Bumblebee (Animated)


 * Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Transformers Animated continuity family.

Bumblebee is the youngest, yellowest, and most energetic of the Autobots...as usual. A hyperactive wisecracker, Bumblebee is quite convinced he's the fastestand coolestthing on four wheels. He has a tendency to bite off more then he can chew, so it's a good thing he pals around with the massive Bulkhead. He does not take well to being called short, and his over-eager ways can get on Ratchet's nerves all too easily. Still, Bumblebee is good people, as evidenced by his fast friendship with Sari Sumdac.

"I may be small, but I'm scrappy! And I can ride circles around your big, old, rusty chassis!"

- Bumblebee to Bulkhead

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Bumper Robinson (English), Santiago Ziesmar (German)

Early in his career, Bumblebee dreamed of becoming an Elite Guard. He joined the Autobot Boot Camp, but things didn't exactly go as planned - his drill sergeant was a jerk, most of his classmates bullied him and the only bot willing to befriend him was a complete mudflap. His luck seemed to change however when he accidentally overheard a Decepticon spy. He then sees Wasp walk out. After taking the advice of Longarm, Bumblebee tries attempts managed to weed out the spy, but Sentinel Minor got in the way twice, resulting in many transform ups. After Wasp and Ironhide tore off his legs and put him in a closet, he is saved by Longarm, who encourages him not to give up. When Sentinel was conducting a surprise locker inspection, Bumblebee discovers a Decepticon communicator in Wasp's trunk, putting him as a traitor. Sentinel was prepared to put him on a fast track to the Elite Guard. Sadly, his slowly blooming friendship with Bulkhead forced him to throw it all away on order to prevent his new buddy being kicked out, and they both ended up working on space bridges.

Stellar cycles later, Bumblebee was a member of Optimus Prime's repair crew, assigned to perform maintenance on malfunctioning space bridges. He proved agile enough to help his stronger (but much larger) teammate, Bulkhead, who had managed to lodge a wrecking ball in an asteroid. Even though he expressed significant fear of Megatron, he still managed to crack wise at the Decepticon leader's appearance once they were face-to-face. The humor vanished when Megs pulled out his sword. After Megatron was thrown off the ship, Bumblebee entered stasis with the rest of the crew just before the crew's ship crash-landed on Earth.

Fifty years later, Teletran-1 awoke the crew to alert them to the intrusion of a nanite-powered bug-slug. Sending out a probe to find local disguises, the probe scanned Captain Fanzone's car. Bumblebee was given the car for his new bodyform. Lucky him.

Upon noticing "a little creature" struggling with her "owner", 'Bee and Mr. Bulk showed their unfamiliarity with organic life by assuming the owner/pet relationship was reversed. Their speculation was interrupted by the attacks of the giant, nanite-fueled bug monster, and Bumblebee intervened to get Sari out of the way. Later in the battle, Bumblebee was called on to deliver the override command to the beast's nanites, as he was the fastest and most nimble of the crew.

His defeat of the monster seriously impressed Sari, who decided to befriend him. Sari's definition of befriending included cajoling him into sneaking her aboard the Autobots' ship. Of course, Sari wouldn't stay still as Bumblebee asked, compelling him to jettison her into a ventilation shaft. After introducing her to the group, Sari and 'Bee became fast friends. When Starscream attacked Detroit, Bumblebee took a shot intended for Sari, allowing Screamer to capture Bumblebee, Isaac Sumdac, Captain Fanzone, and the Mayor. Sari, with Prowl's help, managed to rescue them.

At one point, Bumblebee took part in a match against Cyrus "Colossus" Rhodes. Unfortunately, Cyrus hulked up, then proceeded to beat the slag out of Bumblebee. The other Autobots were forced to rescue him, using it as a chance to riff on his small stature. However, only Bumblebee was able to get into Sumdac Tower when Meltdown went to kill Isaac Sumdac. Bumblebee managed to get him to the ground floor, but Meltdown arrived. Bulkhead tried to stop him, but Meltdown threw a glob of acid at Bulkhead, which Bumblebee took instead (basically, 'Bee is a human shield). Bulkhead offered his apologies over his comments, saying he was only having a little fun&mdash;which sent Bumblebee into declaring his good moves and speed. He's going to be pretty impossible to live with for a while.

After showing a lack of ability to be subtle on Earth, Prime had Prowl try to teach Bumblebee how to blend in. This ruined some plans with Sari, as she wanted to attach some turbo-boosters to him to make him go even faster. During the exercise, they encountered Nanosec, a crook that had gained Professor Sumdac's new speed suit via unknown patrons. Unable to keep up with Nanosec, Bumblebee was convinced by Sari attach the turbo-boosters against Prime's orders. Unfortunately, he couldn't control them in vehicle mode, allowing Nanosec to escape from the Autobots twice. Worse, he was carrying enough Destronium to destroy all of Detroit. Overhearing Bulkhead and Prowl's comments on his change of appearance, Bumblebee realized that the suit was causing him to age the more he used it, so he purposefully ran him into old age (cold, Bee). With the Destronium about to go critical, Bumblebee, with help from Prowl and Bulkhead, managed to use his turbo-boosters to head into the outer atmosphere and get the Destronium away from the city before detonating. The whole experience seems have given Bumblebee a bit more respect for subtlety.

