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Ratchet (Animated)

2009-07-04T16:17:55Z

24.125.200.180: /* Animated */

{{factions|autobot}}
{{disambig3|Ratchet}}
:''Ratchet is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:AniRatchetPromoModel.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Rassa-frassa [[Sari Sumdac|KIDS]] with their [[Bumblebee (Animated)|loud music]] and their [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|rocket-powered axes]]...]]
Before the Great Wars, '''Ratchet''' was a civilian mechanic, and one of the best on all of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. But war is [[Pit|hell]], and Ratchet learned that all too well. It left him bitter and cynical. After the war, he got himself placed in a dead end position of repairing [[Space bridge|space bridges]], seeing it as a chance to get away from what he had experienced. And in his experience, "hero" is another word for casualty, because that's what most of the heroes ended up being. Still, he knows one when he sees it, and [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] definitely is one.

His main "weapons" are two electromagnets that can extend from his forearms. With them, he can move metal-based objects, levitate downward from high heights, manipulate or tear apart metallic objects in midair, or create magnetic shields. More recently, he won his [[electromagnetic pulse]] generator back from [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] the bounty hunter, a device capable of knocking out a [[Transformer]].

He enjoys grumbling about almost everything, being sarcastic, and having war flashbacks, just like any old man.

But he's not [[Kup (G1)|Kup]].

Honestly.

{{quote|Young bots—can't live with 'em, can't melt 'em down for spare parts.|Ratchet, grumbling and moaning|"[[Transform and Roll Out]]"}}

{{quote|You're a ''tough'' old model aren't you?|[[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] shows his grudging respect|"[[This Is Why I Hate Machines]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Corey Burton]] (English), [[Horst Lampe]] (German), [[Dariusz Stach]] (Polish)

{{note|Events from [[IDW Publishing]] comics are in italics}}
''Millions of years ago, Ratchet arrived at [[Hydrax Plateau]] looking for survivors of a Decepticon chemical attack, which had slaughtered soldiers from both sides. The only survivor was a Decepticon named [[Oil Slick (Animated)|Oil Slick]]. Against orders, Ratchet tried to save his life. Oil Slick, however, revealed he had the formula for an antidote to the chemical, known to the grunts as "[[Cosmic Rust (disease)|cosmic rust"]], but he lacked the equipment to create it. Ratchet warily agreed to help, and as they worked, tried to learn a little bit more about who was fighting. Once the cure was complete, Ratchet used it on Oil Slick, who promptly revealed he had created the cosmic rust, didn't care if his own soldiers got killed, and infected Ratchet before driving off. However, Ratchet had managed to snag some of the antidote, so he used a little on himself and took the rest back to headquarters for mass production, regretfully realizing he'd learned a little bit about a good deception that day.'' {{storylink|'Bots of Science}}

[[Image:Ratchetanimatedthrill.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Before the gut.]]
Some time later, Ratchet was sent by [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] on a wartime mission to recover Autobot intelligence officer [[Arcee (Animated)|Arcee]], who was carrying important security codes in her memory core. Shortly after he found her, the pair were captured by the [[Decepticon]]-affiliated bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]]. The hunter made a habit of collecting the powers of defeated enemies as trophies and did so with Ratchet's medical EMP device. Before he could attach it, Arcee was able to pass the device to Ratchet, and she begged him to use it on her to wipe the codes and preserve their safety. In the ensuing skirmish with Lockdown, the device accidentally produced a wider blast, erasing Arcee's entire memory. Ratchet would have flashbacks of the incident for centuries to come. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}} {{storylink|TransWarped}}

During a routine repair assignment with Optimus Prime's crew, Ratchet was with the group when they found the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]. His first reaction upon seeing it was to urge the others to throw it through the space bridge. However, events soon overtook them when [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] arrived and tried to claim the AllSpark. The Autobots took their ship through the space bridge, where Prime defeated Megatron, and the crew was forced to go into stasis to avoid injury in a crash-landing on [[Earth]].

Awakening fifty years later, the Autobots went to help battle a renegade nanomachine construct, while Ratchet studied a specimen of the construct on the ship. Learning that it was vulnerable in its command centers, Ratchet sent a kill program to the Autobots to place in the monster. His program worked.

