Bumblebee (Tyran)


 * Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Movie continuity family. He is also known as N.B.E.-02 and Satan's Camaro.

Bumblebee is one of Optimus Prime's most trusted lieutenants. Although he is not the strongest or most powerful of the Autobots, Bumblebee more than makes up for this with a bottomless well of luck, determination and bravery. He would gladly give his life to protect others and stop the Decepticons.

Badly damaged in battle, Bumblebee lost the ability to speak verbally, though he can still communicate over inter-Autobot frequencies (in a fashion that seems somewhat akin to instant messaging, a usable but more distant and less personal means of interaction).


 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Dà Húang-fēng (大黃蜂, "Bumblebee")
 * Hungarian name: Űrdongó (Space-bumblebee)

IDW prequel comics
Bumblebee commanded the Autobot forces at Tyger Pax attempting to hold the Decepticons off while the All Spark was launched off-planet. He succeeded, but Megatron crushed his voice box, and he lost his ability to speak in the process. Ratchet has been having trouble fixing it ever since.

Later he was the first to track the All Spark to Earth, making planetfall in 2003. Here, he learned to express his emotions by tuning in appropriately emotive music on his car radio.

Though Sector 7 tracked his descent and secured the area in Virginia where he landed, his quick assumption of a local alternate mode disguise allowed him to escape via Interstate 64.

Bumblebee's search for the All Spark began in St. Louis, Missouri, where he used a remote link to a coffee shop computer to search Shwiggle for any signs of extra-terrestrial sightings. There, he discovered the legend of the Ice-Man, and the story of Captain Archibald Witwicky.

Bumblebee's quest took him to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Captain Witwicky had been committed. First he visited the ruins of the long-abandoned Psychopathic Institute for the Long-Term Insane, Witwicky's final home. From there, Bumblebee headed into downtown, where he scanned the records of Captain Witwicky from an unnamed asylum. This action unfortunately put Sector 7 onto his trail.

The Baton Rouge clues led Bumblebee to Springfield, Missouri, in search of Witwicky's son Clarence. En route, he evaded the first of several attacks by Sector 7. In Springfield, he found records of Clarence's descendants, and started out to track them down.

The oldest son, Ben, had resided in Denver, Colorado, but the trail ended there. En route to his next stop in Tuscon, Bumblebee was again attacked by Sector 7, evading their helicopters by blinding them and rocketing off at high speed. Not long after, he was attacked by Barricade in the desert.

Damaged and smoking, Bumblebee stopped by the roadside to rest and recover. Suddenly detecting a burst of All Spark energy, he continued onwards out of Colorado.

In New Mexico, as he approached the source of the All Spark energy, he came under attack once again from Barricade. Other Decepticons, meanwhile, attacked the energy source and found it to be a Sector 7 ruse. Bumblebee managed to escape Barricade again, though unbeknown to him the Decepticons let him go so that they could track him.

Eventually, his search took him to Tranquility, Nevada, where he would soon encounter Sam Witwicky.

Transformers: Beginnings

 * Voice actor: Mark Ryan

Optimus Prime entrusts Bumblebee with the secret that the AllSpark will be sent into deep space to prevent Lord Megatron from possessing and corrupting it. Just after the launch, Megatron attacks Bumblebee in his rage at losing the AllSpark, and shatters his voice capacitor beyond repair.

Bumblebee arrives on Earth and, sensing the AllSpark is near, takes on local camouflage to search for the artifact. He immediately attracts the attention of Sector Seven agents and Decepticons.

"Flight of the Bumblebee" online game
At some point in time Bumblebee was trapped in a canyon with several Decepticons, among them Brawl, Barricade, Wreckage, and Scorponok. He valiantly fought through them all to make it to the other side. He did it without even bending a fender.

Ghosts of Yesterday prequel novel
Between Tyger Pax and his arrival on Earth, Bumblebee and the rest of the Ark crew encountered some humans in deep space and got their first clues to where Megatron and the All Spark rested. He also had to be saved from giant, metal-eating worms by Optimus Prime.

