Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-5012038-20130518014717/@comment-9519540-20130519145741

107.220.168.7 wrote: The names had to be changed by Hasbro. They had no choice. They couldn't  get a new license for, say, 'Slag' because the name was too general. Why Slug makes the cut, I have no idea. Same with Cosmo and Trailcutter. If they released toys for these characters right now they'd have the same names that are in this game.

Slag became Slug because this game has to appeal to an international market, and in the UK that is an extremely derogatory word directed toward women. It'd be the equivalent of naming a character Bitch.

Trailcutter was originally named Trailbreaker in G1. His vehicle design was based on the Chevy Trailblazer. Perhaps that is the cause for confusion. Hasbro has lost the trademark for this one, and it's a decent improv. Likewise with Cosmos becoming Cosmo, they let it lapse and someone else got it.

Megatron becoming a tank goes all the way back to the 80s. G1 Megatron is a pretty realistic looking Walther P38. Anti-gun folks didn't like their kids playing with a realistic looking toy gun, pro-gun folks didn't like the fact that the gun was the biggest villain of them all. But the part that sealed the deal was a young person getting shot by a cop while wielding a toy gun. After that a law was passed that all realistic looking toy guns in the US must have the orange tip at the end of the barrel. At that point, Hasbro discontinued the toy and IIRC this was one of the motivating factors for the Galvatron metamorphosis in the movie.