Ratchet had the most difficulty getting used to Earth's customs, as the humans kept interrupting his stasis naps to put parking tickets on him. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}} To make things more complicated, those annoying camera bots followed the Autobots everywhere. Always watching, waiting... {{storylink|Home Is Where the Spark Is}}

To Ratchet's horrified disbelief, Lockdown appeared on Earth and captured Optimus Prime, intending to hand him over to the vengeful remaining Decepticons for the bounty offered against him. The Autobots attempted a rescue, with Ratchet initially absent due to haunting flashbacks over his last encounter with the bounty hunter. He was forced to intervene after Lockdown eliminated [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] and [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]. Ratchet was able to free his commanding officer and retrieve his EMP device, using it to send Lockdown's ship crashing back to Earth. After reinstalling Prime's stolen gadgets, the veteran finally opened up to the younger soldier. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}}

When the Decepticons [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] and [[Lugnut]] arrived on Earth, the Autobots were quickly bested by the duo. Prime realized that the AllSpark was no longer safe on the planet and decided that they should leave Earth and return to Cybertron. [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]] was not pleased by this, but Ratchet's response was a gruff, "Grow up". When Optimus asked Sari to help, Ratchet was displeased with the thought of working with a "[[protoform]]", but Optimus silenced them by making it an order. Once aboard the Autobots' ship, Sari accidentally opened an airlock, nearly flooding the hold, then admitted that she had tried to sabotage the ship, not wanting them to leave. In a moment of empathy, Ratchet told her the Autobots didn't want to leave either, but they had to, or else the Decepticons would wipe out the humans, including Sari, and Ratchet couldn't live with himself if that happened. With the help of a now-willing Sari, Ratchet brought the ship's weapons back online, defeating Lugnut and Blitzwing. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}}

[[Image:Megatron Rising 1 Ratchet Blitzwing Key.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Hey! I'm still using that!]]
After receiving a report on increased Decepticon activity from [[Teletran-1]], Optimus ordered Ratchet to remove the [[Key]] from Sari's possession forcibly, as it was no longer safe in the hands of a [[Human|dumb stubby]]. Ratchet was hesitant to take the object from the girl, but followed his superior's orders with a gruff, professional "Yessir." After Sari fled the base in tears, Optimus then told Ratchet to take the Key to the Autobots' ship, under [[Lake Erie]], in order to protect the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] from the Decepticons. Unfortunately, the medibot was intercepted by Blitzwing and Lugnut, who demanded that he hand over the Key. He stoically refused, challenging them to take it from his "cold, offline servo." Icy Blitzwing complied by blasting Ratchet and the surrounding scenery with an ice beam. He switched to Random Blitzwing, made a smart remark, and wrenched the Key (and the arm holding it) from Ratchet.

Despite this handicap, the mechanic was able to break free from his icy prison, report the Key's theft to Optimus, single-handedly bring the ship online (pun intended), and still participate later in the [[Megatron Rising - Part 2|final battle]] against [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] and his forces. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

While helping to dispose of garbage in the city, Ratchet's crotchety attitude became such a problem that Optimus asked Sari and Bumblebee to help him work on developing a more positive attitude. His experience in helping a [[Spike Witwicky (Animated)|young]] [[Carly Witwicky (Animated)|couple]] who were in the process of making a protoform did not help with his attitude, and things got even worse when some trash-toting nuisance named [[Wreck-Gar (Animated)|Wreck-Gar]] came along, spouting that he was an Autobot. Telling the newly sentient [[Transformer]] that he was only good for garbage, Ratchet unwittingly inspired him to deliver garbage to the people of Detroit. Unfortunately, Wreck-Gar also had a sample of [[Sumdac Systems]]' new and improved nanobots, designed to disintegrate garbage. Fearing what the AllSpark-infused nanites might do, Ratchet apologized to Wreck-Gar, saying that the befuddled newcomer could be whatever he wanted, including a hero. Wreck-Gar did become a hero—after he vacuumed up the microbots, they exploded, causing Wreck-Gar to fall into the river. Ratchet assumed he was dead. When [[Porter C. Powell]] said that Ratchet had ruined his presentation, Ratchet forced him and [[Mayor Edsel]] to make a compromise by threatening to have them join Wreck-Gar in the river. They came to an agreement, and Ratchet assumed that the bystanders were cheering for him, leaving him with the assumption that he ''did'' have people skills. {{storylink|Garbage In, Garbage Out}}

When Bulkhead was kidnapped by Megatron, Bumblebee brought Autobot intelligence agent [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]] to the plant, who revealed that Megatron was building a space bridge to conquer Cybertron from within. Realizing they'd need more firepower, Prime ordered Ratchet and Sari to get the ship operational. Unfortunately, their efforts failed to get it back online. Running out of time, Ratchet decided that they'd need to perform open [[spark]] surgery. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

After placing the remaining AllSpark fragments in the ship's spark core, Ratchet explained that the ship was once a living Autobot who sacrificed himself to help win the wars. Ratchet's gamble succeeded, and the ship was brought back to life. Getting it to the Decepticons' base, Ratchet and Sari provided enough power (and encouragement) to allow the ship to transform into [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]]. Omega defeated the Decepticons, but sacrificed himself to save the Autobots by being sucked into a blind space bridge portal. Once the Autobots escaped, Ratchet was left to mourn Omega Supreme a second time, but Bulkhead was optimistic that he was still alive, somewhere out in space.

