Bumblebee (G1)

Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family. He was known as Goldbug for a time in some continuities.

Quit beating me up. It's not cool, it's not edgy. It's stupid and mean. HA HA WE HURT KID-APPEAL CHARACTER. Real frickin' mature.

Bumblebee is one of the smallest and weakest Autobots. While this does allow him to do his job better than most Autobots could manage, he is self-conscious about his size. He looks up (so to speak) to the other Autobots, but what he doesn't realize is that they look up to him. He may be small, but he's brave, and he's one of the most likable Autobots around. Bumblebee already has the respect he craves.

As Goldbug, his rebuilt and "matured" form, Bumblebee retains most of his earlier strengths and weaknesses, but without his crippling need for approval. (This is true of some "matured" versions of Bumblebee without new names or bodies, as well, but is quite markedly associated with the change to Goldbug).

French-Canadian name: Bourdon/Coccinelle
Japanese name: Bumble/Goldback
European-market name: Wagenbot
Italian name: Maggiolino
South American name: Volks

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Bumblebee's first appearance... anywhere.

Four million years ago, Optimus Prime led a crew of Autobots including Bumblebee aboard the Ark to clear a path through an asteroid belt for Cybertron to pass through. Once their objective was completed, they were attacked by Decepticons and both their ships crashed in a volcanic mountain on a primitive planet known as Earth. In 1984, the volcano (Mount Saint Hilary) erupted, awakening their ship, which rebuilt them. Bumblebee was reconfigured to transform into a yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

Prowl led a mission into a human city to investigate their new world. Bumblebee, anxious to be the first to meet the planet's inhabitants, rear-ended a car full of teenagers at a drive-in movie theatre. Before he could introduce himself, he was under attack by Decepticons and damaged badly. One of the teenagers, Buster Witwicky, brought the car back to his father's autorepair shop. Bumblebee weakly pleaded to them to fix him, for he was dying. His father, Sparkplug Witwicky, fixed Bumblebee and offered to help the Autobots convert their native fuel resources into a form that Transformers could use. Bumblebee took Buster with him back towards the Ark to relay this message.

RARR BUMBLEBEE SMASH

After a seemingly final battle with the Decepticons, the long-lost Decepticon Shockwave arrived and reversed the Autobots' victory with a single blast. Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots were kept captive aboard the Ark until Ratchet managed to free the Ark from Decepticon control and repair them. However, Buster had been entrusted with safeguarding the Creation Matrix, which the Decepticons discovered, so Bumblebee and Bluestreak were sent to protect him. Buster was attacked by the newly-built but lifeless Jetfire. Bumblebee and Bluestreak did their best to defend Buster, but it was Buster's use of the powers of the Creation Matrix which saved them all, disassembling Jetfire in mid-air. Bumblebee removed Jetfire's brain so Buster could remote-control the body with his mind.

After the Creation Matrix was returned to a restored Optimus Prime, Bumblebee was charged with giving four new recruits (Hoist, Skids, Smokescreen, and Tracks) a tour of the planet. Bumblebee decided a Brick Springhorn concert would be a good destination, but the Decepticons had sabotaged the event to harvest energon. Bumblebee disobeyed orders and led the four into battle, saving the concert. When Robot-Master appeared on television and claimed to control the Transformers, it was Bumblebee's job to ask their human business parter G.B. Blackrock what the deal was. Robot-Master broadcast next in a coal mine next to a de-energized Megatron, but Bumblebee and several other Autobots were pushed away by overwhelming Earth military forces.

This event caused Bumblebee to question his usefulness to the Autobots, and he abandoned them without a word. The Decepticons, however, saw much use for him and attempted to apprehend him. Hiding in a used car lot, he was stolen by two humans, who he adopted for a while. The Decepticons did not relent, and Bumblebee was ultimately rescued by the rest of the Autobots, an act which reminded him how valuable he was to them.