Transformers (2007) film

 * Voice actor: Mark Ryan (English), Hiroshi Iwasaki (radio voice) Akio Kato (Japan), Helmut Gauß (German)

Bumblebee, having made his way to a second-rate car dealership, became Sam Witwicky's first car. Sam's father promised his son a car if Sam paid half of the money and achieved three A's in school. After doing so with the help of his genealogy project, Sam rode with his father to a car lot with an exceedingly long name. Following them to the lot, Bumblebee quietly placed himself among the other cars. To prevent Sam from having to choose another car, he used a high-frequency sound wave to blow out the windows of every other car in the lot, leaving Bobby with no choice but to sell Bumblebee to the Witwickys.

The next day, Sam and his friend Miles drove Bumblebee down to the lake in a misguided attempt to impress the popular girls at a party. Observing the exchange of thinly veiled insults between Sam and the football jocks, Bumblebee decided to help out Sam when the boy noticed Mikaela Banes walking home after a falling-out with her now ex-boyfriend. Playing "Drive" on his radio, Bumblebee inspired Sam to kick Miles out and drive Mikaela home. As the two awkwardly chatted, Bumblebee suddenly turned off his engine when they neared a romantic spot overlooking the city, this time playing "Sexual Healing" and "I Feel Good". Not knowing his car has a mind of its own, Sam misinterpreted this as a breakdown. Mikaela attempted to fix Bumblebee with her mechanical knowhow, only to leave after Sam asked her why she tolerated jerks like her ex-boyfriend. Trying to help as much as he could, Bumblebee allowed Sam to start up his engine as she walked away, this time playing "Baby, Come Back". Arriving at Mikaela's house, Sam advanced a step towards her by stating that he didn't believe her to be shallow at all, that there was "more than meets the eye" with her. After she left, Sam quietly enthused that he loved his car.

Later that night, Bumblebee drove off by himself with Sam in hot pursuit, believing it to be a car theft. Unwittingly leading his human owner to a junkyard, Bumblebee transformed and activated his communications beacon, requesting assistance from Optimus Prime and the other Autobots. Unknown to him, Sam had seen his robot form and run off, and was now being being pursued by the junkyard's two guard dogs. Bumblebee came to Sam's aid, scaring off the dogs, but had to escape when the police (whom Sam had previously summoned when Bumblebee drove away from his house) arrived to arrest Sam for breaking into the junkyard.

The next day, Bumblebee drove back to the Witwicky house sometime after Sam had been bailed out by his dad. Frightened and confused, Sam rode away from what he dubbed "Satan's Camaro", ending up in the city and encountering Mikaela in front of a Burger King. Bumblebee followed Sam towards an industrial area, not realizing that the Decepticon Barricade was stalking the boy, intent on finding glasses belonging to Sam's ancestor, which Sam had been auctioning on eBay. Sam ran away from the attacking Decepticon and literally ran into Mikaela after she had followed him. As Barricade bore down on the pair, Bumblebee suddenly appeared, knocking the Decepticon off his feet, then drove the humans away as Barricade gave chase.

Racing through dilapidated factories and warehouses, Bumblebee eventually arrived at a deserted chemical plant on the outskirts of town. There he waited until Barricade's back was turned before dumping Sam and Mikaela out of his passenger side door, then transforming into robot mode to protect his friends. Barricade transformed and attacked, hitting Bumblebee with his tire spikes and knocking the Autobot into a chemical tank. In retaliation, Bumblebee grabbed Barricade and threw him into an electrical substation, seriously damaging the Decepticon and putting him into stasis lock. After Sam and Mikaela took care of Frenzy, Bumblebee introduced himself to them entirely through the use of his radio, explaining that it was the only way he could communicate, that he was an alien, and that Sam had witnessed him calling to his friends the previous night. Transforming back into vehicle mode, Bumblebee invited his friends to enter (which they did after a brief hesitation) and began to drive them to nearby Griffith Observatory.