When Decepticon activity was detected in high levels, Bulkhead spilled the beans on what he and Prowl did with the Dinobots, and Optimus Prime pretty much lost it. Ranting that all he had was a group of insubordinate malfunctions, he told Ratchet to take the key from Sari, saying it wasn't safe in her hands. As she ran off crying, Bumblebee defended her, and Prime pointed out that Bumblebee wasn't a good character witness. Bumblebee mouthed off that their situation meant that Prime wasn't fit to command, and then went looking for Sari. Heading to Sumdac Tower, Bumblebee spotted Starscream, and disobeyed Prime's order to hold off. Heading up the elevator (which could not only fit him, but also carry his weight) Bumblebee charged firing his stingers at Starscream. All it really did was interrupt his speech, which made Starscream seriously freak out. However, a crane pulled Starscream, who was holding Bumblebee, up to the roof, where the two fought it out...right until Megatron burst through the roof of the tower.

After Megatron's restoration, Starscream absentmindedly beat on Bumblebee for a while, then threw him aside when Megatron called the Decepticons to him. Once he'd been repaired with remaining key energy in Professor Sumdac's lab, Bumblebee called Prime on his previous statements, and Optimus apologized, saying he was out of line. When Ratchet brought the Autobots' ship to them, the Autobots and Sumdacs boarded the vessel in an attempt to lead Megatron and the Decepticons off-planet, but were shot down and crashed on Dinobot Island. As the Autobots rallied to defend the AllSpark, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Prowl took on Blitzwing. Ratchet and Bumblebee teamed up again to create an electromagnetic pulse, causing him to crash. After shelling them in tank mode, Blitzwing again took to the air for some strafing runs. Prowl noticed a connection between Blitzwing's alternate modes and personalities, so they had Bumblebee use his greatest strength, his obnoxious personality, to cause Angry Blitzwing to emerge. Taunting the triple changer, Bumblebee got him to transform accidentally into tank mode and crash into the lake.

Later, he went on a trip to the Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom theme park with Sari. Optimus, fool that he is, believed him when he called it "an important fact-finding mission".

After learning of Wasp's escape, Bumblebee felt a stirring of his old dreams, and dragged Bulkhead off to trace a signal leaked to them, containing a conversation between Megatron and his spy. As they tracked it down, Bumblebee fell into old habits, and started putting Bulkhead down, just like in the old days. It took a nasty fall to remind him that Bulkhead was the best friend he'd ever have, and he didn't need to spend his time chasing big dreams. Together, the two headed home, never realising they were outside of the carbon mines.

Later, Bumblebee relayed the information they'd gathered to his old friend, Longarm, now Longarm Prime, head of Cybertron Intel.

Animated

 * Bumblebee (Deluxe, 2008)
 * Accessories: 2x rocket boosters


 * Bumblebee transforms from a small yellow hatchback with a single red flasher to a scrappy robot with a smile on his face. Though he has fake car roof kibble on his chest, it apparently works that way in the cartoon's transformation sequences too.  In robot mode, the two halves of his stinger weapon, stored in his forearms, can be flipped out and pegged together.  In both robot and car mode, his two booster rockets can be attached on his back.


 * This mold was also used for "Elite Guard" Bumblebee. (see below)


 * Bumblebee (Activator, 2008)


 * A small version of Bumblebee that automatically transforms when you press his top-mounted police light.


 * Elite Guard Bumblebee (Deluxe, 2008)
 * Accessories: 2x rocket boosters


 * A redeco of the previous Deluxe Bumblebee, this figure represents a version of the character that is enlisted in the Autobot Elite Guard.

A small versioon of Bumblebee that trasforms when you hit its bumper and talks when you press its Autobot shield.
 * Bumper Battlers Bumblebee (Bumper Battlers, 2008)


 * Cyber Speed Bumblebee (Power Bots, 2008)

Trivia

 * Bumblebee's arm-mounted shock stingers are very likely inspired by an early weapon concept from the 2007 movie Bumblebee.


 * The character who would become Bumblebee was originally conceived as Hot Shot, but changed to Bumblebee in anticipation of his breakout popularity in the live-action film.


 * Bumblebee appears to have a fake car roof on his chest in both his toy and on his character model. Not only does Bumblebee transform like his toy in his drawn-out animated transformation sequences, with his legs forming the top of the vehicle and the rest forming the underside, but his "real" windshield is drawn on the back of his legs, just like the toy.  Plus the headlights on Bumblebee's feet are upside-down, just like the toy's.   However, Bumblebee's vehicle mode stripe doesn't change sides like on the toy.  Cheatsy!


 * In addition to the above, in Thrill of the Hunt, Bumblebee reaches under his fake car roof kibble to get out his air freshener and fuzzy dice. This would mean that he had kept them in his back seat...


 * He likes to swear a lot. Slag yeah!