Due to conflicting circumstances, Bumblebee was damaged and rebuilt into a stronger but similar form, Goldbug. Goldbug and Blaster were ordered by the new Autobot leader Grimlock to track down the Mechanic, who had stolen Autobot technology from the Ark. Grimlock was a terrible leader and had no regard for human life, so both Goldbug and Blaster exiled themselves from his command. Grimlock was furious, and sent the Protectobots to bring them in. Goldbug and Blaster found themselves in the desert of the American southwest and, thanks to a run-in with the Decepticon Triple Changers, were infested with the disease known as Scraplets. Goldbug and his human friend Charlie Fong left to get help and possibly a cure, but Blaster believed Goldbug had abandoned him to die. Near death himself, Goldbug and Charlie arrived at a gas station, where they met up with the Throttlebots, sent from Cybertron by Ratbat and armed with acid to contain the disease. Goldbug narrowly escaped extermination when it as discovered that the cure for Scraplets was none other than water. Goldbug called industrialist G.B. Blackrock (on a pay phone), and Blackrock trucked in tanks of water himself. Blaster was cured and his trust in Goldbug was restored.

Goldbug, Blaster, and the Throttlebots found refuge in a used car lot owned by Big Steve. However, they were all in bad need of fuel. They attempted a deal with Big Steve, but he doublecrossed them, filling them up with soda pop instead of gasoline. It was then that the Protectobots caught up with them, followed by the Combaticons. During the ensuing battle, the immobilized Throttlebots (including Goldbug) were carted away by RAAT.

Ain't variant continuity FUN?!

Conflicting Goldbug origins

In G.I. Joe and the Transformers, Bumblebee is destroyed by G.I. Joe due to a misunderstanding. They later rebuild him as Goldbug with help from Ratchet. However, Marvel UK did not initially print the crossover, so an alternate origin for Goldbug was conceived. In the pages of the UK comic, Bumblebee was destroyed by a time-traveling Death's Head and repaired by a time-traveling Wreck-Gar. (The Marvel Joe/TF crossover was published in the UK towards the end of the series.) The conflicting origins for Goldbug is the single largest difference between the American and British Marvel Transformers comics; most everything else kinda sorta meshes together, if you squint.

Animated continuity

Voice Actor: Dan Gilvezan (US), Yoku Shioya (Japan)

Hoverbee

After pilfering energy conductors with Wheeljack, the little, yellow different Autobot was on the Ark which landed on Earth 4 million years ago, went sleepy, woke up in 1984 as a Volkswagen Beetle. Bumblebee was part of the team of Autobots sent to stop Megatron and the Decepticons from overpowering Sherman Dam. Bumblebee helped Ironhide carve out a new riverbed for the raging waters, saving a nearby neighborhood from being flooded. Such acts was one of the earliest that helped endear the Autobots to the humans.

During the Decepticon development of their Space Bridge program, Megatron captured Bumblebee and altered a bank of his memory circuits to lure the Autobots into a trap. Bumblebee recovered in time to alert the Autobots to the true location of the Space Bridge.

In 2005, he and Spike Witwicky were on Moonbase 1. Unicron ate it. Luckily, Unicron takes some time to digest things, and the two (as well as Jazz and Cliffjumper) were spared an acid-bath in Unicron's guts by the timely arrival of Spike's son Daniel.

See? He still looks sorta friendly.

Eeeyeeaaggh!

When the body of Optimus Prime was retrieved by Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan, Rodimus Prime led a team that included Bumblebee to investigate. However, Bumblebee and his teammates were attacked by a Hate Plague-infested Superion and heavily damaged. After Optimus Prime was rebuilt by the Quintessons, so too was Bumblebee into a more powerful but similar form. Bumblebee remarked that he now looked like a "gold bug". Optimus Prime decided this would be his new name.

Goldbug journeyed with Optimus Prime and the other survivors to Chaar in search of a heat-resistent alloy that could insulate Prime from the Hate Plague. However, infected Decepticon forces attacked and contaminated Goldbug as well.