On the way, Mikaela (who had refused to sit in the driver's seat, as Bumblebee was driving), rhetorically asked Sam that if Bumblebee was a super-advanced robot, why did he turn into a piece-of-crap Camaro? Mildly insulted, Bumblebee stopped in the middle of a packed tunnel and forced the humans out, then drove away. As Sam lamented the fact that "four thousand dollars just drove away," Bumblebee passed another car and scanned it, driving back to the pair as a sleek and shiny 2009 Camaro. Amazed and impressed, Sam and Mikaela got back in, and Bumblebee continued their journey to the observatory. Arriving, the humans observed as the other Autobots entered the Earth's atmosphere and crash-landed in various parts of the city.

Bumblebee then took his friends to a secluded alleyway, where Sam and Mikaela met the other Autobots. Introducing themselves, Sam learned that Bumblebee was his guardian and that the Autobot's vocal processors had been damaged in battle. Ratchet was still working on them as he fired a regenerative plasma beam at the damaged area. Optimus Prime explained that their mission was to find the All Spark, and that Sam Witwicky was the key due to his grandfather discovering Megatron on an Arctic voyage.

Arriving at the Witwicky residence, Bumblebee attempted to convince his comrades to remain out of sight while Sam was talking to his father. When Sam and Mikaela were captured by Sector Seven, Bumblebee helped rescue them. The interrogation of Agent Simmons went nowhere, however, and Bumblebee became so annoyed with his attitude that he released lubricant onto the agent. Soon, Sector Seven reinforcements arrived, intent on recapturing the kids and any "N.B.E.s" they could get their hands on. Optimus Prime tried to protect Sam and Mikaela as they hid under a bridge, but both almost fell to their deaths when they slipped. Bumblebee raced forward, transforming and catching them in mid-air. Unfortunately, this also gave Sector Seven a clear and obvious target for them to attack. Firing harpoon cables from helicopters, the clandestine human organization dragged Bumblebee to the ground, and its soldiers began to freeze the helpless Autobot, who reached out to Sam. The boy broke free from an agent's grip, pushing the soldiers aside until he was tackled by several agents and taken away. Though Jazz objected to allowing Sector Seven to leave with their friend, Optimus Prime ordered his troops to stand down, as there was no way to save the prisoners without incurring human casualties.

Taken to Hoover Dam, Bumblebee was continually doused with cryoblasts to keep him docile and inert as Sector Seven performed experiments on him. Sam and Mikaela (with some armed persuasion from Captain Lennox) convinced Sector Seven to release Bumblebee. Upon his release, Bumblebee converted to battle mode and almost lashed out at his human oppressors until Sam calmed him down, informing him of the presence of the All Spark and Megatron in the facility, and that the Decepticons were coming for both. Following the humans to the All Spark's chamber, Bumblebee hesitantly reached out to the life source of his people and reformatted it, shrinking the cube until it was a size that the humans could manipulate. Bumblebee and a military escort fled to Mission City, meeting the Autobots en route.

Soon after they arrived at the city, Starscream appeared. Recognizing the Decepticon, Ironhide and Bumblebee lifted up an abandoned truck in order to shield the humans from any collateral damage Starscream's attack would inevitably bring. One of the Decepticon's missiles struck the truck, sending both Autobots flying, with Bumblebee landing in a store front. The attack tore off Bumblebee's legs left him barely functional, as Sam discovered to his horror when Bumblebee crawled from the wreckage. Soon, the other Decepticons arrived, followed by Megatron himself, and the remaining Autobots were engaged. Mikaela and Sam hoisted Bumblebee onto a abandoned tow truck, but refused to leave his side. The Autobot silently handed his friend the All Spark, trusting the fate of his people into the boy's hands, and urged him to run while he still could. As Sam ran off, Mikaela drove Bumblebee away from the fighting to relative safety.

However, she was soon overcome with guilt for leaving Sam and the battle. With Bumblebee's assent, she turned the truck around and headed back in. As Mikaela drove down the street in reverse, Bumblebee activated his weapon systems, then fired his plasma cannon and missiles at Devastator, who was pinning down Captain Lennox and the rest of the combined Ranger/Sector Seven soldiers. His contribution was the deciding factor, confusing Devastator enough for the soldiers to counterattack, and the Decepticon was destroyed at last when Bumblebee's final cannon blast pierced his spark. Bumblebee was rather pleased with himself, and Mikaela complimented his shooting.

