Bumblebee (Movie)
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| This article is about the Autobot lieutenant. For the movie named after him, see Bumblebee (film). For a list of other meanings, see Bumblebee (disambiguation). |
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- Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Movie continuity family.
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). He can also communicate with the Autobots' human allies and his friend, Sam Witwicky, by playing audio clips from popular media on his radio. Though he has these stable forms of communication, Bumblebee would love nothing more than to finally get his voice back someday.
As the battles on Earth have raged on and more of their old friends have perished in the fighting, Bumblebee has found himself forced to step up as acting Autobot leader whenever Optimus isn't around. This stint at leadership isn't exactly going that well, as not only are there barely any surviving Autobots around to lead, not many of them respect his authority. Bumblebee's trying his best, but he shows all the signs of a young 'bot forced to grow up too fast, with his impulsiveness sometimes giving the Autobots as much trouble as their adversaries.
He is also known as N.B.E.-02, ZB-7, or B-127, and has operated under the codename Goldwheels. He is also partnered with the Dinobot Strafe, and is brothers-in-arms with fellow Autobot Hot Rod.
Fiction
Movies
Transformers film
- Voice actor: Mark Ryan (English), Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japan radio voice), Akio Kato (Japan normal voice), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Lu Kui (Chinese), Patrick Béthune (European French), Helmut Gauß (German), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Omar Soto, Marisol Romero (Latin American-Spanish Radio voices), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish normal voice), Paco Gázquez (Castilian Spanish), János Bácskai (Hungarian), Vilmos Papucsek (Hungarian radio voice), Saverio Indrio (Italian), Shanu Dev (Hindi), Altuğ Yücel (Turkish)
When the Autobots scattered to the stars in search of the lost AllSpark, Bumblebee made his way to the planet Earth, where he connected the trail of the lost relic to the Witwicky family line. In 2007, disguised as a battered 1970s Camaro, Bumblebee followed Ron Witwicky and his son Sam to a second rate car dealership and slipped himself amongst the vehicles, intending to have the boy purchase him so that he could get close to the family. When proprietor Bobby Bolivia couldn't agree on a price, however, it looked like Sam would wind up buying another car, so Bumblebee used a high-frequency sound wave to blow out the windows of every other vehicle in the lot, leaving Bolivia with no choice but to sell him.
The next day, Sam and his friend Miles Lancaster drove Bumblebee down to a party at the lake, where the disguised Autobot decided to do the boy a favor, playing "Drive" on his radio to subtly convince Sam to kick Miles out and offer his crush Mikaela Banes a ride home. When he neared a romantic spot overlooking the city, Bumblebee turned off his engine and began playing romantically suggestive songs; this didn't have the intended effect, and Bumblebee had to abruptly turn himself back on again when Mikaela started to walk off. After they returned Mikaela home, Bumblebee drove off during the night; Sam, believing it to be a car theft, followed him to a junkyard and witnessed the robot-mode Bumblebee sending a beacon into space to summon his fellow Autobots. Apparently unaware that he had been spotted, Bumblebee then scared off the junkyard's two guard dogs when they menaced Sam.
When Bumblebee returned to the Witwicky home the next day, a terrified Sam fled from what he dubbed "Satan's Camaro", only to wind up being attacked by the Decepticon Barricade, who was also on the trail of the AllSpark. While fleeing this new threat, Sam ran into Mikaela, and Bumblebee then snatched the pair up and drove them away, with Barricade in hot pursuit. Taking refuge at a deserted chemical plant, Bumblebee revealed his robot form to the two humans so he could engage Barricade in combat, eventually knocked the Decepticon out after a brawl. Afterward, Bumblebee—able only to communicate in sound bites broadcast over his radio—properly introduced himself to Sam and Mikaela, and drove them to nearby Griffith Observatory to watch as the other Autobots he had called upon arrived in the sky overhead. Along the way, when Mikaela wondered aloud why a super-advanced robot turned into a "piece of crap Camaro", a mildly insulted Bumblebee scanned a passing 2009 Camaro, taking on its sleek and shiny form himself.
Bumblebee took his friends to a secluded alleyway, where Sam and Mikaela met the other Autobots, including their leader, Optimus Prime. Medical officer Ratchet explained that Bumblebee's inability to speak was a result of an old injury to his vocal processor, which Ratchet then treated with a regenerative plasma beam.[1] Prime explained that Sam had been targeted because he owned a set of glasses belonging to his grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, which had the location on the AllSpark inscribed on their lenses, and the entire group returned to the Witwicky home so they could obtain them.
Though the glasses were soon found, the forces of Sector Seven soon descended upon the house and apprehended Sam and Mikaela. The Autobots wasted no time in rescuing them, but when the interrogation of Seymour Simmons went nowhere, Bumblebee became so annoyed with his attitude that he released lubricant onto the agent. When Sector Seven reinforcements arrived, the Autobots were forced to hide; unfortunately, Sam and Mikaela fell from their hiding place beneath a bridge, and Bumblebee had to reveal himself to save them. Harpooned and frozen by Sector Seven agents, he was captured by the organization, with Optimus Prime regrettably unable to intercede as he knew the Autobots could not do so without harming the humans.
Taken to Sector Seven's base at Hoover Dam, Bumblebee was continually doused with cryoblasts to keep him subdued while experiments were performed on him, until Sam and Mikaela (with some armed persuasion from Captain Lennox) convinced S7 to let him go. Upon his release, Bumblebee almost lashed out at his human oppressors until Sam calmed him down, informing him of the presence of the AllSpark and Megatron in the facility, and that the Decepticons were coming for both. Following the humans to the AllSpark'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. Cube in hand, Bumblebee and a military escort fled to Mission City, meeting the Autobots en route.
Soon after Bumblebee and the Autobots arrived in the city, the Decepticons descended in force, with a missile attack from Starscream blowing off Bumblebee's legs. To get him to safety, Mikaela and Sam hoisted Bumblebee onto an abandoned tow truck, but Bumblebee pushed the AllSpark into Sam's hands, urging him to run while he still could. As Sam reluctantly left, Mikaela drove Bumblebee away from the fighting to relative safety, but she was soon overcome with guilt for leaving Sam and the battle. With Bumblebee's assent, she turned headed back in, driving the truck in reverse so that Bumblebee could fire his weapons at Brawl, helping take the tank Decepticon out. Subsequently, Sam used the AllSpark to destroy Megatron, and in the aftermath, Bumblebee found that his voice had returned,[1] and he used it to request permission to remain with Sam. Optimus and Sam agreed, and after his legs were repaired, Bumblebee allowed Sam and Mikaela to make out on top of him as Optimus sent his message to space calling other Autobots to Earth. Transformers
Revenge of the Fallen film
- Voice actor: Mark Ryan (English, promo video), Lu Kui (Chinese), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Jean-Philippe Puymartin (European French radio voice), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Omar Soto (Latin American-Spanish Radio voice), Enrique Cervantes (Latin American-Spanish), Arturo Acosta (Latin American-Spanish radio voice), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish normal voice)
Two years after the battle of Mission City, his voice still not properly repaired, Bumblebee was dozing in the Witwicky garage the day Sam was packing for Princeton University when a scream from Sam saw him called into action to blast the AllSpark Mutations a surviving sliver of the AllSpark had made of the Witwicky kitchen appliances. Shrugging off Judy Witwicky's complaints that he had blown up much of their house, 'Bee returned to the garage, where he was dismayed to learn that Sam was not planning on taking him to college with him, as just he wanted a normal life.
Hoping that Sam could serve as an ambassador of sorts to help convince the President of the United States that it was important the Autobots stay on Earth to fight off the Decepticons, Optimus Prime had Bumblebee pick up Sam from college so he could talk to him. 'Bee caused trouble for Sam right away, disrupting a frat party he was attending, then wound up with an unwanted passenger in Alice, about whom he could tell something wasn't right. Bonking her head off his dashboard and spraying her in liquid to get rid of her, he then took Sam to meet Optimus, but the boy turned down the Autobot leader's offer. Unfortunately, Sam soon proved to have little choice in whether or not he would be involved in the Transformers' war, when a resurrected Megatron captured him, and Bumblebee and Prime had to come to his rescue. 'Bee took Mikaela and Sam's roommate Leo Spitz, to safety, but Optimus died protecting the boy.
Bumblebee, together with Skids and Mudflap, took the three humans to an abandoned prison where they would be safe, but soon, the Decepticons' master The Fallen struck across Earth, demanding Sam he turned over to them. Bearing Sam no grudge for Optimus's death, Bumblebee promised to help his fugitive friend in any way, though he advised against Sam turning himself in. At Leo's suggestion, the group went to New York City to meet his internet rival, the Robo-Warrior—in actuality, Bumblebee's old lubrication post Seymour Simmons, who provided evidence that a group of Decepticons had been on Earth thousands of years ago. Following this information, the group located and reactivated the ancient Jetfire, who teleported them to Egypt to search for the Matrix of Leadership, which Sam hoped could be used to revive Optimus.
Bumblebee transported the humans to Petra, the supposed location of the Tomb of the Primes, but when it appeared to be a dead end, the Twins got into an argument over why they were following Sam around. The argument turned into a brawl which threatened to crush the humans in the close quarters, so Bumblebee picked his two subordinates, slammed them together, and threw them out of the temple. However, the Twins' brawl had managed to unearth the Tomb of the Primes, and Bumblebee further opened the hole with his plasma cannon, where they found the Matrix...which instantly turned to dust. Gathering up the dust in hopes it would still work, the team headed back to Egypt, but were assaulted by Starscream on the way. 'Bee, Simmons, Leo, and the Twins led Starscream and the Decepticons away while Sam and Mikaela went on ahead, and when it became apparent that Starscream was no longer pursuing them, Bumblebee left to rejoin the pair.
Arriving in the abandoned town Sam and Mikaela were hiding from the Decepticons in, Bumblebee found that Sam's parents were being held captive by Rampage. Sam distracted the Constructicon long enough for Bumblebee to jump him, but while they were grappling, Ravage ambushed Bumblebee. The plucky Autobot managed to fight off Ravage and rip out his spine, then overpowered and killed Rampage. At Sam's instruction, Bumblebee took the boy's parents to safety, returning in time to see Sam apparently be killed by a blast from Megatron, upon which he broke down in grief. However, Sam miraculously survived the attack, and with the reformed Matrix of Leadership, resurrected Optimus Prime. Together, the assembled Autobots and humans watched as Optimus combined with the remains of Jetfire, destroyed the harvester and killed The Fallen. Revenge of the Fallen
Dark of the Moon film
- Voice actor: Lu Kui (Chinese), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Omar Soto (Latin American-Spanish Radio voice), Enrique Cervantes, Arturo Acosta (Latin American-Spanish radio voice; Revenge of the Fallen), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish normal voice), Ferso Velázquez (Latin American-Spanish radio voice), Paco Gázquez (Castilian Spanish)
Three years after the defeat of the Fallen, Bumblebee no longer lived with Sam, having been put back on active NEST duty now regularly engaged in top secret missions with the rest of the Autobots, mostly to prevent human conflict. Alongside Sideswipe, Dino and Que, Bumblebee investigated an illegal nuclear facility, employing his Stealth Force mode to destroy it. Upon returning to the NEST base, he assisted in teaching soldiers how to fight Decepticons.
Having received information from his co-worker Jerry Wang that suggested a conspiracy of humans collaborating with the Decepticons, Sam and his new girlfriend Carly Spencer went to NEST headquarters to share what Sam had learned, but when the guards would not let him enter, he grabbed a radio and called for Bumblebee to "convince" them. The guards quickly backed off when Bumblebee burst out of the building, but the reunion wasn't an entirely happy one, as Sam made clear to his big 'bot buddy that he was upset that he wasn't around much any more. National Intelligence Director Charlotte Mearing had no interest in Sam's conspiracy theories, so Sam left with Bumblebee to investigate the matter himself. To "repay" Sam's boss eccentric Bruce Brazos for a few leads he was able to provide them, Bumblebee play-fought with the man, who tried some karate moves on him.
After Sam, Simmons and Dutch learned that the Autobots' recent actions—recovering their lost former leader Sentinel Prime and his space bridge pillars from the wreck of the Ark they had discovered on Earth's moon—had actually been orchestrated by the Decepticons, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Dino escorted the humans and Sentinel back to the NEST base. En route, they were attacked by the Dreads, and Bumblebee was forced to execute an impressive mid-air transformation to avoid a crashed truck, tossing Sam into the air as he switched modes, before transforming back to vehicle mode around the boy. When the group arrived back at NEST, Sentinel revealed he was in league with Megatron, and Bumblebee was unable to prevent Ironhide from being killed and the base from being destroyed as Sentinel retrieved his pillars.
Sentinel used his pillars to open a space bridge in the heart of Washington, and Bumblebee and the Autobots were vastly outnumbered by the Decepticon forces that poured through and had to retreat. When Sentinel forced the humans to exile the Autobots on their ship, the Xantium, Bumblebee was allowed a short time to say goodbye to Sam, and assured him he was always going to be his friend, before helping the others prepare the ship for launch. However shortly after lift-off, the Xantium was destroyed by Starscream, and Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots were presumed dead.
In actuality, the Autobots had hidden in a rocket booster that was jettisoned before the Xantium's destruction, and arrived in the Decepticon-occupied Chicago in time to help Sam, Epps and a team of soldiers in finding the kidnapped Carly. Bumblebee piloted one of the downed Decepticon fighters to get Sam into the building in which Decepticon conspirator Dylan Gould was holding Carly, and used it to both rescue the pair and blast off Laserbeak's head. He rejoined his fellow Autobots in attacking the Decepticon forces, and arrived in time to save Sam and Lennox from falling to their deaths after Sam managed to kill Starscream.
