the MML1 Reaverbots I couldn't find anything on. That glossary doesn't even have entries for Sharukurusu, Karubun, Fuuruu, or Gorubesh, even though is mentions them in other entries.
Coming up next, MML2.
Blazeman:
| Raijin wrote: |
| From some angles the sevens on Nana's chest kinda look like the
Japanese katakana character "Na", in other words it sorta looks like "Nana" is written there. Dunno if this'll show up correctly due to your browser settings or the forum coding or whatever, but this is what "Na" looks like: ナ As you can see (maybe), vaguely 7-ish, and in the 3D renders or on a low definition TV set it's easy to confuse them. But Nana's official art shows it as "77" pretty clearly, so either it means something else entirely or the similarity was intentional. That's as far as I know. |
"Nana" is japanese for the number 7. That's likely why there were the sevens in the first place!
_________________
Raijin: Well, so it is. At first I was thinking "but I thought seven was shichi", but then I remembered alternate readings of the same kanji and looked it up, and sure enough, "shichi" is alternatively read as "nana", though it seems that reading is always used for other related words like "nanatsu" or "nanajuu", and isn't read on its own, which ends up making her name meaning a little more obscure. Thanks for that.
Pluto: That was what I thought, but I kept my mouth shut fearing I remembered the wrong word.
Raijin: Looks like I
also forgot to add that Nana's name meaning "seven" adds her to the number/letter name category of X series
characters.
Anyway, I think I'm finally ready with Legends2 names. There are still a bunch I haven't interpreted well, but at
least I finally found them all. It seems not a single english site has info on these units and all the japanese sites I saw
were missing several from their list. I had to combine info from a few sites to make sure I had each enemy checked off.
Alright, first is Bonne machines. They're still very German themed so it was fairly easy finding the right
interpretation.
Drache - Yeah, the same as in MML1, just with an updated design (I had to make sure updated design did not mean
entirely new model/name).
Jagd Krabbe - Tron's crab-like Ferdinand-based mech she uses in Pokte village. Probably the most well known mech name
from MML2 besides the few that were actually mentioned in-game. It's German for "Hunter Crab".
Kalmare - The squid-like self-destructing robots that pop up out of the sand in the Saul Kada desert. Kalmare is
German for "squid".
Leopold - Same from MML1 again. It's the tanks in Kimotoma city, even though their design is even more updated than
the Draches, they apparently still have the same name.
Servbot Heavy Machine Gun Cannon - This one was in Japanese, "Kobun Juukikan Hou" to be precise, which is
more of a descriptor than a name. These are the machine gun turrets set up in the first area of Kimotoma where you can see
the Servbot heads sticking out the top.
Gun Battery - Likewise, just a descriptive name in Japanese. This one actually varied from site to site a bit. It
could be these last two names weren't even given in Capcom's data books and the people who made these sites just made up the
names themselves. Nonetheless, these Gun Batteries are very similar to the Gun Batteries of MML1, but with an updated design
again. They show up in the area with the truck and the minefield. It does sort of go along with MML1 that Cpacom wasn't
interested in naming the simple, weak gun turrets.
Small Crab Mine - Again in Japanese as "Kogani Kirai", these are the small crab-like robots that block the
way early in Kimotoma and explode violently when touched or hit.
Matrix Battery - This is the humungous bomb-launching gun battery guarding the hostages in Kimotoma. I'm not sure why
it's named "Matrix" though. If the katakana for "matorikusu" means anything more german, I can't find it
through all the Matrix hits.
Blitzkrieg - One of the only names mentioned in-game. Teisel's shark-like mech. Blitzkrieg, as many who've taken grade
school history likely remember, means "Lightning War" and was a term denoting a German WWII air raid tactic.
Servbot Mole - Or "Kobun Mole", the tiny drilling tanks the Servbots use in the Blitzkrieg battle to support
Teisel. Though I haven't played MoTB, I've seen the screenshots with the topless versions of these in use and have also read
they have the same name in that game.
Hover Gustaff - Tron's armor in the Saul Kada ruins. The sketches posted on Capcom's homepage call it "New
Gustaff", but it would seem they settled on this name instead. I'm also aware of how much role the Gustaff models have
played in MoTB and the games Tron cameoed in. By the way, does anyone think "Gustav" would be a better spelling for
it? Most every romanization I've seen uses the double f instead, but I don't think that's how the Germans spell it. What do
you think, Skiver?