After the destruction of Megatron and the All Spark, Bumblebee (who had regained his voice ) requested permission to remain with Sam, to which the young man agreed. After his legs were repaired, he allowed Sam and Mikaela to make out on top of him as the other Autobots watched.

It was the best day ever. Well, maybe not for Jazz.

Transformers: Destiny
Bumblebee and the other Autobots joined forces with Sector 7 to keep Earth safe from the Decepticons. Bumblebee and Prime came to rescue when Ironhide and Ratchet let two Decepticons get past them. Prime smashed into Deadend, possibly killing him, while Bumblebee cornered the other.

Titan Magazines
In an alternate reality, it was the crappiest day ever because Sam failed and was killed, and Megatron went on to conquer much of the Earth (making it an even worse day for Jazz). Bumblebee liked to believe that there was a universe out there in which Megatron lost.



Bumblebee and Mikaela went on to become old comrades in guerrilla warfare, and in 2008 went on a mission to rescue Optimus Prime from a Decepticon bunker in Denver. Bumblebee, now with missile launchers in car mode and increased physical strength, took out the bunker guard, Swindle, (nearly crushing Mikaela by accident—"My bad.") and found Prime...or what was left of him. Now stuck in the base, Bumblebee was being hunted by Megatron, and baited into revealing himself when the tyrant threatened to kill Mikaela. Bumblebee made a desperate attack, only to be beaten aside with ease.

Despite his defeat, he remained defiant to the end and refused to beg for mercy. Luckily the Autobot reinforcements arrived; unluckily, they couldn't stop Megatron; luckily again, Mikaela had revived Optimus Prime to save them and arrived with Phase Two of their plan, a Sector Seven nanovirus that targeted All Spark energy. Plugging it to himself, Bumblebee charged at the super-powered Megatron and forcibly uploaded the nano-virus, killing the tyrant once and for all. Not that he patted himself on the back over this, for he knew too well that this just left a power vacuum...

Still partnered with Mikaela near the Savannah, Georgia refugee camp post-occupation, Bumblebee appeared frustrated with how the humans were frightened of him and, to be listened to, Mikaela had to do the talking for him. They went back into battle again to end a NATO bombardment of the Autobots in Savannah, running a gauntlet of tanks and Thundercrackers before freeing the NATO field commander from Decepticon mind control. During the course of the battle he roasted a drone with fiery exhaust.

Following this battle, Bumblebee was involved in many clashes with Decepticons to protect human infrastructure, including leading a small group to protect an oil pipeline in Alaska. Armorhide did not follow orders well.

Transformers: The Game
(No voice actor, considering the fact that his voice box got blown before. DUH!)

Autobot campaign
Bumblebee landed in Tranquility while being briefed by Optimus Prime on his mission to find clues on the All Spark. While on Earth, he took the form of a beat-up 1976 Chevrolet Camaro in possibly a dump or a demolitions bay. Some Decepticon drones were also in Tranquility at a nearby construction site, so Bumblebee confronted and destroyed the drones before any civilian casualties could ensue. Prime detected a Cybertronian code matching that on an artifact owned by a boy named Sam Witwicky, who was reported to be buying a car at Bobby Bolivia's. Unfortunately, some more drones heard of Prime's report, so Bumblebee had to get involved in a high-speed car chase and defeat the drones.

With Sam buying the Camaro-ed Bumblebee, the first phase of finding the All Spark was complete. The next day, Prime warned Bumblebee that the Decepticon named Barricade was also on Earth and threatening to take Sam and his new female friend, Mikaela. So the Autobot had to incapacitate the arm-spinning, spike-punching, tantrum-throwing Decepticon while the humans escaped. Now that Bumblebee knew of the Decepicons' growing involvement in finding the All Spark's location, he obviously needed help. The only problem now with the Autobots' landing was their radar systems. The Decepticons had built radio towers throughout Tranquility to mess up any aircraft radar. Naturally, Bumblebee went to the scene and destroyed the towers. With the Autobots having landed, it was time to find the All Spark.