Unfortunately, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Dino, Ratchet and Que were soon captured by Soundwave and his troops, and Bumblebee could only watch as Que was executed. He had barely a moment to mourn before he was pulled forward, sharing what seemed to be a final, heartfelt look with Sam... before Wheelie and Brains suddenly started dropping Decepticon fighters from a Decepticon warship above. With Soundwave distracted, Bumblebee attacked his would-be executioner, and after a short but intense battle, killed the Decepticon spy-master by punching straight through his chest and blasting his head to bits. Subsequently, Bumblebee joined the final battle, and with Ratchet's help, he tackled and destroyed the space bridge's control pillar, shutting the bridge down. After the defeat of the Decepticons and Sentinel Prime, Bumblebee produced a selection of gears and washers from inside his body so that Sam could use one as a ring to propose to Carly with, but Sam just told him that he needed to slow it down. He was then commended for his bravery in battle by Ratchet.Dark of the Moon
Age of Extinction film
- Voice actor: Ben Schwartz (English radio voice, see notes), Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese radio voice), Lu Kui (Chinese), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Vincent Ribeiro and Tristan Petitgirard (European French radio voices), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Ferso Velázquez (Latin American-Spanish radio voice), Gerardo Alonso (Latin American Spanish radio voice)
At some point in the past, Bumblebee had a phase where he became extremely insubordinate and disrespectful to Optimus Prime.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Chicago, Bumblebee remained on Earth with the other Autobots, but they were all soon forced to go on the run when the U.S. government disbanded NEST, and Harold Attinger's Cemetery Wind taskforce began hunting down Transformers. Disguised as a beat-up 1967 Camaro, Bumblebee even found himself having to take command of the remaining Autobot refugees when Optimus Prime disappeared, even though the others saw him as brash and inexperienced.
Five years after Chicago, Optimus returned and Bumblebee relinquished command, but this did not stop Drift from complaining about Bumblebee's leadership skills. Indignant at being called a "child" by the Autobot samurai, Bumblebee briefly brawled with Drift, but greater matters soon demanded the Autobots' attention. Following information provided by Optimus's new human ally Cade Yeager that revealed Cemetery Wind was delivering the bodies of the Transformers they captured to Kinetic Solutions Incorporated, the Autobots prepared to infiltrate the company's Chicago headquarters; Bumblebee falsified ID cards to get Cade and Shane Dyson into the building, then drove them to the site, masquerading as a non-sentient vehicle being brought in for scanning. Upon seeing the company's display of Stinger, a drone based on his own design, as well as several videos and posters claiming that he was inferior to the human-made Transformer, Bumblebee flipped out and knocked over the prototype, then left Shane to take the blame for the accident.
The information Cade brought out of KSI revealed to the Autobots that the captured Transformers were being melted down for their raw transformium metal. Learning that Ratchet had suffered this grisly fate, Bumblebee joined the Autobots in attacking the building, though not before scanning a newer 2014 Camaro along the way, as well as taking on a sleek new appearance based on Stinger. He got a lift from Drift's helicopter mode to the building's upper levels and was able to rescue Cade from Attinger's clutches, having no regard for damaging the building to avenge Ratchet. The Autobots then withdrew, but were pursued by Stinger and KSI's premiere creation, Galvatron; 'Bee attempted to cover Optimus and the humans by blasting Galvatron with a cluster of missiles, but was left in utter shock when the drone disintegrated and reassembled himself to avoid the attack.
When Optimus was captured by Lockdown, Bumblebee and the Autobots infiltrated the bounty hunter's ship. Bumblebee helped their human allies escape from several Steeljaws, and though he could not stop the ship's anchors from being detached, causing the humans to fall towards Chicago, he still managed to save them by swinging down on the cables and grabbing them out of the air. Given a lift by Crosshairs in a stolen gunship, 'Bee had to take over piloting the craft while Crosshairs engaged Lockdown's pursuing henchmen, and although he managed to lose the ships chasing them by diving into an underground roadway, he then promptly crashed the gunship into the city streets.
Bumblebee and the humans regrouped with the other Autobots at a disused train yard, where they learned from Brains that Galvatron was, in actuality, a reborn Megatron, and was planning to detonate a cyberforming seed—given to KSI head Joshua Joyce by Lockdown—in Hong Kong. The team immediately headed for China, but upon arrival, their ship was shot down, and Bumblebee, Hound and the humans fell out and had to escort the seed out of the city.
The Last Knight film
- Voice actor: Erik Aadahl (English), Masato Obara (Japanese), Lu Kui (Chinese), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Boris Tessmann (German), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Omar Soto (Latin American-Spanish Radio voice), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish normal voice), Paco Gázquez (Castilian Spanish), János Bácskai (Hungarian)
During World War II, Bumblebee, then known as ZB-7, and Hot Rod fought alongside Allies, during which the two met and befriended a young Edmund Burton. After the war however, Bumblebee resumed his search while Hot Rod remained behind. As the decades passed, Bumblebee would not come to remember World War II as a particularly noteworthy conflict.
In the years since Optimus Prime's departure into space in search of the Creators, Bumblebee retook command of the remaining team of Autobots on Earth. He accompanied Cade and Hound to the Chicago No Go-Zone: a hotspot of Cybertronian artifacts that landed on Earth since the Battle of Chicago. He and Cade came to the aid of Izabella after her Autobot companion Canopy was killed with Bumblebee himself destroying one of the attacking Sentinels. When Cade was held up by the TRF, Bumblebee came to his assistance, albeit in an unorthodox manner. He blew himself apart, only for his individual pieces to piece back together and reassemble himself in order to dispose of the TRF forces, giving their side the advantage. If it weren't for Lennox's intervention, Bumblebee would very likely have killed TRF Commander Santos. With Cade easing the standoff to prevent any collateral damage and Hound arriving at the scene, he urged the TRF to lower their weapons and allow them to leave, but not without the TRF tagging Bumblebee with a tracker.
Back at the junkyard where the other Autobots camped, he struggled to keep the team in order, with Grimlock stealing the local sheriff's cruiser and Crosshairs questioning his leadership skills, with whom he engaged in a small brawl. It wasn't helped by the arrival of the unscrupulous Daytrader, who brought with him more of his shady trinkets, which included a Vatti Bot (which Bumblebee angrily crushed) and the deceased Starscream's head. The next morning, however, a convoy of Decepticons were heading towards at the junkyard. While Hound and Trench held the line, Bumblebee and others fled to a nearby town where Drift discovered and disabled the tracker the TRF had placed on Bumblebee. After the Decepticons had been lured into a trap, Bumblebee personally slew Mohawk before a Headmaster by the name of Cogman arrived on the scene to escort Cade to England to meet Sir Edmund Burton. Bumblebee accompanied Cade as extra muscle.
At the castle, they were initially greeted by a tank Transformer suffering from "robot-dimentia" attacking them before Sir Edmund scolded him for firing at guests. Burton then expressed joy at seeing Bumblebee despite the Autobot not remembering him. It was then that Bumblebee was reunited with Hot Rod, who had sort of kidnapped a woman named Viviane Wembly. When the TRF arrived, Bumblebee served as a getaway car for Cade and Vivian, depositing them at her flat before he took the two to the HMS Alliance, during which he managed to get his Decepticon nemesis Barricade off his tail by blasting him aside. Leaving Hot Rod behind, Bumblebee took hold of the massive femme as she submerged and took the humans to a submerged Cybertronian ship. Inside the ship, however, the group was forced to split as ocean debris had made the path accessible to humans but inaccessible to Bumblebee. He caught up with the two soon after Viviane had found the Staff of Merlin and seconds before Nemesis Prime arrived to demand the staff. After threatening Viviane's life for it, Nemesis walked out and Bumblebee, spurred on by Cade, followed Nemesis to try and reawaken his true personality.
On the deck of the ship, Nemesis promptly beat Bumblebee into submission only for the sound of Bumblebee's true voice to reawaken Optimus Prime. Allying with the Guardian Knights, the Autobots flew to Cybertron to confront and destroy Quintessa while Viviane removed the staff from the ignition chamber to halt her plan. Though Cybertron's reconnecting and shifting geology proved an obstacle, the Autobots made it to the area of the ignition chamber only to be faced by a Decepticon army backed up by a gun emplacement and Infernocus; they were eventually destroy by Optimus and Sqweeks. Salvation came when the British military caused a nearby chunk of Cybertron to swing and impact the ignition chamber. In the temporary state of zero gravity, Bumblebee took the opportunity to kill Nitro Zeus by blowing up his head. Optimus then distracted Quintessa allowing Bumblebee to blast her from behind (with a quippy one liner) and Viviane to remove the staff saving Earth. on the surface of Earth, Optimus had felt that Cybertron had healed enough that the Autobots could return home and Bumblebee, after thanking the humans for saving Optimus, boarded the Knight Ship as it blasted off for Cybertron. The Last Knight
Bumblebee film
- Voice actor: Dylan O'Brien (English), Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Lu Kui (Chinese), Bohdan Tůma (Czech), Julien Allouf (European French), Louis-Philippe Berthiaume (Canadian French), Boris Tessmann (German), Rajesh Kava (Hindi), János Bácskai (Hungarian), Ivan Zaytsev (Italian), Jeong Jae-heon (Korean), Paco Gázquez (Spain Spanish), Emilio Treviño (Latin-American Spanish), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese), Altuğ Yücel (Turkish)
A scout under the command of Optimus Prime, B-127 was part of the final battle for Cybertron — a battle that ended with the Autobot position overrun by the Decepticons and necessitating a full-scale Autobot evacuation of Cybertron. As part of this evacuation, Prime tasked him with a reconnaissance mission to the distant planet of Earth—its location hidden from the Decepticons—in the hopes that the scout could establish a base for the Autobots to regroup and strike back. Launched off-planet aboard an escape pod, B-127 crash-landed in California in the year 1987, having the bad fortune to land in the woods where Sector Seven agent Jack Burns had been conducting a training exercise.
Trying to flee the hostile humans, B-127 quickly scanned a jeep alternate mode to make his escape and fled through the woods until he was cornered outside of an abandoned mineshaft. Despite his best intentions to assure the humans of his good intentions, the Autobot scout found himself attacked by the Decepticon Blitzwing. Believing that B-127 knew the whereabouts of Optimus Prime and his forces, the Decepticon grappled with the little Autobot in an attempt to get him to speak; when his foe retorted that he would never disclose Prime's location, Blitzwing "made it official" by ripping out B-127's voice box and grievously injuring him by hurling him off a cliff. Before the Decepticon could execute him, however, B-127 emerged triumphant by jamming one of Blitzwing's missiles into the Decepticon's superstructure, blowing Blitzwing to smithereens.
His voice box damaged, his memory cells offline, and his body failing, the critically wounded B-127 was able to limp to a nearby riverbank, and before entering stasis he was able to scan a new disguise: a Volkswagen Beetle. It was in this form that B-127 remained for some time while he recovered, and at some point the derelict car found its way to a run-down salvage yard in Brighton Falls, where it was sheeted and left to rust.
In August of that year, B-127's derelict form caught the attention of Charlie Watson, and while trying to start the car she triggered the Autobot's radio, broadcasting a signal that inadvertently reached the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick on Saturn. Several days later, on her eighteenth birthday, yard owner Hank allowed Charlie the car as a birthday present if she could get it to start. After fixing the engine, Charlie drove her new car home, and while repairing the car her investigations inadvertently revealed B-127, still wounded, mute, and amnesiac from his battle on Earth. Inspired by the buzzing noises of his broken voice box, Charlie named him "Bumblebee."
The next morning, Sally Watson used her daughter's car to drive the family dog to the vet, with Bumblebee almost revealing himself to a panicked Charlie as she tried to catch up with him. That afternoon, Charlie took him to a nearby beach to teach the Autobot that he couldn't reveal himself to other humans, and during a subsequent walk in the woods Charlie wound up activating a garbled hologram of Optimus Prime, jolting Bumblebee's memory and reminding him of Prime's final battle on Cybertron. His continual attempts to communicate with his broken radio inspired Charlie to replace it with the radio from her late father's Chevrolet, and Bumblebee's curiosity about her old diving tapes and records prompted Charlie to open up about the passing of her father and her difficulty coping with his death.
As Bumblebee played with his radio, the noise attracted the attention of Charlie's neighbor Memo, and after swearing him to secrecy the pair went for a drive in Bumblebee, with the two humans realizing that Bumblebee was trying to use the radio to communicate. Following an antagonistic encounter with Tina Lark at a cliff-diving party hosted by Tripp Summers, the trio decided to get revenge by pranking her house; Bumblebee got carried away while egging her car, however, and wound up destroying it entirely. Their hasty escape caught the attention of Sheriff Lock, and Bumblebee was able to easily evade the sheriff's police cruiser during the subsequent police chase.
Realizing that she couldn't drive Bumblebee the next morning, Charlie left him in the garage while she went to work, though Bumblebee's curiosity soon got the better of him, and his clumsy exploration of the Watson home had him inadvertently destroy the house's interior in the process, while his experiments with an electrical outlet led to a massive energon surge. His destruction of the house caught the attention of Memo, who called Charlie home from work to deal with the problem. Though Memo was able to coax Bumblebee back to the garage to lie low, they were unable to clean up the house before Charlie's parents arrived, and the ensuing argument led to Charlie leaving home in Bumblebee... running into a Sector Seven ambush in the process, the agency having tracked Bumblebee thanks to his energon surge.
Bumblebee transformed to robot mode to carry Charlie to safety, and although he was able to outmaneuver the humans he was ambushed by Shatter and Dropkick, who took the little Autobot prisoner. Their interrogation revealed Prime's hologram; armed with the knowledge that the Autobots were on their way to Earth, the two Decepticons left to call in their army to finish off their foes—but not before blasting their prisoner.
Thanks to Charlie and Memo jury-rigging one of Sector Seven's electrical guns, the two were able to blast enough electricity into Bumblebee's systems to bring him back online, the reboot restoring his memory cells in the process. Cornered by Sector Seven agents, a weakened Bumblebee only found the strength to fight back after watching Agent Burns manhandle Charlie, blasting the humans until Charlie was able to talk him down; despite his human friend's belief that they needed to hide, Bumblebee set out to stop the Decepticons, bringing Charlie with him.