Drill Bon - Another disappointingly unimaginative name for Bon's digging armor seen in the Saul Kada ruins. The site I
linked before also mentions "Bon Bonne Drill Type D Bonne" as a name used in the early development stages of the
game. Still not fitting much with the German theme, but at least it sounds a bit more original.
Gemeinschaft - The other name mentioned in-game. The Bonne/Glyde train on Kalinka. Gemeinschaft is german for
"community", and I'm sure the similarity to "Gesellschaft" is intentional here. Both those terms were
used to describe complementary theories in this Sociology class I took a couple years ago. Society vs. Community. I can't
remember exactly what Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft had to do with that class though, I think at the time I was more
interested in how both terms were used in the Legends series.
Not nearly as many named after specific artillery this time. None of the new ones anyway. As near as I can tell, the
only new WWII related name is Blitzkrieg.
Okay, Glyde mechs were more tricky. I suspect some, if not all of the ones I cannot interpret are based on Russian
words.
Glyde Drache - The basic flying machines of the Birdbots, decorated to look like the heads of ducks. I think
"Drake" would have been a much more clever name for these Bonne Drache rip-offs, but what the hell. It seems Glyde
is more fond of naming his machines after himself instead.
Zimmerman? (Tsuinma-man) - These flyers that look suspiciously like the Bonne's Hornisse carry Birdbots onto the
platform in the first part of the Nino Island siege as well as pick up and throw obstructive crates and Rock himself when
they're not busy. This is one of those names I couldn't figure out completely. Searches with the katakana turned up a alot of
Zimmermans, a German name, and apparently using the more German pronunciation (German "z" is like an english
"ts"). It's a bit more tricky here though, since it doesn't seem to relate to the mech (Zimmermann is a name and
literally means "carpenter").
Mutti? - This is the direct romanization and the best way I could figure to spell it. This is the carrier ship that
pours out Birdbots during the third stage of the Nino siege. No clue what the name is supposed to mean.
Drache Ace - This is the purple Glyde Drache carrying the Birdbot Commanders that acts as the boss at the end of the
Nino siege. Just as I've preferred the name "Drake" for the Glyde Draches, I've been calling this one
"Darkwing Drake". *is shot*.
Glyde Tank - The bird-faced tanks that defend Glyde's Calbanian fortress.
Glyde Tochka - Apparently this refers to both types of dome-shaped turrets (machine gun and bomb-launching) defending
Glyde's fortress. Tochka is russian for "location", and supposedly a euphemism for prostitution, among other
things. The wikipedia article on Tochka wasn't very clear, but I guess it could apply to a defense battery.
Glyde Machine Gun - The small, wall-mounted autoguns protecting the interior of Glyde's fortress.
Kuerubon? - The Brummbär-like Birdbot mechs protecting the last area of the fortress. Still no clue what it means.
KingGlydon - The massive bird-shaped battleship that Glyde uses for the final attack on Nino. The name seems fairly
straightforward.
Okay, now Reaverbots. I know even less about what these names are supposed to mean, just like with the last list.
Horokko, Snow Horokko, Fire Horokko, Ice Horokko - Mostly like their MML1 counterparts.
Jakko - Pretty much the same as they were in MML1. They come in different colours and do some things differently, but
they're all the same.
Mimic - there are five different types this time, but they're all Mimics.
Golbesh, Fire Gollbesh, Bubble Golbesh, Ice Golbesh - More from MML1. I guess the one that shoots poison is the
standard version. And it seems the Bubble shooting one gets its own distinction even though it's just the Fire Golbesh under
water.
Kuruguru (Brown and Yellow) - Direct from MML1.
Sharukurusu (Green and Red) - From MML1, they're about the same size this time so it's not "regular and
large".
Miroc - Still the same.
King Miroc - This is the giant golden Miroc that appears rarely and makes a great source of zenny.
Milmijii (Regular and Green) - The same worm things as in MML1, with heads this time.
Fingerii (Fingeri-) - This is the ridiculously tall bot that generates a cool-looking yet basically worthless force
field when you get close. I'm guessing it's named after a finger due to its long, thin shape.
Giwan (Jaiwan) - The boss of the mine shaft ruins, a big Reaverbot with powerful spiked arms. The glossary site
suggested it combined "Giant" with "wan" which means "arm" in japanese.