Optimus Prime explained to Sam and Mikaela about the All Spark, the importance of the glasses, and Humanity's fate. Before moving on the matter at hand, Mikaela questioned Bumblebee's alt-mode being such a beater. The mildly insulted Autobot then copied a more current version of the Camaro (2009 Concept). Later, a government group called Sector 7 went after the Autobots with their helicopters and cars. After Jazz's successful distraction, Sector 7 then switched their sights to Bumblebee, who got captured, but then got away with the efforts of Prime.

Sector 7 sent Bumblebee to Hoover Dam. The Autobot immediately saw the All Spark and a frozen Megatron. After a mysterious blackout, Bumblebee got free and started to shut down the power faster by ripping out the mainframe, blowing up the cooling fans, and removing nuclear canisters from their generators. The All Spark was his, but he had to wait for it to shrink while fending off Sector 7 troops, a lot of Energon drones, and a defrosting Megatron. (Oy!) Eventually, Sam and Mikaela got to the dam and fled with Bumblebee to Mission City before Megatron could get his huge, pointy clutches near the cube.

The Autobots' first priority was then keeping the cube from Megatron. Unfortunately for Bumblebee, he crashed into a building due to interference from energon drones generated by the cube's radiation. Ironhide came in and helped. While the rest of the Autobots fought the Decepticons, Bumblebee had one final showdown with Barricade. After a lot of punches, blasts, and car chases, Barricade finally went down for good. Megatron then went to the scene and incapacitated the wounded Autobot with one shot from his fusion cannon. Bumblebee urged the two humans to take the cube to Optimus for he could not go on any longer.

After the battle was won by the Autobots, Bumblebee struck a pose with the other remaining four as they listened in on Prime's final speech.

Decepticon campaign
Bumblebee was pursued by Barricade across Tranquility, and got killed, and to add insult to injury, his lifeless body was likely captured by Sector 7 for study. And man did he get the slag kicked out of him. Twice!

Transformers: Autobots
Bumblebee arrived in Tranquility to meet up with Create-A-Bot, and after a short discussion created from radio sound clips, instructed Create-a-Bot to scan a number of vehicles, the last of which was a Decepticon. After a short battle, Bumblebee then used Create-a-Bot's mad h4x0r skills to break into the internet and find the location of Archibald Witwicky's glasses, which turned out to be conveniently in Tranquility. Going to retrieve them, Bumblebee arrived at the Witwicky house to find Barricade, who then blew up a car and ran, blaming the explosion on the yellow car now chasing him down the highway. Police were lined up in different positions and opened fire on Bumblebee. But that red health energon or whatever healed Bumblebee. Meeting on a bridge, they fought. Once Bumblebee won, Barricade once again ran.

Later, Bumblebee received a mission to destroy several Sector Seven turrets designed to shoot down the reported N.B.E.s seen around the city. Afterward, he served as a distraction, driving to various markers to fight off the police while the other Autobots did their thing. Once that task was completed, he got captured by S7 forces and taken to Hoover Dam, where he had to be rescued by the others. Once free of his restraints, he searched the base for the All Spark, finding it in the deepest part of the dam. Upon being discovered, the All Spark turns the site's computers into mechanical scorpions...to defend itself. From the good guys. After retrieving the All Spark, Bumblebee had to escape in under 30 seconds to avoid getting locked in. After a quick getaway with Create-a-Bot providing cover fire, they met with Optimus. Following another quick gun-and-cover mission,Brawl and Barricade were waiting for a two-on-two battle, in which Prime had to keep both Bumblebee and himself alive.

Finally, Bumblebee's last mission once again took place in Tranquility. All Spark in hand, he had to run to meet up with the Autobots, avoiding as many Decepticons as possible, within a time limit. Blackout was gunning for him the entire time, and lots of Decepticons were in the way. Once there, Create-a-Bot needed to keep Bumblebee from being blasted into slag as they raced to meet up with Optimus.