IDW comics continuity

Artist E.J. Su redesigned Bumblebee for the IDW "Infiltration" series. Deal with it.

Bumblebee is part of Prowl's secret counter-infiltration unit on Earth. When Ratchet breaks cover by rescuing a trio of humans, Bumblebee is the one Autobot who supports his efforts. He accompanies Ratchet and the humans to investigate an abandoned Decepticon bunker in Nebraska. At the bunker, while the humans are inside, two Decepticons attack, and Bumblebee manages to take down Skywarp, but not before Ratchet is shot by Blitzwing.

Bumblebee is as easygoing and daring as his incarnations in previous continuity; it's his encouragement and willingness to go along that push Ratchet into taking the three humans to Nebraska, somewhat against Ratchet's conscience. That positive nature is tempered, though, by a pragmatic streak not often seen in previous incarnations of the character; while the humans explore the Nebraska bunker, Bumblebee comments to Ratchet that, given the need for evidence of unusual Decepticon activity, the humans would be "acceptable losses". However, this did not prevent the Autobot from leaping to the humans' aid as they attempted to exit the collapsing command bunker.

Bumblebee left the humans with Ratchet and traveled to Oregon, location of the second Decepticon command bunker, observing the situation until the rest of the Autobot unit can arrive. After witnessing Megatron disciplining Starscream and subsequently downgrading the infiltration unit's status to Phase Two, Bumblebee departs Oregon with the rest of the unit.

Bumblebee uses a "holomatter" avatar when in public to avoid looking like an unmanned vehicle, which has the appearance of a young human female. It is unknown whether he can alter his (presumably male) normal voice to match his avatar's appearance.

Timelines: Descent Into Evil

You know you want me, baby.

Having been on the trail of the Decepticon agent Flamewar for a long, long time, now-espionage director Bumblebee (in his unreleased Alternators body) made his move, interrupting a supposedly-secure secret communication between Flamewar and the Tripredacus Council. He revealed that his agent Ricochet had installed a degenerative virus into Deathsaurus' clone army. Oh, and that since the Autobots now knew Flamewar's whereabouts and who she was working for, the Tripredacus Council would certainly consider her a liability. Which they did. So they blew her ship up.

Energon cartoon

A robot using Bumblebee's character model is shown in a still-shot flashback as a member of the Autobot group led by Rodimus. Whether this robot is an alternate-universe incarnation of Bumblebee or simply a similar-looking robot is --like all Unicron Trilogy character-model cameos-- left to conjecture.

Toys

Generation 1

No, not Herbie.

• Bumblebee (Mini Vehicle, 1984~1986/2001/2003/2004)

Japanese ID number: 11, C-56

Bumblebee's original toy, released in 1984 and in Japan in 1985, transformed into a "penny-racer"-proportioned Volkwagen Beetle. The toy, taken from the Japanese Microchange line, was released in both red and yellow versions in the US, and was available through the first three years of the series, the entire duration of the Mini Vehicle assortment.

Bumblebee was released in a wide variety of colors in markets south of the border. In Mexico, both a blue version and a recently-discovered white version with a red face were released, while both metallic gold and gunmetal-silver versions have appeared from South American companies Antex and Estrella.

Bumblebee was reissued as a keychain by Fun4All under license form Hasbro in the US in 2001. Along with having its rear bumper retooled to accommodate the chain, the keychain form lacked the "Dunlop" text on the tires, and was also released in Japan in 2003 as a 7-Eleven exclusive. The Japanese keychain series also had a black "chase" version.

Left to right, starting at the top: Original Bumblebee's head and Goldbug's head, Cliffjumper's head and Pretender Classics Bumblebee's head, Action Master Bumblebee's head and reissue Bumblebee's head. (The Action Master's head is really only there to fill the hole.)

In 2004, Bumblebee was again reissiued in Japan in a six-toy multi-pack alongside Huffer, Cosmos, Gears, Powerglide and Warpath, but this time with a cartoon-accurate head.