The pair raced through the streets of Brighton Falls, accompanied by Charlie's family and pursued by more Sector Seven agents, until they reached the radio antennae that Shatter and Dropkick had repurposed into a makeshift Cybertronian relay to contact the Decepticon fleet. Bumblebee leapt into action immediately, killing Dropkick by tearing him apart with a chain and rescuing Agent Burns's disabled helicopter from crashing. As Charlie tried to manually disable the Decepticon relay, Bumblebee was able to narrowly prevent Shatter from taking her down, and as the pair battled in the dry dock below Bumblebee was able to blast the dam holding back the ocean, allowing the rush of water to fatally crush Shatter against a ship. With the Decepticons vanquished, Charlie dove into the water to guide Bumblebee back to shore, and as the pair recovered from their ordeal Agent Burns, having realized the error of his ways, allowed them to leave before his reinforcements arrived.
His memories restored and his body healed, Bumblebee drove Charlie to the Golden Gate Bridge to say his goodbyes so that he could reunite with the other Autobots and continue his mission on Earth. After thanking his human friend for helping him find his voice, Bumblebee scanned a passing Camaro and drove off, meeting up with Optimus Prime on the bridge and driving away. In the woods that night, Prime commended the scout for his bravery as the pair watched more Autobots arrive on Earth. Bumblebee
Rise of the Beasts film
Seven years after Optimus Prime and the other Autobots had arrived on Earth, Bumblebee was laying low in New York, maintaining a low profile until the Autobot leader sent an order for Bumblebee and all of the other Autobots to meet up at their base of operations. Bumblebee arrived at the same time that Arcee had arrived, seeing that fellow Autobot Mirage had in fact taken a human, Noah Díaz, to their location and revealed himself to the human. Optimus Prime arrived shortly thereafter and made the plan for the Autobots to rely on Noah and Mirage to get the Transwarp Key in order to head home to Cybertron, the young Autobot was placed in the same position as Optimus and Arcee to wait around the mainland to the Museum on Ellis Island.
While waiting for Noah to retrieve the Transwarp Key, Bumblebee spoke to Optimus on the matter of humans, the young Autobot in belief that not all humans are bad. While Optimus would agree that one human had treated Bumblebee well, Optimus stood firm on his belief and added he did not want Bumblebee going to drive-in theaters anymore after the young Autobot said that Optimus "can't handle the truth."
Bumblebee's wait was cut short when the Terrorcons arrived on the scene, and he rushed into battle alongside the other Autobots to face the threat. When Optimus was overpowered by the Terrorcon leader, Scourge and Battletrap, Bumblebee rushed in with Optimus's battle axe, but the young Autobot was impaled on Scourge's arm blade, and soon was blasted by Scourge's cannon, the Terrorcon leader shortly ripping Bumblebee's insignia off his head.
Bumblebee's body was carried away from the Museum by the other Autobots, and was kept hidden until the Autobots would enlist the help of Stratosphere to get to their next location, Peru. Arcee looked over the body alongside Optimus, suggesting an Energon transfusion could revive the young Autobot. Bumblebee's lifeless body was kept in the care of Stratosphere for the time being, eventually being placed in a village nearby the city of Cusco with the Maximals.
The leader of the Maximals, Optimus Primal, revealed that there was Energon in the area, but it was currently inert and would not be of use to revive Bumblebee .The Autobot remained lifeless until the arrival of Unicron through a transwarp gate. The activation of the gate caused the Energon in the area to ignite and flow, reviving Bumblebee in time for his arrival to the final battle.
"Well, he's not as dead as we would've hoped.."
Bumblebee arrived in time to reinforce the Autobots, skydiving out of Stratosphere as he would shoot at the multiple Terrorcon pods containing Scorponoks as well as the multiple Sweeps that had pinned Optimus to the bridge. His fall was intercepted by the Terrorcon Nightbird, but he overpowered her, initially using the Terrorcon as a shield against Scourge's shots before the young Autobot impaled Nightbird's spark with one of her own wings, destroying her as he landed.
Bumblebee assisted Noah in the final battle, and upon the defeat of Scourge, Bumblebee's insignia was returned to him by Optimus, though Optimus soon ordered Bumblebee and all the others to escape as the Autobot leader prepared to destroy the Transwarp Key. Bumblebee drove off in his upgraded off-road Camaro alternate mode, carrying Elena Wallace in him as he and the other Autobots and Maximals escaped.
Bumblebee then returned to America alongside the other Autobots via Stratosphere. Rise of the Beasts
One film
- Voice actor: Keegan-Michael Key (English), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German Trailer)
Further information in this article is coming soon as it pertains to information that has not yet been officially released. |
Novels
Ghosts of Yesterday
Before coming to Earth, Bumblebee was part of the crew of the Ark, searching through space for the lost AllSpark. In 1969, Earth-time, the crew encountered an alien ship, the Ghost 1, in an abandoned solar system. After the ship turned tail and headed for one of the local planets, Optimus Prime sent Bumblebee down after it. Bumblebee located the ship, and was about to approach it when Starscream arrived, and he was forced to retreat under the Decepticon's superior firepower. Shortly after Bumblebee discovered some apparently artificial pillars, the ground gave way beneath him, and 'Bee found himself plunged into a cave system. With his radio damaged, he explored the caves, and was attacked by giant, monstrous worm creatures, whose organic nature did not make them any less challenging as opponents. Fortunately, Optimus arrived in time to save him.
Prime and Bumblebee had a brief encounter with Starscream and the Ghost 1, the crew of which had been persuaded by the Decepticon that the Autobots were the aggressors in the Transformer war. The pair retreated back below ground, and later found the Ghost 1 in a battered state, having been abandoned by Starscream. Bumblebee made contact with its crew, a species known as "humans", and the earlier misunderstanding was soon cleared up. When more of the worm creatures turned up, Bumblebee acted as a diversion so Optimus could blast a way out of the caves, and everyone escaped intact. They returned to the Ark in time to fight the Decepticons once more. Bumblebee joined Ratchet in attacking Barricade, though the Decepticon gave them more than enough trouble. When the Ghost-1 and its crew were lost during the battle, the Autobots turned their attention toward the planet from which it had hailed... Earth. Ghosts of Yesterday
The Veiled Threat
Following the battle of Mission City and the destruction of the AllSpark, Bumblebee's guardianship of Sam Witwicky meant that he was not an activate participant in any missions carried out by the forces of NEST. The Veiled Threat
Classified novels
After the defeat of The Fallen, NEST resumed their regular business of hunting down rogue Decepticons. Bumblebee was at Edwards Air Force Base with Ratchet when they received word that two Cybertronians in transition forms had landed near Hurley's Crossing. The pair went there by helicopter and encountered Reverb, who claimed to be a Decepticon defector hunting down another Decepticon who was after the technology at Hawthorne Army Depot. Though Bumblebee was highly skeptical, he followed Ratchet's lead, and they took Reverb to the depot. When they reached it, Kevin Bowman let them know that Gears was an Autobot and in reality trying to protect an ancient weapons cache. The warning came too late, as Reverb turned the weapons on Bumblebee and Ratchet, who were unable to penetrate the personal forcefield Reverb had acquired. Despite this, Bumblebee lasted out Reverb's defeat with minimal damage. Switching Gears
When Bumblebee and Gears were left at base, they received word from Douglas Porter that the Decepticon Blowback was heading up to Battle Mountain where a storehouse of Cybertronian artifacts had been discovered. The pair were compelled to travel to Battle Mountain with Kevin and Douglas, though Bumblebee made a detour to a Kwiki-Burger on the way. On arrival, they were attacked by Blowback and his men, and by the time they'd dispatched the four Decepticons, Kevin and Douglas had found the storehouse. They were subsequently picked up by Ironhide and taken back to face Optimus Prime's anger at them having gone off on their own. Battle Mountain
When the Battle Mountain cylinder was in danger of activating, Bumblebee and Gears took part in a convoy to transport the device to a NEST vault near Yucca Mountain. The trip was cut short when the convoy was ambushed outside Beatty by Reverb and some stolen Hyperdynamix autonomous tanks. They caught a break when Reverb was called away to the nearby Hyperdynamix Aerospace facility, and while Gears and Kevin followed the Decepticon, Bumblebee remained to protect the remains of the convoy. Satellite of Doom
IDW movie comics
Bumblebee was born over 10,000 years ago, one of the second generation of Cybertronians spawned by the AllSpark since its rediscovery and the revitalization of Cybertron. Movie Prequel #1 He and Cliffjumper were guardians of the AllSpark at the Temple of Simfur. One day, when the AllSpark suddenly began giving off energy spikes, a nervous Bumblebee was troubled by the fact that planetary leaders Optimus and Lord High Protector Megatron were more concerned with a nearby archaeological excavation than with the source of the spikes, but Cliffjumper reassured him that they could handle whatever came their way. He would soon regret those words when aliens from the nearby Eshems Nebula attacked Simfur. The pair were seeking cover inside the temple when Lord Megatron swooped in, berated them for not taking the fight to the enemy, and destroyed their opponent. Defiance #1 Instructed to stay out of the military's way, Bumblebee was concerned that the attack signalled the start of something big, but Cliffjumper was unconcerned on the basis that two lowly guards wouldn't be part of whatever it was. Prowl agreed, ordering them to stay at their posts, after which he quizzed them on how the AllSpark had reacted during the battle. Defiance #2
His ambition ignited by the mysterious relic discovered at the archaeological dig, a power-hungry Megatron sought to have Optimus disposed of, and sent a team led by Prowl—including Bumblebee—to apprehend him on charges of treason. When Optimus angrily demanded to know what he had done, Bumblebee pointed his weapon at the science leader and said they were just following orders, which seemed to satisfy Optimus. What 'Bee and the other security officers didn't know, however, was they were being led into a trap; on the way to the city of Metrotitan, they were ambushed by a soldiers loyal to Megatron, who had been ordered to kill them all, save Optimus. Bumblebee helped haul Arcee to safety after the group was hit by an explosive round, and Optimus ordered them all to withdraw to Burthov while he took care of their attackers personally. Defiance #3 Foundation #3
After it was learned that Megatron had rebuilt his Defense Force as an army known as the "Decepticons", Optimus—now Optimus Prime, embracing his destiny—organized Bumblebee and the others loyal to him to stand against Megatron's forces as the "Autobots". While on an apparent scouting mission, Bumblebee and Arcee discovered the Decepticon starship Nemesis while it was under construction; some time later, when the vessel was complete, they also observed as the majority of the Decepticon forces boarded. Defiance #4 Returning to the camp at Burthov, they and all the assembled Autobots watched at the Nemesis took off. Foundation #3 With the bulk of the Decepticons gone, the Autobots launched their first strike against the Decepticons, and the war between the two factions truly began. Defiance #4
After years of war, with no end in sight, Bumblebee participated in an assault on Simfur Temple to activate the "torch" Sentinel Prime had created, which Sentinel had promised would end the conflict. Foundation #3 Alas, Starscream blew up Sentinel's ship, and Bumblebee retreated with the rest of the Autobots. However, the battle had weakened Decepticon forces to the extent that the Autobots were soon able to steal the AllSpark. Foundation #4 After moving the relic around the planet, Optimus Prime finally made the desperate decision to launch the AllSpark into space to put it beyond Megatron's reach. This decision took Bumblebee by surprise, but he supported Optimus. Defiance #4 Bumblebee was placed in command of a small Autobot unit at the AllSpark's hiding place in Tyger Pax, on the assumption that the Decepticon would focus their attention on Simfur; unfortunately, Megatron sensed the AllSpark's true location, and Bumblebee and his men found themselves under attack by the Decepticon leader and his troops. Swindle tried and failed to torture the AllSpark's precise hiding spot out of Bumblebee, forcing Megatron to take up the task, but even 'Bee did not know exactly where it was—moments later, both he and Megatron could only watch as the cube was blasted into space from a launch site nearby. A furious Megatron crushed Bumblebee's voice capacitor beyond repair in a petty act of revenge and took off after the AllSpark; although the young bot survived and was dubbed a hero for his actions, he feared that all the Autobots had done was potentially spread their war to other worlds. Movie Prequel #1
In time, the Autobots left Cybertron aboard the Ark in search of the AllSpark. The Reign of Starscream #1 After years of questing, in 2003, Bumblebee traced the AllSpark to Earth's Solar System, first touching down on Mars, where his image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and passed to human organization Sector Seven. Movie Prequel #2 Landing on Earth in the state of Virginia, 'Bee quickly evaded S7 by scanning a battered old Camaro and making for St. Louis, Missouri. There, he used a remote link to a coffee shop computer to search Shwiggle for any signs of extraterrestrial sightings, and discovered the story of Captain Archibald Witwicky, who claimed to have seen an "Ice Man" that Bumblebee recognized as a frozen Megatron. Movie Prequel #3 Bumblebee's followed Witwicky's trail to an asylum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the late captain had been committed, Movie Prequel #4 then headed downtown to another asylum that had computerized records he could scan. Having thus obtained a list of Witwicky's descendants, Bumblebee set course for Springfield, Missouri, in search of his son Clarence, evading an attack by Sector Seven along the way. In Springfield, he found records of Clarence's children and started out to track them down, starting with his eldest son Ben in Denver, Colorado. Ben proved a dead end, so 'Bee took off for Tucson, only to be again attacked by Sector Seven, evading their helicopters by blinding them and rocketing off at high speed. Not long after, he learned the Decepticons had followed him to Earth when he was attacked by Barricade in the desert. Planetfall Interlude
Escaping his various pursuers, a damaged and smoking Bumblebee stopped by the roadside on the way out of Colorado to rest and recover. Suddenly detecting a burst of AllSpark energy, he trace the source to New Mexico, where Barricade tracked him down and attacked once again. Other Decepticons, meanwhile, attacked the energy source and found it to be a Sector Seven ruse; consequently, assuming Bumblebee would have further leads they could exploit, Barricade let 'Bee escape so that they would be able to covertly track his movements. Eventually, Bumblebee's search took him to Tranquility, Nevada, Movie Prequel #4 where he would soon encounter Sam Witwicky, whom he befriended and allied with during the subsequent battle for the AllSpark. Transformers: Movie Adaptation
