Bumblebee (film series)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional character from the Transformers series. The original Bumblebee was introduced in 1984 as a character in the Generation 1 stories. He was a small, yellow Autobot who served as the kid appeal character. He served as a regular in the comic and animatred series. In 1987 his character was revamped and he took on the new name Goldbug, but eventually he returned to his original name.
Contents
Transformers: Generaton 1
The original Bumblebee character was introduced in 1984 as part of what became known later as Generation 1. He was the smallest of the original Autobots and served as an espionage specialist in the fiction, as well as being made the kid appeal character in the animated series.
Bumblebee turned into a yellow 1970s model Volkswagon Beetle.
Fictional biography
Generation 1: Small, eager, and brave, Bumblebee acts as messenger and spy. Due to his small size, he dares to go where others can't and won't. He idolizes the bigger Autobots, especially Optimus Prime and Prowl, and strives to be accepted. He is the most energy efficient and has the best vision of all the Autobots. He can go underwater for reconnaissance and salvage missions. Although physically the weakest Autobot, his stealth more than compensates for this inadequacy.
Animated series
The Transformers
Bumblebee holds the distinction of being the second character to appear on-screen in the original Transformers animated series, while on a mission to recover a small clutch of energy conductors with Wheeljack, illustrating the energy crisis holding sway over their home planet of Cybertron. Bumblebee is subsequently among the Transformers aboard the Ark as it set off searching for new worlds and new energy sources, which crashed on Earth, causing the Transformers within to be trapped in stasis for four million years. Awakening in 1984, Bumblebee helps Ironhide quell a raging river and uses his small size to help Sparkplug Witwicky plant explosives in the midst of a Decepticon mining operation.
He later befriends Sparkplug's son Spike, but on their first adventure together they are both kidnapped by the Decepticons, and Bumblebee is brainwashed into luring the other Autobots into a trap.
In episode 4, "Transport to Oblivion" During the Decepticon development of their space bridge program, Bumblebee and Spike were spying on the enemy for Optimus Prime. They accidentally tumbled into the ravine where Megatron was launching his test flights for the bridge, and they were almost forced to act as test pilots before the window of operation closed. The two heroes briefly escaped but were recaptured, and Megatron altered a bank of Bumblebee's memory circuits to lure the Autobots into a trap. Bumblebee was injured during the Decepticon ambush, giving Ratchet a chance to examine his circuits and discover the altered portion of his memory. Bumblebee recovered in time to alert the Autobots to the true location of the space bridge and rescue Spike before he was sent on a one-way trip to Cybertron.
In episode 5 "Roll for It", having bonded after their adventure with the space bridge, Bumblebee and Spike were virtually inseparable for the next 20-odd years. Bumblebee escorted Spike and his boy-genius friend Chip Chase to the laboratory where Chip was assisting Doctor Alcazar in developing his antimatter formula. On their way back, they were attacked by Laserbeak, alerting them to the fact that the Decepticons were after the antimatter formula on which Chip had been working. After Chip was captured by the Decepticons, Bumblebee and Spike mounted a rescue with the help of Mirage and Hound.
In episode 6 "Divide and Conquer", after Optimus Prime was dramatically injured by an explosion, Bumblebee volunteered with Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Bluestreak to take the Decepticon space bridge to Cybertron to retrieve a new cosmitron. Though they gained entrance to Wheeljack's workshop with Chip's help and retrieved the required component, the group was debilitated by the Rainmakers' acid rain. After a pep talk from Chip, they were able to return to Earth through the space bridge, and Bumblebee rushed the cosmitron back to headquarters.
In episode 51, "Prime Target", the big game hunter Lord Cholmondeley captures a secret Soviet jet, leading to panic of possible war. Cholmondeley then set his sights on the ultimate trophy, the head of Optimus Prime. In order to lure Optimus in, Cholmondeley captures Bumblebee and several other Autobots. Optimus Prime accepts Cholmondeley's challenge and defeats the big game hunter, freeing the Autobots.