Snowlbit (Sunorubitto) - Snow + Rabbit. These are the rabbit-like bots that pop out of the snow on Forbidden Island
and Kalinka Ruins.
Poe (Po-) - These are the creepy human-shaped Reaverbots on Forbidden Island that transform into vicious rampaging
monsters when touched. The brown cooperating ones in Saul Kada ruins have the same name.
Olfon (Orufon) - The wolf Reaverbot that acts as the sub-boss on Forbidden Island and later as a regular enemy. Most
of the times I saw this on the japanese sites the last vowel was different. I've seen it spelled Orufin, Orufan, and Orufen.
There have been other typos released by Capcom but at least it doesn't seem to matter much here. Atomic Fire's tracklisting
has "Wolfon", which seems to assume it's close enough to how the Japanese spell "wolf". However I know
already the katakana spelling of "Wolf" is "Urufu". Capcom did mean to allude to the word
"wolf" here, but like a lot of Reaverbot names it's intentionally misspelled. So I go with Olfon to work that
concept in.
Mammoo (Manmu-) - The mammoth-like Reaverbots.
Rush Mammoo (Rashimanmu-) - The giant Mammoo boss of Forbidden Island.
Frongel, Fire Frongel (Furongeru) - The frog-like Reaverbots.
Inmii (Inmi-) - The little bug-like Reaverbots that run out of the wall near the beginning of the Manda ruins. No clue
what the name means.
Tarble (Ta-buru) - The egg-shaped bots in Manda ruins that ride on the sawblade traps and run around like crazy when
on the ground. Still no clue namewise.
Puurian (Pu-rian) - The plant-like bots attached to the walls in the Manda ruins that spit multiple bombs at you when
they're awake. Still clueless.
Galgalfummi (Garugarufunmi-) - The boss of Manda ruins, the huge frog. Still no clue.
Otamaan (Otama-n) - The tadpoles that support Galgalfummi. This name is derived from "Otama", japanese for
"tadpole".
Balfura (Barufura-) - The mosquitoes that fly around during the Galgalfummi battle and can be used by either Megaman
or the boss to recover health. Name is derived from "Boufura", japanese for "mosquito larva", or
"maggot".
Amistal (Amisutaru) - This name refers to both the big purple spheres and the small floating explosives they produce.
No idea about the name.
Miitan (Mi-tan) - Small floating blue dolls that self-destruct when they get close enough. No idea about the name.
Juraid (Jureido) - The big things that run around like crazy above ground. I guess the name has something to do with
"raid".
Juniid (Juni-do) - The floating brown spike balls that fly around in circles and grow huge when they see you. Still no
idea about the name.
Skullit (Sukaritto) - The refractor shard-stealing bots that look like dancers in a red dress. I guess the name has
something to do with "skull".
Norieibi (Norieibi-) - The fish Reaverbots of the water ruins. The large ones are called the same thing, just
large-sized versions. No idea about the name.
Midosu - The Jellyfish boss Reaverbots of the water dungeons. The glossary site suggested the name is based on Medusa,
which apparently can be a name for jellyfish (I dunno, probably the tentacles resembling snake hair?)
Mandomantal (Mandomantaru) - The ray Reaverbot in the last area of the Nino ruins you ride to reach one of the keys.
The name has something to do with Manta Rays, at least.
Koni (Koni-) - The bouncing dino-head bots in Saul Kada ruins you throw at the stalactite to make it fall. Glossary
says it has something to do with a similar character in what looks like a japanese Barney. The searches I did on it didn't
show any similar looking characters so I think that theory's a dud. No ideas about the name myself though.
Nakel (Neikuru) - The lava-dwelling snakes in the Saul Kada ruins. The name is based on "snake" quite
clearly.
Shoebafun (Shu-bafun) - The trap Reaverbots that hide in the floor and clamp over Rock's body when he steps on them.
The name might relate to "shoe" since it does appear right beneath your feet.
Barukacche - Both the caterpillar Reaverbots and the Moths they transform into. No idea about the name.
Wojigairon (Wo-ji-gairon) - The giant boss Reaverbot of Saul Kada ruins. Glossary site says the name is based on
"oni" or "ogre", but I don't see much resemblance myself.
Engurubottsu - The floating heads that drop refractor shards and Fire Horokkos out of their mouths. I don't know what
the name means.