The original mold is also used by Volks. The keychain version is used by Glyph, while the new-head multi-pack version was used to make Bug Bite.

• Goldbug (Throttlebot, 1987)

Japanese ID number: C-97

The Throttlebot Goldbug was released in 1987, and like the other Throttlebots, he had a pull-back motor and a simple transformation. The vehicle mode was not designed to look like a penny racer, as the original toy was, so its variation on the Volkswagen Beetle was much more realistically-proportioned. Though the other Throttlebots seem to have always been intended to be new characters, Goldbug's head was based directly on that of Bumblebee's original toy. Bumblebee was the second Transformer to be given a second toy (as both versions of Hot Rod had been released the year previous).

• Bumblebee (Pretender, 1989)

As part of the sixth year of Generation 1, Bumblebee was released as a "Classic Pretender", expanding the range of Pretenders toys. Bumblebee was still a Volkswagen Beetle, but now had what looked like off-road tires. He came with a gun for his robot mode that could be mounted on his roof and another gun for his human shell. Oddly, the robot's head is modelled after Cliffjumper's toy head. The inner robot was sold without the shell as a K-Mart exclusive Legends figure, but with the inner-robot gun to his teammate Jazz, who had Bumblebee's small gun in exchange. The Legends figure was also sold in a set with Legends Grimlock, Jazz and Starscream in Japan the same year.

• Bumblebee (Action Master, 1990)

A non-transforming action figure that mixed cartoon model with toy-detail, Bumblebee's Action Master release came with a Heli-pack that transforms into a large gun with spring-loaded deploying barrel. This release makes Bumblebee the only character to have a toy of some kind available during the entire original Transformers production run (from 1984-1990).

• Bumble (Smallest Transformers, 2003)

Bumblebee was released in 2003 in the Japanese Smallest Transformers line as a scaled-down version of his original toy, in both yellow and a "chase" red color scheme.

Generation 2

• Bumblebee (Mini Vehicle, 1993)

Bumblebee's first Generation 2 toy was a redeco of his original toy, but with gold chrome on the previously yellow parts.

• Bumblebee (Go-Bot, 1995)

Bumblebee's second release in the Generation 2 line was as a recolor of the Go-Bot High Beam, transforming into a concept race car with exposed rear engine.

This mold was also used to make Crosswise and Nightracer.

Classics

Flight-enhancement buddy #2

• Bumblebee (Deluxe, 2006)

The Deluxe Bumblebee transforms into a yellow sports car (labeled as a "cruiser" on the package). He comes with a single accessory: A jet ski called Wave Crusher on a trailer. In robot mode, Bumblebee is articulated with ball joints at the head, shoulders, elbows, hips, and has hinge knees. Wave Crusher converts into a jet pack that mounts onto his back.

This mold will be redecoed into Classics Cliffjumper.

It is the best toy ever.

• Bumblebee (Legends, 2007)

This Classics Bumblebee toy is a redeco of Legends of Cybertron Hot Shot, transforming into a modified Chrysler ME Four Twelve concept car. We have gone full circle.

Attacktix

• Bumblebee (Booster, 2007)

Unreleased

One of the earliest proposals in the Alternators line, line-art of a "new Beetle" incarnation of Bumblebee (with a Cliffjumper retooling) has been revealed by Takara in their Binaltech sourcebook. However, since Volkswagen rejected Hasbro/Takara's licensing pitch, the toy never progressed beyond line-art phase.

2007 Movie

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In Transformers (2007) movie. Bumblebee is no longer a VW Beetle, but a Chevrolet Camaro and later will be modified into a Saleen-modified 2009 version of the car. He also may not be vocal on the film because his vocal system would be ripped out and may communicate through his car radio. And it has been confirmed that he is the only Transformer to have had an animatronic figure built for the film because the rest will be CGI.

External links

• Bumblebee at TFU.info

• Bumblebee's Universe profile at NTFA.net

• White Mexican Bumblebee gallery at TF-1.com

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