In episode 59, "Trans-Europe Express", a charity auto race from Paris, France, to Istanbul, Turkey, is held. The Autobots Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, Tracks, and Wheeljack participate alongside several human racers including Augie Canay. Meanwhile, Megatron has discovered the whereabouts of the Pearl of Bahudine, the power core of a Cybertronian weather control machine. Megatron has the Stunticons eliminate the Autobots from the race while stealing Augie's car to use its experimental engine's metal to make a control device for the pearl. Bluestreak, Tracks, Bumblebee and Augie are able to stop the Decepticons by unleashing the power of the pearl, but to stop the pearl Bumblebee has to destroy it. Augie has the gold shell of the pearl sold and the money given to charity when he learns the race was a fake set up by the Decepticons merely to get his car.
By the time of The Transformers: The Movie, set in 2005, the Autobots have been forced off of Cybertron, and Bumblebee and Spike man Moonbase Two on one of the planet's satellites as the Autobots prepare a strike to take back the planet. The attack is scuppered by the sudden appearance of the giant planet-eating robot Unicron, who consumes Moonbase One. As Unicron turns on their moon, Spike and Bumblebee set a cache of explosives to detonate in his maw and abandon the base in a small shuttle, but the detonation fails to even scratch the chaos-bringer and he inhales their ship. Deep in his digestive system, the pair are trapped on a conveyor that threatens to drop them in an acid vat, but they are saved by Spike's son Daniel, and they and the other Autobots escape Unicron's body as it is destroyed through the power of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.
Bumblebee was one of the few characters from the beginning of the series to continue appearing in the show's third season, set in 2006, in which he could regularly be found performing duties in Autobot City on Earth. He and Spike are reunited for another adventure when the ghost of Starscream invades the city in order to steal the eyes of the giant Autobot Metroplex, but they are unable to stop the villain from accomplishing his task.
When the body of the deceased Optimus Prime is recovered from space by a pair of Transformer-hating human scientists who intend to use it to lure the Autobots into a trap, Bumblebee is part of the rescue team led by Rodimus Prime to recover it. Entering the lab, some of the Transformers are exposed to rage-inducing alien spores that cause them to run wild, and although Bumblebee avoids infection, he is seriously damaged by the rampaging Superion. A member of the alien race called the Quintessons subsequently repair and restore Optimus Prime to life, so he can stop the "Hate Plague" and repair Bumblebee. The little Autobot has been so severely damaged, however, that he requires an entire reconstruction. In his new, shiny body, he comments that he has gone beyond just being Bumblebee, and is now a "gold bug", prompting Optimus Prime to redub him Goldbug. Goldbug travels with Optimus Prime to the planet of Chaar in order to secure a heat resistant alloy that can protect him from the plague, only to be infected on the mission and later cured when Prime uses the power of the Matrix to purge the plague. Goldbug also makes a brief appearance in the fourth and final season of the series, defending Autobot City and Cybertron against a massive Decepticon attack.
Transformers: The Headmasters
In Transformers: The Headmasters, Goldbug and the Throttlebots were on Cybertron when Vector Sigma began to destabilize as a consequence of Optimus Prime releasing the Matrix's energy to cure the Hate Plague the previous year. The Decepticons soon invaded the planet in an attempt to take control of the computer, and Goldbug and the Throttlebots joined Grimlock and Slag in holding the line against them. Unfortunately, they were knocked unconscious by the hypnotic power of the new Decepticon Headmaster Mindwipe, but they had managed to delay the Decepticons long enough for the Autobot Headmasters to arrive and take up the fight.
Later, when the Decepticon Headmasters unleashed the Madmachine upon Cybertron, Goldbug and the Throttlebots helped the Autobot Headmasters battle the villains. Hit by a blast of the evil device's electromagnetic beams, the Throttlebots were left in convlusions, opening them up to an attack by the Decepticons. Wideload and Rollbar were again affected by Mindwipe's hypnotism and were instructed to fight each other, but Goldbug was able to get between them and snap them out of it. Goldbug proceeded to get his team organized, and he and Rollbar took on Mindwipe, clinging on to him and preventing him from flying away as they beat him up.
Goldbug and the Throttlebots went up against the Decepticon Headmasters yet again in a later battle on Earth, but pretended to lose so that they would be left free to investigate the Decepticons' newest weapon: a metal-warping meteror currently on collision course with Athenia. Disregarding Rodimus Prime's instructions to keep their distance, the Throttlebots believed they would be heroes if they could stop the meteor, but no sooner had they got within range of the space-rock than its gravity boosters began twisting and warping their ship and their bodies.