Immediately following the battle in Mission City, Bumblebee had his legs reattached by Ratchet, then he and the other Autobots rolled out to avoid Sector Seven's inquiries. 'Bee remained behind to guard Sam when the other Autobots were summoned to a meeting with Lennox a month later, Alliance #1 but then took part in the mission Lennox requested their help with: transporting the dead Decepticons' body to a navy base in San Diego, California for disposal at sea. Before departing Sector Seven's Nevada base with the convoy, Optimus Prime gave the surviving AllSpark sliver to Professor Vine for safekeeping, but had second thoughts about his decision partway into the mission and sent Ironhide and Bumblebee back to the facility to retrieve it. Racing ahead, Bumblebee was greeted with an unexpected sight: the base aflame, and Decepticons Wreckage and Starscream brawling in the midst of it all. 'Bee disarmed Wreckage with a well-aimed blast and Starscream finished him off, then turned his firepower on the humans; Bumblebee dived in front of them and took the blast, damaging his vocal processor once again. Alliance #2 Convergence chapter 4 Ironhide praised him for his bravery and selflessness, Bumblebee regretted not being able to save everybody. Alliance #3
Two weeks later, Bumblebee was present for the burial at sea of Jazz and the Decepticons, following which it was announced that the Autobots and Lennox's team would be working together as a new special unit, dedicated to protecting the Earth from threats posed by the remaining Decepticons. They began training on the island of Diego Garcia, but it took time for the humans and Autobots to learn to work together; during a training exercise on a shooting range, when Bumblebee instinctively fired on a target, he only narrowly avoiding blasting Epps in the process. Alliance #3 For their first mission, NEST was deployed to San Francisco to take out the Decepticons Deadend and 'Bee's old opponent Swindle. Bumblebee and Lennox chased Swindle onto the deserted Golden Gate Bridge, where the Decepticon was amused upon realizing who it was he was facing once again. When Swindle turned on Lennox, however, he learned the folly of underestimating Bumblebee, who blasted his one-time torturer through the back, killing him. Alliance #4
Concerned that Sam Witwicky would become the target of the Decepticons again, Optimus selected Bumblebee to act as Sam's guardian again and sent him to live with the boy. Alliance #4 However, Bumblebee's attempts to integrate himself into Sam's life were not as smooth as he had hoped. Without the team structure of the Autobots, Bumblebee tended to act upon instinct, taking revenge on Mikaela's ex-boyfriend Trent DeMarco for his previous humiliations of Sam by wrecking his truck, smashing a would-be car thief with the door he was attempting to unlock, and inadvertently giving Sam traffic tickets by not observing the rules of the road. When Bumblebee was alone, he attempted to learn as much as he could about human culture, feeling that he owed it to his friend. Tales of the Fallen #1 Though no longer on active NEST duty, Bumblebee very occasionally helped his Autobot allies out; in November 2008, he came on-scene to assist his team-mates after Demolishor had... demolished a sizeable amount of human property in Uruguay. Tales of the Fallen #2
Soon, the problem of Sam's impending departure for college arose: 'Bee intended to follow Sam wherever he went, but Sam feared that he might not be able to bring his car along with him. Not thrilled the prospect of Bumblebee continuing to live with them, Sam's father Ron decreed that once Sam had gone to school, Bumblebee would have to leave. However, unexpectedly, Ron came to Bumblebee seeking aid when Mikaela reported that Sam had never made a rendezvous with her. Speeding out of the garage without Ron (and without waiting for the garage door to open), Bumblebee searched for clues to Sam's whereabouts and eventually found a message from his old foe Barricade, who demanded the AllSpark in exchange for the boy. Finding the pair at an car wrecking yard, Bumblebee attacked Barricade, but was considerably outmatched, with the Decepticon gloating that Earth had made the Autobot soft, and their last encounter was down to pure luck. Eventually, with a distraction from Sam, Bumblebee was able to force Barricade into a pool of gasoline. With the Decepticon hardly down for the count, Bumblebee told Sam to run and ignited the gasoline, causing a tremendous explosion that sent both Transformers flying. In the aftermath, Bumblebee told Sam he had a feeling they hadn't seen the last of Barricade. Tales of the Fallen #1
In the wake of the Autobots' battle with The Fallen, Revenge of the Fallen movie adaptation with more new Autobots arriving on Earth regularly, Bumblebee was brought back onto active duty and placed in charge of a team made up of rookies Jolt, Knock Out, Dune Runner and Breakaway. Bumblebee's team responded to Decepticon activity at Kingdom Petrochemicals in Florida, but 'Bee and the other ground-based team-members arrived too late to save Breakaway from dying at Soundwave's hands. The Decepticons soon fled, as did a mysterious group of humans also active at the sight, leaving Bumblebee mystified as to what was going on. Nefarious #1 He and his team returned to Edwards Air Force Base, where Galloway was annoyed that he hadn't been notified about the arrival on Earth of some of the members of Bumblebee's team. Nefarious #2
After Optimus managed to capture Soundwave in Utah, Bumblebee's team was assigned to escort the captive Decepticon to a NEST base in Odessa, Texas. Decepticon. En route, their transport plane was shot down by Buzzsaw, and when they attempt to continue the mission on the ground, they were soon obstructed by Soundwave's "mini-militia". Bumblebee tussled with Rumble, but quickly realized that his team was outmatched. Rather than a repeat of the loss of Breakaway, Bumblebee opted to release Soundwave. Nefarious #3 Subsequently, Soundwave chose to ally himself with the Autobots to bring down the Initiative, the human organization who had also been at Kingdom Petrochemicals, who were conspiring against the Transformers. Bumblebee's team were part of the NEST unit that follow Soundwave to the supposed location of the Initiative's base in Inyokern, but the mobile facility had already relocated to Crater Lake, Oregon, by the time they got there. Pursuing it, 'Bee's team was sent to assault the base from the north, but when Bumblebee broke through the base wall, he was confronted by a most unexpected set of opponents: Initiative-controlled Transformers! Nefarious #5 The damage he took from the initial blast knocked him out of the fight, but he had recovered in time to help during the clean-up. Nefarious #6
While Bumblebee was picnicking with Sam and Arcee, a small earthquake, followed by the emergence of a Transformer energy signature, prompted the trio to investigate. Tracing the signal to a nearby cave, they were attacked by Space Case, who had been freed from his subterranean prison by the 'quake, and who promptly brought the cave down on top of the threesome. Transformers: Space Case Separated from Arcee in the cave-in, Bumblebee managed to hold up the collapsed ceiling, but could not get any transmissions out through the rocks, and found his strength slowly ebbing as the weight pressed down. 'Bee's mind drifted back to a recent encounter he and Sam had with Starscream, and remembered how the boy had aided him by using downed power lines to electrocute the Decepticon. Reminded that friendship meant trying your hardest and not letting your friends down, Bumblebee dug deep, and when a crack of light appeared overhead, managed to wrench the rocks clear. The pair were lifted to safety by Ratchet, who had been digging for them, and who was amazed that Bumblebee had had the strength to carry the weight for as long as he had. Transformers: Bumblebee
While visiting Sam at college in Philadelphia, Bumblebee was parked at the roadside waiting for him while he grabbed lunch when he was approached by "Brains", a Decepticon brain unit who had just recently come online and escaped from Shockwave and Astrotrain. Believing him to be an ordinary Earth vehicle, but not understanding that said vehicles were not alive, Brains tried asking Bumblebee for help; naturally, Bee did not break cover by replying, but when an angry Brains then kicked him, 'Bee's temper got the better of him and he transformed. Rising Storm #1 Sam and Bumblebee brought Brains back to his college, but this only made them targets for a force of Decepticons heralded by 'Bee's recurring opponent, Barricade. Vastly outnumbered, Bumblebee nearly met his maker at the end of Sonar's blaster, but was saved when NEST reinforcements Mirage and Wheeljack arrived. Rising Storm #2 As the battle intensified, Bumblebee and Barricade squared off once more, Rising Storm #3 but as more Autobot backup came to join the fight, Bumblebee got the better of his old enemy and defeated him yet again. Rising Storm #4
Concurrently with the battle in Philadelphia, Shockwave had staged a devastating attack on NEST's Diego Garcia base, necessitating a restructuring of the organization. NEST's new director removed Bumblebee from his position as Sam's guardian, and placed him on full-time NEST activity. Rising Storm #4 Some time later, the Autobots faced the return of Sentinel Prime and Bumblebee and Sam were reunited to thwart his space bridge plot. Dark of the Moon movie adaptation
Transformers: Beginnings
We're just tiny little specs about the size of Mickey Rooney
- Voice actor: Mark Ryan
Optimus Prime entrusted Bumblebee with the secret that the AllSpark would be sent into deep space to prevent Lord Megatron from possessing and corrupting it. Just after the launch, Megatron attacked Bumblebee in rage at losing the AllSpark and shattered the Autobot's voice capacitor beyond repair.
Bumblebee arrived on Earth and, sensing the AllSpark was near, took on local camouflage to search for the artifact. He immediately attracted the attention of Sector Seven agents and the Decepticons. Transformers: Beginnings
Schick Hydrobot and the Transformers
While searching for Decepticons, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Hound came across Hydrobot and mistook him for a Decepticon. Before they could catch him, Hydrobot escaped from the Autobots' clutches. The trio started to realize that they might have judged the small 'bot wrongly when Hound found out that the substance Hydrobot left behind was nothing like something a Decepticon would use. They traced its source to a Schick R&D department and gained access into it in vehicle mode by fooling the guard into believing that the vehicles modes they were using was ordered by the scientist Dr. Hiroshi Benson himself. Upon gaining access to the laboratory, they confronted Hiroshi in robot mode, which left the human scientist baffled.
Shortly after the scientist finished explaining the origin of the substance and Hydrobot, a squadron of Decepticons led by Megatron suddenly bursted through the wall, explaining their intent to use the devices inside Hiroshi's laboratory to build the Energon converter. Luckily, Hydrobot arrived at the scene to help the Autobots by knocking over Onslaught. With help from Hiroshi's control set, Bumblebee released a shock burst towards the Decepticons, prompting them to retreat. After all was said and done, the Autobots gave Hydrobot a lift and bid their farewells, but Bumblebee knew that he would return one day. A New Friend
Bumblebee Movie Prequel
During the war for Cybertron, Bumblebee was friends with the Autobot Diabla, at one point battling alongside her in the smelting pools of Polyhex. From Cybertron with Love Unbeknownst to Bumblebee, Diabla was a Decepticon mole who had infiltrated the Autobots to destabilize them from within; when Diabla's treachery was revealed, Bumblebee maintained that Diabla had always been an Autobot, albeit one who had gone bad and joined the Decepticons.
After arriving on Earth and serving in World War II, Bumblebee — prior to the loss of his voicebox — fell in with Sector Seven at some point after the end of the war. At some point during the early 1960s the organization traded him to MI6, Bumblebee joining the ranks of Britain's elite counterintelligence agency P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. Partnered with the not-so-suave superspy David Reeve, The Man with the Golden Car and taking pointers from intelligence specialist Diana Lux, The Living Headlights Bumblebee and Reeve embarked on a series of globetrotting adventures, battling against the forces of Konrad Gotell's E.I.D.O.L.O.N. crime syndicate. In 1964, the duo tracked Gottell to East Berlin. Though Reeve discovered that Gotell had already been killed, and his office booby-trapped rigged to blow, Bumblebee was forced to evade the German police before he could rescue his partner from Wildrider, killing him by throwing him into the Berlin Wall and crushing him with a chunk of rubble.
Some time later, the duo returned to the United Kingdom to rendezvous with their handlers at Maundy Gregory Studio; though initially put out about being left in the rain, his position allowed him to realize that the agency's director had been killed, his car coopted as a disguise for the Decepticon Runabout. Bee was barely able to warn Reeve and Lux before the blast from Pelham's explosive-rigged body took out the studio, shielding his human friends from Runabout and Diabla's attacks. At Reeve's suggestion, Bumblebee fell back, deploying an oil slick to trip up the Decepticons while he made his escape. Regrouping on Victoria Embankment, Reeve was barely able to recontact B.A.S.E.S.T.A.T.I.O.N. on a secure line: learning that P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. had been potentially compromised by a human collaborator, the trio were sanctioned to do whatever it took to eliminate the compromised agent. The Man with the Golden Car Reeve was unaware that Bee and Lux had tapped the call, and though Lux briefly wondered if Reeve would kill them based on that suspicions, the sight of his partner raising his gun caused the Autobot to flee... until it became clear that Reeve was aiming at the Decepticon duo who had tailed them, and the subsequent chase took them across London until Bumblebee transformed to tangle with Diabla atop Tower Bridge. When it became clear that Diabla wouldn't listen to her old comrade, and that the Decepticon had him phsycially outmatched, Bumblebee escaped death by diving into the Thames so that he could meet up with his human contacts at a secret P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E. safehouse.
To meet with Gottell's old contact Vladimir Vladek, the two humans disguised themselves as a photographer and a model, staking out Carnaby Street in the process and using Bumblebee's vehicle mode to block the road from Diabla so that the two humans could break into Vladek's headquarters. In the ensuing battle, Bumblebee attempted to talk down his old friend; this time, the Decepticon agreed, and the pair retreated to the roof to converse. Despite his best efforts, Bumblebee was unable to convince Diabla to reveal any information about her human connections, and the entire conversation was quickly revealed to be a distraction, so that Dead End could tie up another loose end by killing Vladek while Blitzwing eliminated the Autobot. The Living Headlights
Left to the mercy of Diabla and Blitzwing, Diabla's brief moment of mercy — when she briefly considered giving Bumblebee a quick and painless death — allowed Bumblebee to take on Blitzwing, though it quickly became clear that the Autobot was outmatched. Instead, Bee fired at a nearby gas main, using the explosion as cover to scoop up his human allies before transforming and fleeing into the London Underground. Pursued by Diabla, Bumblebee was able to outmaneuver his Decepticon foe by deploying his meager rear-mounted weaponry, baiting her into getting hit by an oncoming train while he re-emerged in south London.
