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This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.


Ununnilium: James Bond isn't a subversion - his Code Name is 007.

Morgan Wick: Sure, but he goes by his real name more often. I probably completely mangled my recent addition to the entry. Someone else can clean up the mess.

Semiapies: I think the subversion is that Bond's name is a weird sort of codename in of itself. Every time I can think of where he's gone undercover, even when MI-6 has cooked up an entire false life for him (as in Tomorrow Never Dies), he doesn't use an alias, but tells people he's "Bond, James Bond". Only his most dangerous enemies ever recognize his name - and those are the ones who can generally recognize him on sight, anyway.

Seth: I loved the scene where he is infiltrating the horse track using an assumed name (James St John Smith - one of the rare cases he used one) and they search for him anyway. When James Bond - Licensed To Kill appears on the screen the villains face is priceless - sort of oh crap i'm sitting opposite a government assassin.


Sukeban: I got this for the entry:

  • Themed codenames done straight in the movies are best exemplified by Tarantino films Reservoir Dogs (which features Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown, Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink) and Kill Bill, where the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad has five members named after lethal snakes: Black Mamba, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Sidewinder and California Mountain Snake. Bill himself is the Snake Charmer.

But I don't know if it goes here or with Theme Naming, because that seems to be only for anime examples... -_-;;; Any opinions?

RedBeardSean: I'd say it goes here; Theme Naming seems to be less about code names, and more about an unrealistic naming convention used for a set of characters "real" names. Then again, I'll bow to concensus on this one.

Looney Toons: Agreed. Theme Naming is usually about "real names" of characters, and the characters may not have any connection between them otherwise — unlike, say, the Kill Bill example in the main text. Code names are by definition assigned, and theming them is natural (all the "double-o" agents in the Bond movies, for instance) for the naming individual/group. Theme names are nominally "coincidences" within the anime where they're found — we're supposed to believe that a couple dozen families over several years all named their kids after birds, or models of cars, or geological formations, just by happenstance. And by equal happenstance they all end up in the same place/plot together years later.

Sukeban: Putting the example back on, then.

Ununnilium: I can think of Black Adam and Black Cat, among others, so making it a bit less absolute.

(random passer-by): Do unofficial nicknames count? The Engrish reference made me think of a really droll scene in one of the 1980s "Dirty Pair" anime that I watched in subtitled Japanese.

In it, the Dirty Pair are at a spaceport, and some minor official is delaying their entry to his world, until they produce their identity cards.

At that point he becomes obviously terrified and says, in horrid Engrish, "DAATY PAIUH!"

Both of the girls scowl and say in unison, in equally horrid Engrish, "Rovery Engerrs!"

Anyway, I thought it was hilarious, but I'm not sure it belongs in the main category. What say ye?

Andyzero: Far, far too many funny lines to include in the entry itself, but I recall this dialogue in the Age of Apocalypse Marvel storyline.

"My power is to absorb solar radiation and direct it outwards. What do you think happens when someone named 'Starfire' attacks me?" ZAP!// "Nice one! But maybe we should get out of here before someone tells you their name is 'Kickyerbutt!'"


Your Obedient Serpent: Charles Xavier really needed to take a few more classes in child development and psychology. The original X-Men, the "All-New, All-Different" team of the '70s, and the New Mutants didn't pick their own code names — with the exception of previously-established characters like Wolverine and Banshee, Chuck gave them to them.

And he was a total asshole about it.

"Warren, you're a gorgeous, blond-haired, blue-eyed rich kid with magnificent feathered wings. We'll call you 'Angel', because you obviously need a self-esteem boost."

"Kurt, you're blue and furry and fangy and we rescued you from a mob with torches and pitchforks. We're gonna name you after a worm."

It goes on pretty consistently with the first three teams. I'm not quite sure if this is a trope or not, because it never crops up anyplace as obviously as it does in Silver Age/Bronze Age X-Men, but it's worth mentioning somewhere on this site, even if only on a Discussion page.

Semiapies: Actually, there's a Lampshade Hanging in the early issues of Ultimate X-Men, where upon being dubbed "Beast", Hank Mc Coy says, "Does anyone else find this demeaning?" Of course, there's a whole thing in play - Xavier has a not-always-clearly-defined ideology that includes giving "mutant names" and discarding their old human names. I may throw that in...

Seth: A sort of brothers throw off your slave names kinda thing. And i thought magneto was the supremacist.


Crisis: The "Fullmetal" in Fullmetal Alchemist's name actually refers to him having "Fullmetal prosthetics." This is easily overlooked, as Fullmetal prosthetics are more commonly referred to as "Automail" in the series. Then again, Roy Mustang noted the Fuhrer's sense of humor when he revealed Ed's new title, so who knows what he was thinking.

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