The Throttlebots disappeared after this encounter, suggesting they might have been destroyed, but they eventually resurfaced months later as the Decepticons were carrying out their final plan to destroy the Earth. Goldbug and the Throttlebots teamed up with Fastlane and Cloudraker to investigate the emergence of a "Death Tower" in Santiago, Chile, only to find Predaking there waiting for them. Naturally, the small 'bots were no match for the powerful combiner, but they fought bravely, clinging onto his limbs before being hurled aside. Luckily, the Autobot Targetmasters arrived in time to bail them out and take Predaking down. This is also because of the budget cut that happened in the middle of the movie.
Books
Ballantine Books
Bumblebee was featured in the 1985 Find Your Fate Junior books Dinobots Strike Back by Casey Todd and Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.
Kid Stuff Records & Tapes
Bumblebee was featured in the 1985 audio and book adventure Satellite of Doom publishing by Kid Stuff Records & Tapes.
Marvel Books
Bumblebee is featured in the 1984 Marvel Books story Battle for Cybertron.[1]
Bumblebee appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
Bumblebee appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
Bumblebee appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books
Ladybird Books
Bumblebee appears in the 1986 Ladybird Books story Decepticon Hideout by John Grant.[2]
Modern Publishing
Bumblebee was featured in the 1993 Transformers: Generation 2 coloring book Decepticon Madness by Bud Simpson.[3]
Games
This is a 250 point Hero 4th edition version of Generation 1 Bumblebee by Mathew Ignash. File:Bumblebee-g1-hero4.pdf
Toys
- Generation 1 Mini-Vehicle Bumblebee (1984)
- A recolor of a Microman toy. Turned from robot to car. The original Bumblebee toy was packaged in vehicle mode on a card. Came with no accessories.
Film series
The second use of the Bumblebee name came from a character introduced in 2006 for the live action film series of Transformers movies. This Bumblebee was also a yellow car, like the original, but this time turned into a vintage muscle car and was mute, communicating with humans using radio clips.
Fictional biography
Sent to Earth by Optimus Prime ahead of the other Autobots, this tough robot's job is to do what he does best; gather information, find the keeper of the secrets of the AllSpark and remain hidden. Bumblebee works best in silence and solitude, acting as an unseen guardian over his assigned target. Don't let the fact that he likes to remain hidden fool you though - when it comes to a fight, he rushes in, both plasma cannons blazing!
Toys
Transformers: Prime
Fictional biogrpahy
Generations: Before he was the silent warrior he is today, Bumblebee was a nonstop chatterbox, charged with carrying the most vital Autobot communications. He was a fearless infiltrator of enemy lines who stuck to the shadows and faded into the background despite his bright yellow armor. His spirit was unbreakable and his friendly humor was invaluable during the first dark days of the war.
Prime Robots in Disguise: Bumblebee is a warrior and scout who serves as part of the elite squad commanded by Optimus Prime. Together with his human friend Raf, he stands as Earth's first line of defense against the evil Decepticons.
Games
This is a 365 point Hero 4th edition version of Prime Bumblebee by Mathew Ignash. File:Bumblebee-prime-hero4.pdf
Toys
- Generations Deluxe Bumblebee
- This toy is designed to look like Bumblebee as he appeared in the Transformers: War for Cybertron video game. Turns from robot to Cybertronian car. Comes with no accessories. This toy was later repurposed as Generation 1 Bumlebebee
- Prime Robots in Disguise Deluxe Bumblebee
- A new mold. Turns form robot to car. Comes with two blasters.
References
- ↑ Siegel, Scott (1984). Battle for Cybertron. Marvel Books. ISBN 0871350165.
- ↑ Grant, John (1986). Decepticon Hideout. Ladybird Books. ISBN 072140989X.
- ↑ Simpson, Bud (1993). Decepticon Madness. Modern Publishing. ISBN 1-56144-346-8.
External links
- 250 Point Project characters
- Action Masters
- Autobots
- Fictional automobiles
- Fictional characters introduced in 1984
- Hero System
- Ladybird Books characters
- Marvel Comics characters
- Pretender (Transformers)
- Robot characters in video games
- The Transformers characters
- Throttlebots
- Transformers: Prime characters
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron characters
- Transformers: War for Cybertron characters