Having eluded their pursuers, Reeve made contact with an "old friend" who promised more news regarding the activities of their foes. That evening, the group headed to Hyde Park to meet up with Reeve's ally; though momentarily surprised by a Decepticon ambush, their opponents were taken offline by Heath Donovan, a Sector Seven agent in charge of keeping tabs on Bumblebee. New information revealed the full extent of the Decepticon's plans, including the extinction of humanity by turning the Cold War hot, but thanks to the homing device he'd tagged Diabla with in the Underground Bumblebee revealed that he was able to take them to their base of operations. Hitching a ride aboard a stealth jet, the trio parachuted into an abandoned castle, with Bumblebee dropping a guard before fighting their way into the complex... and discovered the diminutive Decepticon Malignus as the mastermind behind the conflict. Energon Is Forever
Having revealed his role in recent events, gloating about his plans to push the nations of Earth into a nuclear war, Bumblebee begged Diabla for help one last time — only for Lux to reveal that she had previously turned Bumblebee's homing rounds into explosive devices, and detonated Diabla's, causing a momentary distraction that allowed the three heroes to slip their bonds. Deploying an underwater mode, Bumblebee was able to dive into the castle waterways, using his oil slick to blind the Sharkticons that pursued him. When it seemed like his luck had run out, however, he was unexpectedly rescued... by Diabla, who assured him that she had saved him only so that she could kill him, as revenge for his killing of the humans of E.I.D.O.L.O.N., siccing Dead End on the yellow Autobot. Though Reeve was able to kill Malignus, his missile had already launched, and the three spies were unable to do anything about it — only becoming aware that the conflicted Diabla had already climbed aboard to defuse it too late to stop her. Momentarily throwing Dead End off balance by using a falling Sharkticon to crush the red Decepticon, Bumblebee was too focused on preventing Diabla from killing herself to notice the arrival of Blitzwing and Dead End, but a shout from Reeve caused Bee to duck, and Blitzwing's shot to blow Dead End apart. Grabbing his two-human allies, Bumblebee leapt into the ocean as the disabled missile plummeted back into the castle, destroying it and all of its occupants.
In the aftermath, Bumblebee and his two-human allies survived, but were unable to determine if Diabla had done the same. Bumblebee spied one of her tires, which led her to believe that his old friend had survived the battle. Ferrying his partners back to shore, the Autobot vowed to find her... and, if he couldn't find her, than to kill Blitzwing. Over the next twenty years, Bumblebee left his human friends behind to pursue his new mission, travelling across the globe and eventually dedicating himself to eliminating Blitzwing instead. Eventually, Bumblebee tracked Blitzwing down, and the pair prepared to do battle once more... From Cybertron with Love
Titan movie comics
Bumblebee was part of a mission to trick Megatron into looking in the wrong place for the AllSparkReprint of Prequel #1, in which he was the only one who knew the truth (not even team leader Arcee knew!) Recap in #2 He lost his voice when Megatron crushed his vocal processor upon witnessing the launch of the AllSpark. The Decepticon leader immediately discarded his body and took off after the cube Prelude: Megatron and it was a long while before he was recovered. Prelude: Ratchet
Rendered voiceless, he continued to fight on Cybertron and would encounter Skids and Mudflap when the two were about to be thrown into a Decepticon smelting pool. Dogfight! In 2003, he travelled to Earth while tracing the AllSpark and would spend years evading Decepticons and Sector 7 alike. Reprint of Prequel #3 Reprint of Prequel #4
Bumblebee and his fellow Autobots would ultimately follow the AllSpark to the planet Earth, where Bumblebee befriended the human Sam Witwicky. Some time after the battle of Mission City, Bumblebee was driven by the Witwickys to Sam's college, where he quietly endured their bickering while scanning everything around him for potential threats. When he picked up radio transmissions from two new Autobots, he drove off into battle, and saved Skids and Mudflap from being slaughtered by the Decepticon Ransack. But with the villain threatening a long game, Bumblebee knew that trouble was on the horizon. Dogfight! 'Bee brought Skids and Mudflap to meet with the other Autobots at Edwards Air Force Base in California, but no sooner had he turned his back than the pair snuck off to find Optimus Prime on their own, insisting they had a message for his ears only. Learning Curve
Some time later, Bumblebee was hanging out in Sam's garage when he received an emergency call from NEST: the twins, having apparently fallen in with the Decepticons, had abducted Sam! 'Bee tore out of the garage, tracked down the twins, and demanded they stop immediately. When they didn't, he launched suppressive fire and began ramming Skids, which soon convinced them to release Sam. As Bumblebee held the twins at gunpoint, ready to eliminate if necessary, Mudflap's tried to explain that they hadd been framed and there was a bigger threat coming... but before 'Bee could hear any more, he was gunned down in a surprise attack from Soundwave. Outlaw Blues The "bigger threat" the twins had warned of soon arrived, in the form of The Fallen, but the Autobots were able to defeat the ancient Decepticon. Afterwards, back in the field in Beverly Hills, Bumblebee was part of a unit assigned to captured Reverb; Jolt messed the mission up, but Bumblebee saved the day by ramming the bike head-on. Culture Shock
Later, with Lennox and his crew searching for Seekers, Bumblebee was left with only Robert Epps to investigate an attack on Malmstrom Air Force Base and the disappearance of Optimus Prime. Epps worked out that Optimus had been victim of an electromagnetic bomb, and Bumblebee tracked his leader to where he was being held (Poor Epps had to ride in Bumblebee jumping a ravine, and almost spewed up his breakfast). After locating Prime, they found he was a captive of the Free Men militia. At Epps command, Bumblebee hit the Free Men compound with his full firepower, swiftly defeating the militia. Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime
Bumblebee selected Death Valley as the site for a survival exercise for raw recruits Jolt, Dune Runner, and Rollbar.Spare Parts! Later, he was summoned as back-up by NEST South Africa alongside Springer and Gears due to a Decepticon jailbreak led by Bludgeon, but Optimus ordered him to let the Decepticons leave to prevent civilian casualties. Inside Out!
Ultimately, this failure left the Autobots' reputations in the toilet, and with concerns that public fights risked alienating humans, Bumblebee was tasked to head a covert unit with Slap Dash and Hubcap. They were charged with operating under NEST's radar, monitoring Decepticons and waiting for windows of opportunity out of the public eye, before hitting hard and fast. In practice, this meant allowing Decepticons like Crankstart, Brimstone, and Trenchmouth to run amok in cities, with Bumblebee restraining his desire to stop them and keeping his men from taking action. After an uncomfortable period of hoping nobody would be killed, the Decepticons went to an isolated stretch of road: now free to act, Bumblebee led his men in a vicious ambush and personally drove through Crankshaft. Shadow War
Information obtained from the Decepticon unit Bumblebee's covert squad had brought in allowed the Autobots to trace the location of Bludgeon's Decepticons' base to Arkhangelskaya Oblast in Russia. Regrettably, while strategizing together, Bumblebee and Ironhide made the mistake of dismissing Wheelie when he offered to help; insulted and angry, the little scrap drone sold the Autobots out to Bludgeon's Decepticons, who were able to ambush 'Bee and the Autobots when they moved to attacked their base, with Springer being shot out of the sky following an air strike by Skywarp and Thrust, Slap Dash being killed by Bludgeon, and Hubcap being subsequently killed/wounded as well. Divided Loyalties Fortunately for the Autobots, Megatron himself soon arrived and slew Bludgeon for his transgressions, meaning Bumblebee and the others did not have to battle the rogue Decepticon at all. In the wake of the two Decepticons' brawl, Bumblebee discovered the shattered remains of Wheelie, who had been torn to bits. Unaware of his treachery, 'Bee gathered up his parts to take back to Ratchet for repair... unaware that the cannibalistic Decepticon Dead End was on his trail! A Short, Sharp Lesson!
Intrigued by the human ritual of "Christmas", Bumblebee convinced Sam to let him secretly observe the Witwicky family during the festive proceedings. Unfortunately, Dead End tracked the Autobot to the Witwickys' house and attacked on Christmas Eve, tearing bits of Bumblebee's mechanisms out to integrate into his own body. Luckily, 'Bee managed to shock the zombie-con into submission before their fight awoke Sam's parents, and he was even able to get into the gift-giving on Christmas morning, buying Judy Witwicky car wax. Sam's present was particularly timely: a new traction bearing to replace the one Dead End had torn out! The Nightmare Bee-4 Christmas
When the Autobots were summoned to Fiesole Cathedral in Fiesole, Italy to examine a mysterious object discovered there by an archaeology professor, Bumblebee accidentally smashed the cathedrals shrine to Saint Donatus. Determined to prevent the Autobots from getting ahold of the object—actually a piece of Sentinel Prime's Ark—Starscream attacked the cathedral, blasting Bumblebee through a wall with a volley of missiles. Recovering, 'Bee joined Optimus Prime in pursuing Starscream to the cathedral's belltower, but the Decepticon then brought the tower down on top of them and escaped with the Ark component. Fight for Fiesole
At some point, Bumblebee uncovered some intel, pointing towards Soundwave working in conjunction with the Tanto Gang, and passed on the information to Lennox. Gold And Blood
Bumblebee was later teamed with Robert Epps to hunt down Soundwave in the Spanish Sierra Nevada mountain range, but NEST's intelligence regarding the Decepticons' operational status was flawed: Soundwave's weapons systems were in perfect working order, and Bumblebee was badly damaged by his attacks. Luckily, Optimus Prime arrived to save them. Dealing with the Devil
After the return of Sentinel Prime and the battle of Chicago, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Crosshairs tracked three Decepticon survivors of the conflict to Jakarta, Indonesia. When the Decepticons retreated and Crosshairs tracked them to Pulau Bidadari, Bumblebee monitored the ranger and relayed the events to Optimus. Thousand Island Fight
Not long after, Bumblebee was shocked to see a news report claiming that he had attacked a human power plant. Though 'Bee was eager to hunt down his mysterious doppelgänger, Optimus Prime encouraged him to wait until he had the Autobot leader to back him up. The choice was soon taken out of Bumblebee's hands, however: responding to a fire at a remote human homestead, he was attacked by his mysterious duplicate, who introduced himself as "Stinger", and promptly welded 'Bee's battle mask shut so they would be totally indistinguishable from one another. Optimus Prime soon arrived and had to train his guns on the two identical Bumblebees... but the standoff was brief, as the real 'Bee revealed himself when he dived to save a human who had fallen from the burning building. Prime quickly sent Stinger packing, and he and Bumblebee rolled out together, wondering where Stinger had come from... Accept No Substitutes!
Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline, the battle of Mission City turned out very differently—Megatron killed Sam, captured Optimus, and obtained the AllSpark. The Decepticons proceeded to conquer North America, and by the start of 2008, had begun a plan to cyberform the Earth using the AllSpark's energies. Bumblebee—his voice still functional—and Mikaela Banes went underground, working with Tom Banachek to fight a guerilla war against the Decepticons.
Considering Optimus their last, best hope for victory, Bumblebee and Mikaela went on a mission to rescue him from the old Sector Seven base in Hoover Dam, which the Decepticons were now using as their headquarters. Mikaela quickly shot down Bumblebee's concerns about her safety, though she did almost get squished when 'Bee took out the bunker guard Swindle. Entering, the pair quickly located Optimus, but in a most unexpected condition: frozen solid in the old cryo-system previously used to contain Megatron. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1 Stalked by Megatron, Bumblebee kept the Decepticon leader busy while Mikaela attempt to deactivate the freezing system, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 2 but was baited into revealing himself when the tyrant threatened to kill Mikaela. Bumblebee made a desperate attack, only to be beaten aside with ease, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3 but he remained defiant to the end and refused to beg for mercy. Luckily, Autobot reinforcements arrived; although even they were no match for Megatron, their added distraction provided Mikaela time to thaw out Optimus Prime. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 4 While Prime and Megatron battled, Mikaela arrived with Phase Two of their plan: a Sector Seven nanovirus that targeted AllSpark energy. Loading the virus into himself, Bumblebee charged Megatron, forcibly transmitting the nano-virus into him via a light-beam from his headlights. The virus killed Megatron once and for all, but Bumblebee did not celebrate too loudly, as he knew too well that this just left a power vacuum... Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5
Bumblebee and the Autobots Savannah, Georgia, to survey the damage done by the Decepticons' AllSpark cyberforming project. He took Mikaela to a nearby refugee camp, but as Optimus Prime had feared, the humans the were fearful of him, viewing all Cybertronians as an unwanted presence. Aftermath, Part 1 In apparent further validation of this fear, the Autobots soon came under attack from a NATO unit while attempting to defend the camp from a Decepticon attack, but intel from Banachek suggested something was not right. Spotting the human in charge of the unit, Bumblebee and Mikaela ran a gauntlet of human and Decepticon firepower, blinding the former with his headlights and roasting the latter with his fiery exhaust, in order to get to the man. Having got in close enough, Bumblebee was able to detect a mind-controlling Decepticon cerebro-strip on the man, and Mikaela freed him from its effects, ending the conflict. Aftermath Part 2 Following this battle, the Decepticons continued their attacks on human infrastructure; Bumblebee was part of a unit defending an oil pipeline in Crooked Creek, Alaska. Dark Spark
Bumblebee was part of a unit under Ironhide's command that was sent back to Cybertron in order to retrieve Nucleon in hopes it could be used to repair the damage inflicted upon the Earth by the AllSpark. Touching down on their homeworld, Bumblebee was sent on recon and discovered a strange satellite dish, but when the team investigated it, they were jumped by a team of Decepticons led by Stockade. The revelation that Stockade's "New Decepticons" were in control of the planet's Nucleon supply, followed by the appearance of a strange energy anomaly in Cybertron's orbit, Return to Cybertron: Part 1 convinced Bumblebee to try talking, rather than fighting; after convincing Ironhide to stop throwing his face at Stockade's fists, he learned from Stockade that the anomaly was a living entity the Decepticons had deliberately summoned, believing it would rejuvenate Cybertron. Return to Cybertron: Part 2
Not trusting this entity and wanting to stop all the Nucleon being used up, Bumblebee had the Autobots create a distraction while he turned the Nucleon transfer off, and sent a distress call to Optimus Prime on Earth. His efforts to prevent the arrival of the entity failed, and it revealed itself to be Unicron, the Anti-Life, as it began to possess Cybertron itself. Return to Cybertron: Part 2 In the resulting chaos, Bumblebee had to rescue Ironhide when the satellite dish collapsed on him. Return to Cybertron: Part 3 Optimus soon arrived in response to Bumblebee's summons, brokered an alliance with Stockade, and came up with a plan: Cut off the Nucleon that Unicron's body was using for power. Bumblebee and Armorhide were dispatched to drain the Nucleon seam, but were not able to siphon all of the fuel off fast enough, so Ratchet came up with a quicker alternative: blowing it up. Return to Cybertron: Part 4
Upon returning to Earth, the Autobots found the Decepticons had pinched their base and all 600 square miles around it. They retreated, leaving Mikaela in Decepticon hands; Bumblebee was distraught over this. Hard Target He would be part of the raid to get her back, perfectly aware it was an obvious trap, but not caring due to how much they owed Mikaela. The raid was successful and the two were reunited, awwww! The Decepticon Who Haunted Himself
The pair's time together was short, as soon, the Decepticon-blackmailed American government ordering the Autobots off the planet. Revolution, Part 1 Knowing that the Decepticons were behind, Optimus Prime had Bumblebee and Ironhide prepare a decoy ship; Revolution Part 3 the following day, after Bumblebee said his farewells to Mikaela (and beat up the Decepticon Dropkick as an "up yours" gesture), the Decepticons had the ship blown up shortly after takeoff.