Janfoden (Janfo-den) - The missile and bomb-spitting Reaverbots in the last area of Saul Kada ruins as well as the
giant one in Kalinka ruins. Glossary says it's a combination of "Jumbo" and "Houdai" which means
"gun battery".
Hangekal (Hangekaru) - The key Reaverbots in Kalinka ruins. I can't figure out the name meaning.
Rimblemenji (Rinburumenji) - The slime boss of Kalinka ruins. Still no clue.
Gabunri (Gabunri-) - Fat floating things that block doors in Elysium and shoot their limbs at you. No name ideas.
Harin (Hari-in) - Spider-like sub-boss Reaverbots in Elysium. I dunno about the name.
And one more thing I picked up from the glossary site, the name of Johnny's ship that gets downed by Mutti and the
Birdbots during the Nino siege. Skovorod, Russian for "frying pan". I thought that was interesting.
Just wanna link to this before I finish. One search on the katakana names led me to this guy's art gallery. It's got a huge
variety of MM stuff and looks friggin' awesome. It didn't help me on this topic, but the art was good so I didn't
care.
Fay:
| Raijin wrote: |
| Zimmerman? (Tsuinma-man) - These flyers that look suspiciously like the Bonne's Hornisse carry Birdbots onto the platform in the first part of the Nino Island siege as well as pick up and throw obstructive crates and Rock himself when they're not busy. This is one of those names I couldn't figure out completely. Searches with the katakana turned up a alot of Zimmermans, a German name, and apparently using the more German pronunciation (German "z" is like an english "ts"). It's a bit more tricky here though, since it doesn't seem to relate to the mech (Zimmermann is a name and literally means "carpenter"). |
"Zimmermann" also is a name for a job, and yes, it means carpenter. Do you know if they also build things, not only carrying?
| Quote: |
| Mutti? - This is the direct romanization and the best way I could figure to spell it. This is the carrier ship that pours out Birdbots during the third stage of the Nino siege. No clue what the name is supposed to mean. |
Mutti is a belittlement of "Mutter", meaning "Mother". Mutti is used like Mommy, and mostly done so by children. If Mutti pours Birdbots out, I think it's clear why they call it mother. =)
Hope I could help you with that one. ^^
_________________
Raijin: Ah, that helps a lot for Mutti. Still not sure about Zimmerman though. They're just flying arms for carrying things. Still, it's not like the katakana makes sense read as anything else.
Fay: Well maybe it's just some thing related with the word, like that submarines were with "Suchgerät". =)
I mean... the enemy throws crates, right? Crates are made of wood and that's handled by carpenters. Just a random thought. ^^
_________________
Raijin: Reviving this again with just a couple small Legends 2 tidbits.
This occured to me years ago but I kept forgetting to mention it. Nino island's city is called "Ruminoa". I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "Luminoix", or "Luminois" which are sorta faux-french for "luminous". This town's characters and architecture all have big french themes, so a french-sounding name seems appropriate.
For Calbania Island's Kito Village, it's likely supposed to be "Quito", which is the name of the capital of Equador, which fits the island's own lush tropical feel.
One more place-name for the heck of it. Calinca island. I think we all know that should be Kalinka. I think Yosyonke is something Russian, but without accurate spelling I can't figure out what.
And finally, a Reaverbot. Bar Kache is the caterpillar/moth shown here. That was one of the first places I looked for these names and there's a fairly obvious clue to the name origin on the page that I only now understand. The description below mentions an anime, and a character named "Beruku *blank*ttse". I dunno why they felt the need to blank out one of the letters of the name. Maybe to be needlessly coy, maybe due to some obscure Japanese copyright infringement law that allows them to outright admit plaigerism as long as they not spell out the full name. All I know is it wasn't easy to search for the name when it wasn't spelled out in full. Well, I chanced upon the owner of the name today. The missing kana was "Ka", and the character's name is "Berg Katse", best known to the west as "Zoltar", the infamous purple villain of Battle of the Planets. Aside from the purpleness, I'm not too sure how far the inspiration goes, although from what I read here, Berg Katse was prone to gender swapping before it got censored out of the english version. Bar Kache is a Reaverbot of metamorphosis, turning from a fire-breathing worm to a dust-sprinkling moth and that transformation might be meant to allude to Berg Katse's transformations.
Kaos: Great as always, why don't you write an article about all these meanings and submit it to the MechManiacs site?
_________________