Wasp (TFA)


 * Waspinator was once an Autobot but is now a Decepticon Predacon from the Transformers Animated continuity family.



Wasp, who later becomes the Predacon Waspinator, was originally an Autobot. He was of the same type as Bumblebee, whom he attended boot camp with. Wasp's pompous, smarmy personality leaves something to be desired, but he had a lot going for him as a soldier, being highly skilled in the use of his stingers and knowing just how to tow the line with the drill sergeant. In a better life, he might have been Cybertron Elite Guard commander material were it not for the chain of events that scarred him and led to his current state.

"Wasp forgive Bumble-bot... But Waspinator NEVER forgive!"

- Waspinator on his Enemy

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Tom Kenny (English), Jaron Löwenberg (German)

Wasp was a cadet in the same group as Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ironhide and Longarm. Right away, Wasp took an instant disliking to Bumblebee, insulting him out of the blue as the yellow bot mused to himself about his future in the Elite Guard. He also dubbed Bulkhead a "mudflap", much to the amusement of his fellow cadets. The loud-mouthed drill sergeant Sentinel Minor took an immediate liking to "Wasp", as he dubbed him. Wasp and Ironhide quickly became close friends, often competing in little tests of strength, usually involving Wasp hitting or stinging Ironhide while the latter was in armor mode.

After Bumblebee "bumbled" several times, leading to many problems for the whole group, Wasp and Ironhide decided to take matters into their own hands, unscrewing Bumblebee's lower legs and leaving them out of reach even before they dumped the rest of him in a locker.

Unbeknownst to Wasp, however, the reason for Bumblebee's foul-ups was that he was trying to out a traitor in the groupand had pegged Wasp as the likely culprit after seeing him walk out of a hangar in which someone had contacted Megatron an the fact that Wasp is clearly like a Decepticon due to his attitude. With the aid of Longarm, Bumblebee eventually found evidence incriminating Wasp as a spy. Wasp was stripped of his Autobot insignia and wheeled away, protesting his innocence and swearing revenge on Bumblebee.



Many years later, Wasp escaped from Autobot custody and apparently eluded the now-Sentinel Prime by jumping through a space bridge. What was left of Wasp hid beneath the bridge as Sentinel left, buzzing and twittering to himself, still swearing revenge on "Bumblebee". In reality, however, Waspbroken mentally by his years of imprisonmentwas set up with planted evidence by "Longarm", the actual double agent, who had also arranged Wasp's "escape" to divert suspicion from himself. Needless to say, when the truth was revealed to Bumblebee, Longarm revealing his actual identity as Shockwave, he is horrified that he actually sent a innocent bot to prison before regaining his composure to deal with with the crisis at hand.



After evading Sentinel Prime and Jazz, Wasp arrived on Earth to exact revenge on Bumblebee, in spite of being told that truth behind his imprisonment. Disabling Bumblebee, Wasp switches paint applications with him and takes Bumblebee's identity with the actual one assuming the position of being hunted down by the Elite Guard with Prime's crew trying to get to him first, attempting to explain the situation behind Wasp. While this occured, Wasp decides to learn more of Bumblebee to get further into character by the time the truth of the switch is revealed. Though he nearly suceeded in convincing Sentinel Prime otherwise, being challenged to a match of Robot Gladiator to expose him forces a nervous Wasp, who is terrible at videogames, to take Bumblebee as a shield as he reminds the others that he was framed and therefore a good guy. But after Bulkhead tells him he may not have been a traitor, he was never good to start with, Wasp flees into the night after using Bumblebee to cover his escape.

Eventually the Autobots tracked down Wasp one night on the run from the primes and their troops. They eventually caught up to him and Bumblebee tried to tell them that Longarm was the actual spy. Wasp was not in the mood for Bumblebee's excuses, seeing as how he still blamed him for sending him to the stockade. In the ensuing chaos, Wasp was abducted by Swoop and brought before Blackarachnia, finding himself speechless at the sight of her. Blackarachnia convinced Wasp that she was his friend, and that she could give him more power via a technorganic body. Thus he willingly entered the cell, painfully absorbing both Transwarp energy and the genetic structure of a wasp before emerging as the self-declared Waspinator.