In the aftermath, after it became clear the Autobots had just exiled themselves to Earth forever—"Hey, there are worse fates," said Bumblebee—Mikaela forgave Bumblebee. Both had a lot of clean-up work to do, but also a brave new world to explore together...! Revolution, Part 3
Toy bios
Bumblebee learned hand-to-hand combat at the most prestigious combat training center on Cybertron, where he received his converting energon blade as a reward for his skills. Dark of the Moon Walmart-exclusive Bumblebee It was on the battlefields of Cybertron that Bumblebee first met the Decepticon Starscream, who he would meet again and again in combat. Bumblebee/Starscream
Bumblebee repeatedly crossed paths with fellow elite spy Decepticon Hardtop; initially a professional rivalry, the relationship between the two 'bots slowly evolved into a personal vendetta that saw the pair battle across the galaxy. It was a crack shot by Hardtop that damaged Bumblebee's vocal processors, causing the Autobot pain when he tries to speak. Hardtop
Bumblebee was sent to Earth ahead of the other Autobot by Optimus Prime. Deluxe Bumblebee ('76 Camaro) During World War II, Bumblebee teamed up with Hot Rod to provide serious firepower during an assault on an enemy stronghold they infiltrated, during which they unleashed the war machines within. Studio Series WWII Bumblebee WWII Hot Rod
Prior to his arrival on Earth, Bumblebee cared little for the appearance of his alternate mode, simply scanning the first vehicle he saw, Evolution of a Hero but that changed upon befriending Sam Witwicky. At the boy's urging, Bumblebee scanned a new Concept Camaro form, and came to appreciate how stylish he looked. Deluxe Bumblebee (Concept Camaro) His shiny new form was soon badly damaged, however, during the battle of Mission City—with his legs blown off, Bumblebee had to be towed to safety by the newborn Longarm. Towed to Safety
When the AllSpark was destroyed, Bumblebee was briefly empowered by its radiation, and put the new power to use hunting down the straggling Decepticons. AllSpark Power Bumblebee One such Decepticon was Scorponok, who he hunted across the Middle East. Bumblebee vs. Scorponok Then, with the initial threat over, Bumblebee decided to kick back and relax. Transcanning a rally car, he began hanging around at race tracks, pitting himself against the human racers. Rally Rocket Bumblebee
Following this, Bumblebee volunteered to be Sam's guardian. It was a pretty swank deal: he got to hang with Sam and Mikaela all the time, got lots of oil, and could join Ironhide in killing Decepticons whenever he wanted. Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee Peacetime afforded him the luxury of becoming meticulous about his alternate mode; he even had Ratchet learn a little about the cosmetic side of repair work. Premium Series Bumblebee
In time, Bumblebee came to realize that with pictures of him all over the internet, everyone recognized him... including newly arriving Decepticons, which put Sam and others in danger! With Mikaela's help, Bumblebee recolored himself to help restore his disguise and make it easier to sneak up on the enemy. Stealth Bumblebee With the Decepticon forces constantly growing, he also decided to upgrade his arsenal and modified his vehicle mode so he could use weaponry in it, deciding he'd been caught off guard too many times before. Cannon Bumblebee When the battle shifted to the deserts, he threw himself into the fray, upgrading himself for desert combat and wielding the mighty sand blast! Sand Attack Bumblebee
Following the defeat of The Fallen, Bumblebee returned to active NEST duty, hunting down the Decepticons hiding across Earth; Sam even began joining him in the field. Human Alliance Bumblebee Discovering that Dirge had secreted himself inside NEST itself, Bumblebee teamed with Armorhide and Evac to ferret him out. Alliance Bumblebee Evac (Deluxe) He had a particular dislike for Shadow Striker, who really got under his metal skin. Bumblebee vs Shadow Striker
At some point, Bumblebee took on Soundwave, Battlefield Bumblebee vs Infiltration Soundwave and brought his battle blade to bear in combat with Ravage and Insecticon. Battle Blade Bumblebee His experience fighting fliers also meant that he was fully equipped to deal with Thrust Crash Landing Attack and Grindor. Bombing Run Battle
Bumblebee was the first Autobot try out the new MechTech weapons developed by NEST, Dark of the Moon Leader Bumblebee and also began toting a Mobile Battle Bunker around. Bumblebee Mobile Battle Bunker Like several other Transformers, he took to inscribing Cyberglyphics on his armor before significant battles, out of a superstitious racial belief that they granted good luck. "Cyberglyph" Bumblebee
Hating how Soundwave always seemed to track his movements, Bumblebee put together a plan to take care of him once and for all. Bumblebee / Soundwave with Rodimus He also found time to form the Autobot Daredevil Squad together with Sam and Backfire, Autobot Daredevil Squad and battle Shockwave alongside Optimus Prime. Streetside Bot Brawl
Following the battle of Chicago, Bumblebee had to disguise himself as a super-charged muscle car to avoid detection in a world where all Transformers are in danger of being hunted. High Octane Bumblebee When his allies were in danger, he dropped his disguise and charged into battle. Age of Extinction Bumblebee
Mini Mayhem!
In a celebration of the Transformers brand, Bumblebee showed up as the representative for the "Movie" era of the franchise. Mini Mayhem!
Cyber Missions
- Voice actor: Tom Anderson, David Kledzik, Tony Gialluca II, Bronco D. Jackson (English), José Antonio Macías (Latin American-Spanish), Alexandre Moreno (Brazilian Portuguese)
Ironhide, meanwhile, had gone missing in the jungle; Bumblebee reported the problem to Optimus, who had 'Bee perform a scan of the area. Bumblebee discovered several rich deposits of energon ore, which Prime pinpoint Ironhide's location. Cyber Missions 5 Reunited, Bumblebee and Ironhide went on a training exercise in the Arctic, where the bigger 'bot put 'Bee through his paces. As Bumblebee was frequently singled out as a target by the Decepticons because of his small size, Ironhide taught him the importance of staying on guard and being mindful of his surroundings. As the pair sparred, Bumblebee learned another benefit of being aware of everything around him when Ironhide stopped their fight after they nearly crushed a strange little plant growing through the ice... a plant, Ironhide implied, that could well be sentient. Cyber Missions 8
When Decepticons Smolder and Chopster set fire to a building Scramble City, Bumblebee and Ratchet were dispatched to the scene by Optimus Prime. A menacing look from Bumblebee sent the diminutive Chopster running off in terror; 'Bee called after him to tell Smolder they would "like a word", hoping they could perhaps talk the situation out rather than fight, but Smolder wasn't interested. Bumblebee grappled with the pyromaniac Decepticon while Ratchet powered up his EMP blaster, which he then used to knock Smolder offline. Cyber Missions 9
Optimus reported finding Megatron and Starscream in the Arctic regions of Earth, and Bumblebee was summoned to aid his leader in battle alongside Ironhide, Ratchet and Sideswipe. Leaving Megatron to handle Prime, Starscream attacked all the Autobots at once, but the combined fire of the four heroes was enough to ground the Decepticon. Cyber Missions 12
Optimus later laid a trap to lure the Decepticons to a final confrontation with a hologram of Soundwave, and Megatron indeed walked right into it. Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Ratchet arrived to join the battle, and in the ensuing fight, Bumblebee took on Mindwipe. The Decepticon tried to hypnotize Bumblebee into not fighting, but Bumblebee blocked out his voice and kept up the attack. An army of humans soon arrived and surrounded the combatants, and the day went to the Autobots. Optimus instructed the Decepticons to leave Earth to be destroyed, and after they had fled, Bumblebee stamped a huge Autobot symbol in the dirt, a marker visible from far away that let all Decepticons who saw it know that the Autobots protected the planet. Decepticons Attack
Transformers Annual 2011
Bumblebee charged to Sam's defense when Starscream tried to abduct the boy, but proved no match for the Decepticon, and was flung around the yard. As Starscream started making off with Sam, Bumblebee made another attempt to stop him, and was brushed aside. Luckily Optimus arrived to help, and Starscream soon fled, but the Witwicky's yard was in ruins. Sam in Danger
Unite for the Universe
During NEST's ongoing worldwide hunt for the Decepticons after the defeat of The Fallen, Bumblebee paid a visit to NEST's regional headquarters in Bloemfontein, South Africa. As he entered the facility, Decepticon spy Ravage was able to quickly sneak through the closing door behind him, but Bumblebee spotted him in his rear-view mirror and quickly went on the attack. When Ravage pounced on him, Bumblebee triggered his headlights, blinding the feline Decepticon and sending him fleeing, leaving Bumblebee confused as to the point of the infiltration... unaware that an airborne nano-virus Ravage had carried with him had already picked NEST's computers clean of information regarding Project: Unite. Ambition Instigated
I Can Read! books
Bumblebee met up with Optimus, Ironhide and Sideswipe in a desert to train. He raced Sideswipe, only for their training to be interrupted by a large boulder tumbling towards a nearby town. The two Autobots destroyed the boulder before resuming their race. They met back up with Optimus and Ironhide afterwards, and Optimus revealed the they had encountered a "natural disaster" as well. The source of the disturbances soon revealed itself to be Megatron and Starscream tunneling underground. Though the two Decepticons attempted to ambush the Autobots, Bumblebee and the others were able to send them running thanks to the training they had gone through that day. Training Day
Bumblebee and Sideswipe had a nasty run-in with the Decepticons, leaving Bumblebee pinned under a massive metal bar. Thankfully, Ratchet came to their rescue, and repaired them both. Bumblebee later helped the Autobots defeat the Decepticons in Egypt. Ratchet to the Rescue
Bumblebee was out for a drive with Wheelie, Sam and Mikaela one day when Starscream swooped down and began to attack them! Bumblebee suggested to Wheelie that they gun for Starscream's wings to defeat the Decepticon. Wheelie disagreed, saying that they had to outsmart Starscream to defeat him. The two Autobots began to argue, becoming oblivious to Starscream attacking their human companions. Thankfully, Optimus Prime showed up to knock out Starscream. Optimus then chastised Bumblebee and Wheelie for allowing their feelings get in the way of protecting Sam and Mikaela. Bumblebee realized he was in the wrong, but was still too worked up to make his apologies to Wheelie. Instead, he stormed off. But he didn't get far before Starscream regained consciousness and resumed his attack. Optimus ordered Bumblebee to work with Wheelie to stop Starscream. The pair managed to do so by outwitting Starscream and destroying his wings, making the Decepticon crash into a nearby tunnel and crippling his flying abilities. With Starscream down, Bumblebee and the rest of the group celebrated another victory over the Decepticons. Buddy Brawl
Hunt for the Decepticons storybooks
Sam witnessed the Decepticons Buzzsaw and Ratbat tear up a human city, while Soundwave declared that the Autobots had abandoned the humans. Refusing to believe the Decepticon's lies, Sam and Bumblebee set out to find Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots. It turned out that the Autobots had been tricked by Soundwave to go to the wrong location when they rolled out to engage the Decepticons. Sam and Bumblebee led Optimus and his troops to the scene of the conflict, where Optimus quickly dispatched the Decepticons. Afterwards, Optimus thanked for Sam's part in the day's events, while Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots cheered. Satellite Meltdown
Spot the 'Bots
Bumblebee helped Optimus chase down Megatron to an old warehouse. There, Bumblebee duked it out with Starscream. The battle between the Autobots and Decepticons that ensued would decide the fate of the Earth! Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Spot the 'Bots
How to Ride your Dinobot
Cartoon
Bumblebee had never ridden a Dinobot before, and decided to start by trying to mount Strafe. Guided by a kind but astonishingly unhelpful narrator, Bumblebee's attempts to mount Strafe left something to be desired. After many failed efforts, Bumblebee simply destroyed the instruction manual to riding Dinobots before storming off in annoyance, much to the narrator's surprise. Getting on a Dinobot
Comic
When Optimus Prime asked the Autobots to accompany him into the depths of a Chinese forest, Bumblebee was sure that their objective was important... but he never expected that the Autobot leader was taking them to learn the fine art of Dinobot riding! When Hound's tough-talking approach failed to win the Dinobots' hearts, 'Bee tried a kinder, gentler method, offering the Dinos a little snack. This worked a bit too well, and he would have been crushed when the Dinobots mobbed him to get the goodies had Strafe not lifted him into the air. Bumblebee pushed his luck when he climbed onto the flying Dinobot's back, however, and Strafe promptly threw him back to the ground. Subsequently, when Grimlock caught the scent of Decepticons nearby, Strafe and the other Dinobots relented and allowed Bumblebee and the Autobots to saddle up so they could all ride out to face the villains together. How to Ride a Dinobot!