Transformers: Decepticons
After sending troops to slow down Barricade and the Decepticon Create-A-Bot, Bumblebee showed up in person to take care of business himself, serving as little more than a distraction. After running away, Bumblebee later acquired the All Spark, transporting it across Tranquility while Starscream gave chase. Stopping in the suburbs, Starscream pounded Bumblebee's face to custard and pried the All Spark from his cold, nonfunctioning fingers.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

 * Voice actor: Mark Ryan

Sam witwicky said to bumblebee he not going to college with him.While Sam gone to college, optimus prime told Bumblebee to train new young autobots Mudflap and Skids in order to defeat Megatron.

Trivia

 * According to an article on Edmunds.com, the filmmakers wanted Bumblebee's original Earth form to be the 1976 iteration of the Camaro because it was the worst Camaro possible that also had chrome bumpers.
 * The same article indicates that the 1976 Camaros used in the film were all purchased via online auction for under $6000 each, one for less than $2000. That one didn't run.


 * One of the 1976 Camaros was sold on eBay. The bidding ended on July 18, 2007; the final price was $40,100.01.


 * The Bumblebee computer-generated model consisted of 7608 individual parts, 1,511,727 polygons, 19,722 rig nodes, and 8094 texture maps. The volume of all the pieces came to 1069.01 cubic feet.


 * Bumblebee stands approximately 16 feet tall, according to the official game strategy guide


 * Bumblebee's character animation is based on the performance of Michael J. Fox in the Back to the Future movies.


 * The 2008 Concept Camaro used for Bumblebee was built by Saleen in 30 days, using a heavily modified 2006 Pontiac GTO body as the basis. The '08 Camaro was not in production at the time that the film was being made, hence an identical mock-up was needed to fill the role.




 * A weapon considered for Bumblebee was a pair of arm-mounted electrical "stingers". The idea was ultimately abandoned for the movie, but influenced other media.


 * Speaking of weapons, for someone whose main job is being subtle, Bumblebee is quite well armed, with a cannon powerful enough to rattle Brawl and a ring-shaped light missile launcher in either shoulder. He is also a capable close-combat fighter, as seen in his fight against Barricade.


 * Another note is that this Bumblebee is one of the few bots to have gone up against Megatron in close quarters and survived.


 * Speaking of the toys, just what the hell is up with them? None of them have an actual battle-mask which can flip-up. not even the Ultimate Bumblebee...


 * According to the prequel comic by IDW Publishing, Megatron ripped out and crushed Bumblebee's voice capacitor during the battle at Tyger Pax back on Cybertron. In the film itself, Ratchet only states to Sam that Bumblebee's "vocal processors were damaged in battle" and he was "still working on them" after firing a single plasma beam at Bumblebee's throat; by the end of all the conflict (the climax of the film proper), Bumblebee has regained his ability to speak. Although it was not confirmed on-screen, screenwriter Roberto Orci did confirm off-screen that Ratchet's (regenerative) beam was indeed the reason. It could be that the doc didn't have enough time/resources, what with all the war and inter-stellar space travel, to fully perfect the healing plasma early enough. And even if he did, Bumblebee took off for the Cube after only a marginal amount of repairs were performed on him after his encounter with Megatron, so a vial of even faster-acting plasma could be sitting in Ratchet's lab back on Cybertron, if the Decepticons didn't trash it of course ...they did.


 * Just as well, Roberto Orci also admitted that Bumblebee's brief contact with the All Spark would be an equally valid (and an even more "in-continuity") explanation.


 * In the film (2007), Bumblebee scanned a working, driveable Camaro—with the same paint job—that won't be released until some time later this year (2009). However, it is possible that the Camaro in question was being road-tested by GM engineers, like they are doing in the real world.


 * In the online virtual world simulation/game Second Life, there is a full replica of the Sector Seven base which contains a giant discussion room where Michael Bay held a question board. This room contains a giant frozen Megatron replica and free avatars of both Bumblebee and Barricade. Both freebies are non-transforming. Also, the Bumblebee avatar has his battle mask down and it can't be raised. However, some sellers have created a transforming version.