He confronts Bumblebee, who apologizes for everything that has happened to him. Whatever part of Wasp that was left within Waspinator forgave him, but Waspinator himself would never forgive him. When Waspinator learns that Blackarachnia was only using him for her own agenda in reverting technorganics to purely technological beings, he turned on her, as his transwarp signature was becoming unstable.



Blackarachnia and the Autobots fled the lab to the island as Waspinator chased her down. Just as Waspinator was about to explode, Blackarachnia covered them both in a silk cocoon. The subsequent explosion wiped out an enormous portion of Dinobot Island. Awakening in a forested area, inhabited by several familiar animals, Waspinator began crawling across the ground to collect the scattered pieces of his body, refusing to die and proclaiming "Waspinator has plans".

So far, those plans were never revealed.

Animated

 * Waspinator (Deluxe class, 2009)
 * Like his Beast Wars counterpart, Waspinator's humanoid mode looks like his beast mode. His wings flap if you push a lever on his back. His stinger, however, just doesn't do anything.


 * Fugitive Waspinator (Deluxe class, 2009)
 * The Fugitive Waspinator is a green redeco (that is, no new head) of Bumblebee to represent Wasp. However, due to the trademark issue, the name is Waspinator instead of Wasp.   This is Waspinator's original form, which means that, like Bumblebee, Waspinator transforms into an Earth sports car. In addition, this version of Waspinator also has purple-tinted headlights and windows. These headlights and windows were not purple in the cartoon.
 * Fugitive Waspinator is labeled as a Decepticon instead of an Autobot.

Trivia

 * A wasp and a bee, sharing the same mold? How preposterous!


 * Wasp's time in prison seems to have shattered his mind and transformed him into a character akin to the original, for his speech pattern is now quite similar to the latter as he refers to himself in the third person and speaks in crude and incorrect grammar, for example, "Wasp make Bumblebot pay for ruining Wasp life". Both of these characters get misfortune sprung on them, but this incarnation's misfortune is in a more serious vein than slapstick violence. The role of whipping boy belongs to another. Upon his transformation into Waspinator, his voice deepens, and gains a buzzing echo. He also gets a Decepticon insignia on his chest.


 * In the present day, after Wasp escapes, his color scheme resembles z's with a lime green body and purple eyes compared to his original gold and blue color scheme.


 * We certainly hope Hasbro recognizes the redeco/retool potential here, but they didn't by far. Look up about 6 inches.


 * David Kaye hinted before the debut of the show that Waspinator would make an appearance. Wasp seems to be what he meant.


 * After being reformated into Waspinator, resembling a slicker, faster, and cooler-looking version of his Beast Wars counterpart, the head of his beast mode bears some resemblance to Beast Machines Thrust's vehicle mode.


 * In the episode Predacons Rising, one of the final scenes shows Waspinator in several pieces and attempting to pull himself together, as an homage to the more funny original.


 * This is the fifth character in the Transformers Animated cartoon to be reduced to a talking head. (Well...maybe not completely...)


 * Wasp in his new bug form is another to not have a helmet for himself.


 * Wasp(inator) has currently had three different altmodes; his Cybertonian and Earth car modes, and his techno-organic Predacon wasp mode.
 * Err...when did he get the chance to scan Fanzone's car as his alt mode? Is it a side effect of body switching?


 * Much like the Beast Wars Waspinator, Waspinator has given nicknames to four members of the Transformers Animated cast so far.
 * Bumblebee - "Bumble-bot"
 * Sentinel Prime - "Sarge-bot"
 * Swoop - "Bird-bot"
 * Blackarachnia - "Spider-bot", "Lady-bot" (only once)


 * Unlike his Beast Wars counterpart, he seems to be actually a threat and creepy.


 * Unlike in the episode "Predacons Rising", Waspinator's action figure is shorter than Blackarachnia.


 * Unlike other Transformers, Waspinator can move his body without his own head.


 * Unlike most other transformers in animated, Waspinator has some kind of a Nose.


 * After awaking from the chamber into his new form, Waspinator came with a Decepticon Symbol without even branding one. Poor Constructicons. (However, it was quite painful for Wasp.)


 * He's been in the stockade for five cycles and he's already insane.
 * Uh, he's been in the stockade for much longer than that.


 * His growl sounds very similar to, if not the same as, the Predator's growl. How fitting...