Yokohama Decepticon Secret Base
Bumblebee was hanging out at the Transformers Expo in Yokohama when Nemesis Prime came crashing into the building. The evil Prime initially mistook Bumblebee for a cosplayer, only to realize that the little yellow Autobot was the real deal when he attacked him alongside the two versions of Optimus Prime also visiting the show. Nemesis soon got himself some backup in the form of a second Nemesis Prime and Nemesis Grimlock, but before they could all do much more than glare at each other, the combined energies of the AllSpark, the Matrix of Leadership and the seed—all on display at the Expo, because why not—suddenly began reacting with the Dark Energon within the first Nemesis Prime. This was all part of a complicated plot by Unicron, but fortunately, Nemesis resisted the dark urges within himself, and channeled all the Dark Energon into the stickers his creator Doctor Arkeville had used to make him evil. Nemesis ripped the stickers off and hurled them into the air, where all the Autobots and Decepticons—and even the Expo's human attendees, using their cell phones—blasted them and stopped the chain reaction.
All together, pretty odd. Yokohama Decepticon Secret Base
Cheetos/Age of Extinction comic
Discovering that the Decepticons were increasing their strength through artifacts from the Cheetos galaxy, Bumblebee and the Autobots recruited your help to acquire the power-enhancing objects. Cheetos/Transformers: Age of Extinction
Q-Transformers
- Voice actor: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese)
In this world, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Lockdown were aware that they were toys: specifically, Q-Transformers, a new line of cute-looking Transformers merchandise produced to tie-in with the 30th anniversary of the Transformers brand. Bumblebee occasionally changed his look to one more reminiscent of his Generation 1 counterpart, but his "default" form was that of a toy based on his Age of Extinction look. They hung out at different famous service areas on Japanese expressways, and talked about the Mystery of Convoy video game, and the remake produced as a tie-in with their toyline, Mystery of Convoy Returns.
Discussing the ins and outs of their cute designs, Optimus and his pals explained that they were created for the purpose of appealing to non-Transformers fans. Bumblebee suggested that another way to tap that market would be to create "Zodiac Transformers", based on all the different animals of the Chinese zodiac, but Lockdown had a different idea: a humanized Transformers "Boys Love" romance, where he and Optimus competed for Bumblebee's affection. Bumblebee was not impressed. Mystery of the 30th Anniversary Merchandise The trio went on to talk about the original Mystery of Convoy, and Bumblebee got a telling-off from Optimus when he pointed out that it was a famously terribly game. Discussing traits that they thought made games bad, Bumblebee suggested that an RPG already completed when you started would be pretty awful. Mystery of Reliably Crappy Games When Lockdown suggested that re-releasing such a terrible game was like rubbing salt in a wound, Bumblebee didn't understand the expression. Optimus explained, and they all tried to come up with situations the phrase was applicable to; taking it a bit too far, Bumblebee suggested getting pooped on by bird, then looking up to discover that a meteor was about to crash into the Earth. Mystery of Smearing Salt in the Open Wound The group then talked about the rubbish stage bosses in Mystery of Convoy, particularly the floating Decepticon insignia, and wondered what sort of fictional scenarios it could be used in. Mystery of the Stage Bosses
Prime and company began being joined by their friends to discuss facets of the game. Prowl participated in a talk about the differences between the original and the remake, Mystery of the Wittily Similar Circumstances while Wheeljack highlighted the tonal "gap" between the cute character designs and the very un-cute action in the game. Everyone tried to think of examples of similar "gaps": Bumblebee suggested a handsome young man cooking a nice meal... for his mother. Mystery of the Gap of Unpopular Men Sunstreaker and Sideswipe joined them to talk about classic terrible games, which turned into a discussion about adventure and exploring, and the comforts an explorer might like to have with them on such a journey—Bumblebee thought a nice pillow would be just the thing. Mystery of a Certain Explorer Bluestreak and Smokescreen also talked about some famously awful old games, segueing into a discussion about psychokinetic powers; Bumblebee was concerned about the potential of such powers to interfere with television. Mystery of a Certain Psychic
When Tracks came along to share his thoughts on points of commonality among famously awful games, the group talked about the technical advancements of video games, with Bumblebee mentioning motion-control. Mystery of Game Balance Red Alert also had some opinions on the common themes of bad games, but Bumblebee and Optimus's willingness to settle for less frustrated Lockdown. Mystery of the Lowest Possible Standards
Bumblebee had changed his look when Jazz dropped in, to one resembling his Generation 1 self but with a Daihatsu Copen alternate mode. They talked about the constantly changing looks of Transformers through history, and how Bumblebee used to be called "Bumble" in Japan. Mystery of Convoy Still sporting his Daihatsu Copen form, Bumblebee dropped in on a conversation between Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus, the star of Mystery of Convoy. He told them how Optimus and Lockdown would argue over the crappy's games merits—but to be reminded of the games shortcomings only sent Magnus into floods of shameful tears. Mystery of Mystery of Convoy
When Megatron turned up to join the argument over just how bad Mystery of Convoy was, Optimus quickly switched bodies, taking on the form of his Generation 1 self; seeing this, Bumblebee also switched from his Age of Extinction form to his Daihatsu Copen body. They argued back and forth for a bit, discussing other ways the game could have been remade using staples of Japanese media, and Bumblebee proposed a "sports day"-style version. Mystery of Return of Convoy
Legends World
In the Legends World, Bumblebee was just a fictional character featured in a series of popular movies and toylines. When Rhinox turned into Tankor and tried to revert the world back to how it was in the '80s, Rattrap attempted to stop him by singing the praises of modern-day Transformers, including the Q-Transformers incarnation of Bumblebee. Bonus Edition Vol. 5
Bumblebee had a big presence at the Q-Transformers event held at the Decks Tokyo Beach shopping center which Rattrap, Optimus Primal and Megatron attended, including a standee, a statue, an exclusive sticker, and even a themed "Bumblebee Mango" drink. At the neighboring Joypolis amusement park, his voice actor Ryōhei Kimura attended a Q&A! Deckss × Q-Transformers
Ask Vector Prime
In Tyran 511.0 Kappa, Bumblebee survived Cemetery Wind's massacre and joined Optimus Prime along with fellow Autobot survivors Bulkhead and Backtrack as well as the desperate Decepticons Axel and Wild Rider. Initially skeptical of the Decepticons, the Autobots learned to appreciate Wild Rider, but Axel tried and failed to betray them to Lockdown. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/16
Bee's Backtalk
With Vector Prime still missing in action, Bumblebee became the fourth guest contributor to Vector Prime's column. He renamed the column to "Bee's Backtalk", answering questions from readers through patched-together audioclips.
Bumblebee gave us some more details about the state of the Autobots and their allies following the Chicago crisis. When asked about the fate of Sam following the rise of Cemetery Wind, Bumblebee became upset, and declined to comment. He noted that the Autobots were still searching for any more survivors of Cemetery Wind. A comment about the workmanship of KSI's Stinger units was enough to make him hopping mad, although he immediately apologized for his behavior. When someone asked Bumblebee why things in the Tyran Cluster are prone to exploding, he suddenly found himself in the middle of a battleground as everything around him exploded. The Axiom Nexus News team lost contact with him (disappointing the editor, who was pleased that Bumblebee was able to stabilize ratings). As Andromeda was the one who found Bumblebee, she was tasked with finding his replacement: someone who, in contrast to Bumblebee's cryptic radio answers, could speak their mind in a straightforward manner.
And look how that turned out. Bee's Backtalk
TV Magazine stories
As Megatron fought against several Autobots including Drift and Hot Rod, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee arrived in the battlefield, only to be shocked by Megatron's towering size. However, Optimus immediately though of a plan: transferring his Energon (along with Drift and Hot Rod's) to Bumblebee, giving the yellow scout a new ability called "Energon Charge", and defeats Megatron with a single punch. While victorious, Bumblebee is still considered as problematic for the napping Autobots as the glowing Energon effect is still on. The Explosive Birth of Energon Charge Bumblebee
Mission to Cybertron comic
Sector 7 Adventures
Bumblebee's First Life on Earth
- Voice actor: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese)
Commercial appearances
- Both Optimus and Bumblebee could be seen driving around the Speed Stars logo in vehicle mode. Speed Stars commercials
- Bumblebee was resting in vehicle mode in Al's Chevrolet car dealership, getting caught on tape while the dealership's owner filmed a commercial. The place's squirrel mascot playfully bashed Bumblebee's hood with a foam hammer, provoking Bumblebee into transforming and tossing him away. Bumblebee then sped away in a huff. Dark of the Moon Super Bowl XLV Chevrolet Camaro TV Spot
- Bumblebee joined Optimus Prime on the road as part of the "Win A Ride To School With The Autobots" contest. Win A Ride To School With The Autobots contest and commercial
- Bumblebee dazzled a group of Valero patrons by showing up at the gas station in his vehicle mode and... popping his fuel filler flap. Age of Extinction Valero tie-in commercial
- While driving about town, Bumblebee crossed paths with a little boy in possession of a Mega 1-Step Bumblebee toy. Impressed by his miniature likeness, he paused to admire it, then gave the boy a fist bump. 1-Step Optimus Prime & Flip and Change Grimlock toy commercial
- Bumblebee was one of many pop culture icons who were hanging out at Paramount Mountain and saw the arrival of the water bucket from Flashdance. Once they finished reenacting the movie's famous scene, Kenny got crushed to death by the giant bucket.[2]
- Bumblebee was one of Mr. Garvey's students during a roll call at Paramount Mountain. With his classmates being various cartoon characters from different Nick shows.[3]
Games
Toys
Merchandise
Notes
Classic Camaro
- According to an article on Edmunds.com, the film makers 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.
Modern Camaro
- The 2008 Concept Camaro used for Bumblebee in the first movie was built by Saleen in 30 days, using a heavily modified 2006 Holden Monaro chassis as the basis. The '08 Camaro was not in production at the time that the first film was being made, hence an identical mock-up was needed to fill the role.[4]
- In Transformers, Bumblebee scans a working, driveable new generation Camaro — conveniently with the same paint job as his classic Camaro disguise at that time — that wouldn't be released until some time in the year 2009. However, it is possible that the Camaro in question was being road-tested by GM engineers, like they were doing in the real world.
- Although unexplained in the films, Bumblebee's vehicle mode changes appearance subtly between Transformers and Revenge of the Fallen. This is probably because of product placement: Bumblebee's old alternate mode was an unavailable concept Camaro, while in Revenge he uses what seems to be the new Z/28 Camaro... whose mass production was later canceled. Oops. However, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that it is the Camaro ZL1 that uses the same design.
- He changes models again between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon and becomes a production Camaro SS (rather than the previous two movies GTO-Based mock-ups); the movie prop car changes include the addition of a rear spoiler, the black racing stripes now being further apart while at the same time losing the outer pinstripes, the racing stripes now also covering the roof and Autobot badges in the front fenders.
- After the end of production of their respective films, the Camaros from Revenge of the Fallen through to The Last Knight were simultaneously sold for $500,000.
Robot mode and CG model(s)
- 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.[5]
- Bumblebee's character animation is based on the performance of Michael J. Fox in the Back to the Future movies.[6]
- Bumblebee is equipped with a pair of arm-mounted electrical "stingers."[7] While designed, the stingers were ultimately not featured in the movies, though they may have influenced other media.
- Speaking of weapons, for someone whose main job is being subtle, Bumblebee is quite well armed, with a plasma cannon powerful enough to rattle Brawl, Mohawk, and Nitro Zeus, a blade capable of disabling Blitzwing's jet thrusters, and a ring-shaped light missile launcher in each shoulder. He is also a capable close-combat fighter, as seen in his fights against Barricade, Rampage, Soundwave, Stinger, and Dropkick.
- According to designer Paul Ozzimo on his website, at one point there were plans to make Bumblebee into a Z/28 convertible for Revenge of the Fallen, and the possibility of changing his color to orange or black with yellow was also discussed. While none of these alterations happened, concept art for both appeared on the "25 Years of Transformers" feature on the Revenge DVD... though the black version is only seen from behind.
- Bumblebee stands approximately 16 feet tall, according to the official game strategy guide.
- In 2011, Bumblebee appeared in a Super Bowl XLV-related commercial, parodying car dealers by tossing a squirrel mascot knocking his hood to literally hammer the point of low prices. The TV spot also revealed ILM's modifications to his design for Dark of the Moon, namely more pronounced shoulders and ribs ala his Prime counterpart.[8]
- Despite his Camaro alternate mode used for Dark of the Moon no longer sporting the outer pinstripes bordering his black racing stripes, the CG robot model still has them. Whoops.
- Similarly, in the first movie, after he gains the modern Camaro alt mode, Bumblebee's robot mode still features the scratches and dirt on his paint job of his original 1976 Camaro alt mode.
- In Age of Extinction, Bumblebee's concept Camaro robot model sports a death-lock pincer similar to that of Megatron's Revenge of the Fallen body.
- Bumblebee's arm cannon in The Last Knight undergoes a slight visual tweak. Using his original trilogy's cannon design, the main barrel has a narrow barrel as the main firearm.
