Universal greeting

Eh, close enough.

Theuniversal greetingis used as a means to express good will toward alien beings when a language barrier is present. However, it does not always work that way.

It is commonly transliterated asBah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong.^[1]

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

The Transformerscartoon

TheAlliconsonQuintessainitially reacted well to the greeting, but whenHot RodandKupran out ofenergongoodies,the Allicons began chanting it as they attacked the Autobots. However, theJunkionsonthe Planet of Junktook it rather well even without treats and threw a party, indicating that the Universal Greeting can be roughly translated into "We come in peace", "Take me to your leader", "Care to dance?", or whatever seems appropriate.

Strangely, humans had never heard of it before. Stranger yet, the rest of the galaxy is populated by robots.The Transformers: The Movie

MarvelThe Transformerscomics

The universal greeting is understood by most creatures in the galaxy. It can be roughly translated to "hello, we mean you no harm," or "we come in peace," or "do you hate Dirtwad Decepticons as much as we do?"^[2]

Sticker Adventures

Kup successfully used the 'Universal Autobot Greeting' (and anEnergon Stick) to make peace with the Junkions.Battle on the Junk Planet

2005 IDW continuity

AfterWheeliecrash-landed on the planetLV-117,populated by a variety of giant monsters, he attempted to use the universal greeting on achaosterosand lost an arm for his troubles.Spotlight: Wheelie

Kupclaimed to have once used the universal greeting to stop himself from getting eaten. It subsequently helped him to convince theMicronautsof his good intentions.Enter the ShadowSome time later, he tried it again on the inhabitants ofNew Prysmos,but it didn't go so well.SchismaticFollowing Kup's passing,Ironhideused the universal greeting to remember the fallen hero.The Curtain

2001Robots in Disguisecartoon

There existed auniversal greeting dance,used to convince even the most implacable enemies of one's sincerity (presumably by convincing them that one is willing to humiliate oneself so thoroughly that one could not possibly harbor ill will).The Fish Test

Animatedcartoon

WTF? BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Universal Greeting has accompanying hand signals. The variants of these for five-digit species were demonstrated kindly byWreck-Gar,who interpretedLugnutraising his fist to deliver one ofhis famous punchesas an invitation to perform the Universal Greeting, and reciprocated accordingly.

Stage 1: Raise the left hand, palm outward to the person being addressed. Keep the thumb tucked to the side of the palm, pointing upward. Clench the index and pinky fingers as if making a fist and extend the middle and ring fingers vertically. The gesture should be made at the same time as speaking the "graaaaagnah" part of the verbal Universal Greeting.

Stage 2: Extend the index, ring and pinky fingers. Curl the middle finger and thumb towards the palm of the hand so that they touch at right-angles, with the side of the thumb's tip pressed against the nail of the middle finger. This should be done in time with the verbalization "wheep".

Stage 3: Clench the index, middle and ring fingers. Extend the thumb and pinky fingers so that the gesture resembles a horizontally-flipped 'L'. Shake the hand sideways twice, in time to the syllables of "ni ni"

Stage 4: As the final "bong" is spoken, open your hand out so that all digits are extended and slightly splayed, as if to make a hand-print in clay. Pause momentarily and then press the thus-opened hand against that of the person you are addressing, who themselves should have a likewise open palm.

OnNO ACCOUNTshould the final part of the hand signals be performed if you are addressing theDecepticonLugnut when his fist has transformed into a pressure-sensitive weapons trigger. Actually, it's probably best if you don't perform the Universal Greeting in any way before Lugnut, as any salutation short of "All hailMegatron"would be likely to incur his wrath.Garbage In, Garbage Out

Aligned continuity family

War for Cybertron

Kupgreeted a newly trained young Autobot with the universal greeting.War for Cybertron (DS)

Ironhideused the universal greeting on aspace slug,which ignored him and carried on. The whole ordeal puzzledWarpath.War for Cybertron (console)

Cybertron Adventures

While searching out theGeosynchronous Energon Bridge's main controls deep underground,Air Raidcame across a loneCore Mite.The two stared at each other for a bit before Ironhide suggested using the universal greeting on it. The Mite ran off before a confused Air Raid could try it.Cybertron Adventures

Exiles

ThundertronandWreck-Garused the universal greeting several times. Wreck-Gar noted that Thundertron did not intend to act peacefully, even though he used the universal greeting when he first encountered theJunkions.Transformers: Exiles

Variant spellings

• Bah Weep Graaagnah (also written as Graaaagnah and Graaaaagnah during a dialogue betweenWreck-GarandHot Rod) Wheep Ni Ni Bong

--Transformers: The MovieMarvel Comic adaptation

• To be determined

--Transformers: The MovieLadybird adaptation

• Bah Weep Graaaagnah Wheep Ni Ni Bong

--a fan from North Humberside in theUK letters page^[2](matches one of the versions listed above fromTransformers: The MovieMarvel Comic adaptation)

• Bah-weep-Graaaagnah wheep ni ni bong (same spelling as previous variant but different capitalizations and hyphenizations)

--the "Activate Autobot City" trivia game (referring to the "Universal Greeting", capital U, capital G) on theTransformers: The Movie20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD

• Baa weep grahna weep ninny bong

--closed captioning on theTransformers: The Movie20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD during the movie itself

• BAH-WEEP-GRAAAGHNAH WHEEP NI-NI BONG

--Transformers: The MovieIDW comic adaptation

• Ba weep granna weep ninny bong

--Transformers: War for Cybertron(DS)

• Bah-weep-graaaahnah wheep ni ni bong.

--Transformers: Exiles

Notes

• Transformers: Prime's fellowHubshowDan Vs.sneaked in "bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong" as a meditation chant in ' "Dan Vs. Anger Management".

Foreign versions

• Japanese:Uchūkyōtsū no aisatsu( vũ trụ cộng thông の ai tạt, "universal greeting" ),berwip crawna-wi pinibon(バーウィップグラーナウィーピニボンbāwippu gurānawī pinibon)
• Mandarin:Yǔzhòu Wènhòu Yǔ( vũ trụ vấn hầu ngữ, "universal greeting" ),Bāwéi Gǔlānà Wéi Níníbāng( ba duy cổ lạp na duy ni ni bang )

References

1. ↑The Final Battle!
2. ↑^2.02.1Grim Grams,issue102,defining the Universal Greeting.]