- In a profile image posted by the Movie series' Facebook page, Bumblebee is depicted to retain his battle mask from his Age of Extinction body, while the final cut features a variant of his original battle mask seen in the first 3 films.
- Meanwhile, although Bumblebee transforms into a regular, unarmored Mercedes-Benz 770 cabriolet in The Last Knight's World War II flashback sequence, his robot-mode kibble is that of a Humber Scout Car, and his Studio Series toy based on the scene is yet another Humber model, specifically a Humber Light Reconnaissance Car.
- The design for Bumblebee's Cybertronian and Volkswagen bodies in Bumblebee draws heavy influence from his Generation 1 namesake.
- While on Cybertron, Bumblebee does not have the black 'wings' on his back as Cliffjumper does. However, when he lands on Earth they can clearly be seen on him.
License plates
Bumblebee sported several different license plates between the movies, the video games and the toys:
- 489 PCE, registered in California, was the 1976 Camaro's license plate in the first movie, which was kept consistent between the car prop and the CG model for the robot mode. The license plate was later auctioned off in 2008.[9] The same license plate was later used again in Bumblebee when Bumblebee upgraded from a Volkswagen Beetle to a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro. Of note, "PCE" is frequently used for license plates in film and TV productions because the California DMV does not issue that combination to the public. For example, another camaro seen several times in the television show Lost had the license plate "429 PCE", Phil Coulson's 1962 Chevrolet Corvette "LO.L.A." in the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had the license plate "381 PCE" (or "681 PCE" in early epiodes), and Billy Hargrove's Camaro from the TV show Stranger Things had the license plate "PCE 235".
- 900 STRA, without a state-specific registration, was the new license plate for the Concept Camaro car prop, which was kept for the production models used for all three subsequent movies. It was also used when the modern Camaro prop cars from the movies were on display at car shows and other events. Finally achieving consistency between both modes, Bumblebee also sported this plate in robot mode in Dark of the Moon. Furthermore, Hasbro started to use this license plate number with the Leader Class Bumblebee and Deluxe Class Nitro Bumblebee toys from the Dark of the Moon toy line (both sporting sculpted license plate inscriptions in both modes), and the Activision Dark of the Moon video game also uses it for the vehicle mode. The license plate used in Revenge of the Fallen was auctioned off in October 2009.[10] In Age of Extinction, he even uses this license plate in his 1967 Camaro disguise, and still keeps it when he upgrades to his new 2014 Camaro concept form.
- 4NZZ454, registered in California, is probably the most well-known license plate number due to being used on the CG model for the robot mode in the 2007 movie and Revenge of the Fallen.[11] This number was also used for a lot of Hasbro's toys from the first two movies' toy lines (in robot mode and often also in vehicle mode), including the Deluxe Class Classic Camaro.
- 4NZZZ454, with a red line indicative of a California registration, was an erroneous version of the above number with an extra "Z", used on some of Hasbro's toys, namely the Deluxe Class Concept Camaro Bumblebee toy from the first movie's toy line (including several redecos and retools) and Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Bumblebee.
- 5LKZ213 can be spotted on some photos of the life-sized robot prop from the Hoover Dam set from the first movie.[12][13]
- BUMBLBE, registered in California, was used for the life-sized robot prop on various exhibits in 2007.[14][15]
- FXPERTS (registered in California), a reference to the special effects company that built the life-sized robot prop,[16] was used on various exhibits in 2008.[17][18]
- KDM 0814, registered in California, was used for the life-sized robot prop on various exhibits from 2009 to at least 2011.[19][20][21] A variant of this, "KDM 814" minus the "0", had been previously used as the license plate of the Twins' combined ice cream truck mode in Revenge of the Fallen.
- 5BBM2 (registered in California), mirrored on the other side, is used by Activision for the robot models used in the Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon video games.[22][23] Due to its partially mirrored nature, this plate wouldn't actually be legal.
- 4N7 454 (registered in California), another erroneous variant of the robot mode license plate from the first two films, was seen on a hand-painted prototype used for early official stock photos of the Masterpiece Movie Series Bumblebee figure.[24] Samples on display at both Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair 2017 and New York Toy Fair 2017, on the other hand, sported a regular "900 STRA" license plate.
- ANZZ454, another erroneous variant of the robot mode license plate from the first two films that mistakes the first "4" for the letter "A", was used for the redeco of Transformers (2007) Deluxe Class Classic Camaro Bumblebee from the Transformers Tribute Bumblebee Evolution 3-Pack.
- MM, an easter egg put on the Revenge of the Fallen Robot Heroes figure by its designer, Marcelo Matere.
- WH 218 371, a license plate used by Bumblebee in The Last Knight in a flashback set during World War II that showed him infiltrating the Nazis in the disguise of a Mercedes-Benz 770.
- RWM4V15, registered in California, the license plate used by Bumblebee in his disguise as a Volkswagen Beetle in Bumblebee.
Lack of voice
- For the first movie, Paramount had originally preferred the Transformers not to talk at all throughout the movie, a notion Hasbro heavily contested.[25] Bumblebee still ended up being mute throughout most of the movie, which, according to Orci and Kurtzman, was inspired by Steven Spielberg's E.T. and is supposed to signify that his friendship with Sam transcends words.[26]
- 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. Hardtop's toy bio claims the damage came from a shot fired by Hardtop. 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". Ultimately, the most canon explanation of his loss of voice occurs during the events of Bumblebee, when his voice box is ripped out by Blitzwing.
- By the end of all the conflict (the climax of the first film proper), Bumblebee has regained his ability to speak. Although it was not confirmed on-screen, screenwriter Roberto Orci did confirm off-screen[1] that Ratchet's (regenerative) beam fired at Bee's throat was indeed the reason. Just as well, Roberto Orci also admitted that Bumblebee's brief contact with the AllSpark would be an equally valid (and even more "in-continuity") explanation.[1]
- The first known mention of Bumblebee losing his voice in Tyger Pax is from an early draft of the 2007 movie called the Prime Directive, where Ratchet reveals this information to Sam and Mikaela.
- When asked, Orci admitted there had been plans to have Bumblebee speak in Revenge of the Fallen; however, ultimately they liked his "musical ability" too much, and Michael Bay wanted to focus more on Skids and Mudflap, since he thought kids would like the two characters.[27]
- In the Dark of the Moon novel adaptation, it is stated that Bumblebee never fully recovered from the damage to his voice box, implying that the injury wasn't fully healed even back at the end of the first movie. It is further explained that while Bumblebee can indeed talk, it takes a great amount of effort for him to do so while talking through the radio takes no effort at all.
- In the same novel, according to Bumblebee's inner thoughts, there is seemingly always something on the radio available for him to use to be able to communicate his mind. This appears to imply that Bumblebee uses live broadcasts while talking through the radio and not broadcasts he recorded beforehand.
- When Bumblebee finally did speak in the first movie, he had a slightly British accent. However, in The Last Knight, it appears he in fact has an American accent. This was carried over to Bumblebee as well, albeit with a younger-sounding voice to reflect the film's status as a prequel. As of yet, no explanation for this discrepancy has been made.
- In most foreign-language dubs, namely Japanese, and Spanish, Bumblebee is dubbed over by only one voice actor. This choice has been criticized for creating an obvious contradiction ("If his voice box was damaged, how can he talk perfectly?"). However, in others, such as Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, Bee is voiced by multiple uncredited voice actors, and all of their voices have certain audio effects. That's some good respect for the source material.
Arrival on Earth
- While the 2007 movie never states how long Bumblebee has been on Earth, all the prequel materials (in particular IDW's comic books) establish that he arrived only a few years prior to the movie's present-day events. For many years, this was never explicitly contradicted by any other media...
- However, The Last Knight suddenly established that Bumblebee had been active on Earth as early as World War II, fighting on the side of the Allies alongside Hot Rod and several other Autobots. The Bumblebee prequel comic follows along with this backstory, chronicling Bumblebee's adventures during the Cold War.
- However, the events of Bumblebee depict Bumblebee arriving on Earth in 1987, rendering both the WWII flashback and Bumblebee Movie Prequel inconsistent with the films themselves.
- Therefore, we can either assume that all prequel materials are considered null and void at this point, or there is a live-action counterpart to Centurion running around. The latter would likely explain how Bumblebee has no recollection of being a WWII veteran or knowing Sir Burton, as well as where his big hammer came from.
Other
- Bumblebee is a big fan of Earth cartoons! Some of his favorites include G.I. Joe, Ren and Stimpy, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Futurama, Voltron, and Rick and Morty, as noted in Ask Vector Prime.
- Bumblebee's ability in The Last Knight to blow himself apart and magnetically reassemble himself came seemingly out of nowhere; with no explanation, having never demonstrated this ability before, and with no mention of this ability at any point in any other media whatsoever. The closest thing to an in-universe explanation for this ability would be that he was somehow able to mimic (for repairs and as a battle strategy) a similar ability shown by the man-made KSI drones in Age of Extinction to disintegrate and re-materialize for repairs and transformation (but even that's a huge stretch).
- Bumblebee's alternate mode in the Bumblebee prequel comic is a mixture of an Aston Martin and a Karmann Ghia.[28]
- Bumblebee attended The Voice to watch Hailee Steinfeld's performance of "Back To Life", the single from their movie.[29]
- Almost nine years since the release of Age of Extinction in May 2023, comedian Ben Schwartz revealed on the Game Grumps web series that he provided lines for Bumblebee's radio voice in the film. Schwartz was hired by Bay to create original dialogue for the character's radio communication. While most of his work was in the finished movie, a portion of his radio voice was omitted and replaced by lines from various media.[30]
Foreign names
- Czech: Čmelák (first movie's first dub only) (Bumblebee)
- Japanese: Bumblebee (バンブルビー Banburubī)
- Korean: Bumblebee (범블비 Beombeulbi)
- Cantonese: Daai Wong Fung (大黃蜂, "Bumblebee")
- Hungarian: Űrdongó ("Space Bumblebee"), Dongó ("Bumblebee", Rise of the Beasts dub only)
- Mandarin: Dàhuángfēng (Taiwan, 大黃蜂, "Bumblebee"), Dàhuángfēng (China, 大黄蜂, "Bumblebee")
- Spanish: Abejorro ("Bumblebee")
- Ukrainian: Bdzhilka (Бджілка, "Bee")
See also
Versions of Bumblebee have appeared in other continuity families, including:
- Bumblebee, the plucky yellow kid-appeal character from Generation 1.
- Bumblebee, the hothead yellow kid-appeal character from Transformers Animated.
- Bumblebee, the yellow kid-appeal character turned leader from the Aligned continuity family.
- Bumblebee, the amnesiac yellow kid-appeal character from Transformers: Cyberverse.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Post-movie Q&A with screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
- ↑ A Mountain of Entertainment | Storm l Paramount+
- ↑ A Mountain of Entertainment | Mr. Garvey's Mountain Survival Skills | Paramount+
- ↑ Saleen article about the construction of the Barricade and Bumblebee vehicles
- ↑ Robertson, Barbara (2007). Heavy Metal. Computer Graphics, 30(7), 12-17.
- ↑ From Cinefex magazine, issue number 111, published October 2007.
- ↑ Bumblebee's Battle Bio at Hasbro.com
- ↑ Chevrolet Super Bowl spot
- ↑ Movie Bumblebee (1976 Camaro edition) license plate for sale, Seibertron.com, January 2008.
- ↑ Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee license plate auction, icollector.com
- ↑ Official Hasbro promo shots of the finalized CG model for Bumblebee on Ben Procter's portfolio
- ↑ Life-sized Bumblebee prop on Ben Procter's portfolio
- ↑ Review of Ultimate Bumblebee at Unicron.com, including a set photo of the life-sized Bumblebee prop used for the movies.
- ↑ Transformers Movie premiere in Westwood Village, California, Flickr photostream of Candid Photos
- ↑ "18 Foot Bumblebee Transformers invade LA" at Techeblog
- ↑ Building the life-sized Bumblebee prop at Fxperts
- ↑ "CES 2008: Giant BumbleBee Transformer Invades the Dolby Booth" at Techeblog
- ↑ Transformers on display at Holloman Air Force Base in September 2008, Flickr photostream of snakebite000.
- ↑ Life-sized Bumblebee prop in Sydney, Australia at Seibertron.com
- ↑ Transformers on display at the Las Vegas Strip, Flickr photostream of Mike Renlund
- ↑ "Bumblebee coming to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis" at The Allspark, March 2011
- ↑ Revenge of the Fallen video game models at Next Gen News
- ↑ Activision trailer and promo stills for Dark of the Moon video game at TFW2005.
- ↑ "Shadow Spark Optimus and Masterpiece Movie Bumblebee Official Images" at TFW2005.com.
- ↑ BotCon 2007 Hasbro tour report.
- ↑ MTV.com interview with Kurtzman and Orci.
- ↑ Q&A with Roberto Orci at TFW2005
- ↑ "It's actually sort of a blend of that with an Aston Martin."—Andrew Griffith, Twitter, 2018/07/05
- ↑ Hailee Steinfeld - Back To Life (Live from The Voice / 2018) via YouTube
- ↑ Ben Schwartz OBLITERATES Super Castlevania IV - Youtube
External links
- Bumblebee at TFU.info
- Galleries of various different Bumblebee toys from the Movie
- [1], [2] Concept art for Bumblebee's World War II body by Josh Nizzi on Instagram
- Character stubs missing fiction
- Age of Extinction Autobots
- Autobot leaders
- Bumblebee Autobots
- Classified Autobots
- Cyber Missions characters
- Dark of the Moon Autobots
- Hall of Fame characters
- Human Alliance
- Legends Autobots
- Movie Autobots
- NEST
- One Autobots
- P.R.O.G.R.A.M.M.E.
- Revenge of the Fallen Autobots
- Rise of the Beasts Autobots
- The Last Knight Autobots
- TransTech Autobots