Unfortunately, any effort to locate Omega Supreme was put on hold when Sari noticed that the skin of her right arm had been torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

{{storylink|TransWarped}}

While looking over Bulkhead's space bridge, the space bridge began to power up and a visiting [[Captain Fanzone]] was sucked in. Seeing a potential problem, Ratchet followed him into the bridge and finds himself standing in Cybertron. {{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}

{{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

{{charstubfiction}}

===Titan Magazines===
He was the only person to realise the earthquakes plaguing Detroit couldn't be natural as it wasn't on a fault-line. He got to zap the villain responsible, [[Quake-Maker]], once everyone else had done all the hard work. {{storylink|Burnout}}

Ratchet oversaw a mission to Dinobot Island with Sari, Bumblebee and [[Afterburn]], to investigate a Rage virus infection in the Dinobots. Soon after landing, the group were jumped by [[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] and Ratchet was soon pinned; luckily, Sari reminded him of the magnetic powers he uses all the time, and he was able to get Snarl off.

The Dinobot had stolen his spare oil thermos in the process though and, wanting to see if Afterburn was really up to joining them, lied to his friends and told them a vital component had been ripped out and ''he was dying''. They risked their lives getting the thermos back on top of curing the Dinobots, and after hearing why they'd been made to do it, Afterburn shook Ratchet's hand for being an emotionally manipulative bastard. {{storylink|Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?|Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Ratchetanimatedeluxe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Gut doesn't fold down as well as it used to...]]
*'''Autobot Ratchet''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener

: First shipping in Wave 2, Ratchet transforms into a stylized ambulance. In robot mode, his "magnets" are simulated by spring-loaded pieces in the underside of his forearms that flip up through his open hands. He also features a veritable arsenal of fixit tools that attach to the undeployed magnets to simulate him holding them, so you too can experience the glee of having the old coot savagely beat someone with a servo-wrench. These tools can store in his backpack in robot mode, but cannot be stored in his vehicle mode.

: The "war wound" on his left forearm is actually a socket into which one may peg the EMP generator included with the deluxe [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] toy. Early releases of the Ratchet toy had the peg slightly too long, forcing the EMP to pop out of the socket. Later releases (basically most everything beyond the original "test market" release) had a shorter peg, allowing the EMP to clip in just fine.

: The original instruction sheet for this toy has an error in step 5, where it depicted the front wheels as staying immobile (i.e., the visible wheel isn't tinted orange), whereas in fact they are part of the front bumper assembly, and swing back in that step along with the bumper.

: This toy would later be [[redeco]]ed to make [[Ratchet (Animated)#Rescue|Rescue Ratchet]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Ratchet/ratchet.htm More information on Deluxe Ratchet at TFU.info]''

*'''Cybertron Mode Ratchet''' (Deluxe, 2009)
**''Accessories'': Defibrillator panels

: Cybertron Mode Ratchet is an entirely new mold based upon his many flashbacks. This toy is a timeline impossibility - His chevron is not cracked and he does not have his gut, but he has his war wound. Fortunately, if you stick in the EMP generator from the Lockdown toy, this can all go away.

{{comingsoontoy}}

{{-}}{{anchor|BumperBattler}}
[[Image:BumperBattlers Ratchet toy.JPG|right|300px|thumb|]]
*'''Autobot Ratchet''' (Bumper Battlers, 2008)

: An even ''more'' simplified version of Ratchet, the [[Bumper Battlers]] version also features a spring-loaded transformation from ambulance to robot. However, in this instance, when the front bumper of the ambulance mode is pushed in, the spring-loaded roof/sides of the vehicle flip up to reveal a relief of Ratchet's robot mode (complete with magnet-clamps), as well as activating electronic sound effects.

: Pressing his Autobot sigil activates numerous randomly-selected sound effects and original voice samples, including a very disturbing laugh.

{{-}}{{anchor|McD}}
*'''Autobot Ratchet''' (McDonald's Happy Meal Toy, 2008)
**''McNumber'': ??

: A simple version of Ratchet with a very simple transformation sequence, this toy was (naturally) part of the McDonald's ''Transformers Animated'' Happy Meal promotion.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/McRatchet/ratchet.htm More information on McDonald's Ratchet at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|Activator}}
[[Image:Ratchetanimatedactivators.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Grampulance.]]
*'''Autobot Ratchet''' (Activators, 2008)

: A smaller, simpler version of Ratchet, the [[Activators]] Ratchet toy has a spring-loaded [[autotransformation]] [[gimmick]] that springs him from ambulance mode to robot mode in one easy step.

: Pre-release samples of the toy (used for the stock photography seen on the packaging and in online solicitations) show Activators Ratchet to have an unbroken right crest on his head, contrary to his [[character model]]. The final released version of the toy has the broken crest as he should.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/ActRatchet/ratchet.htm More information on Activators Ratchet at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|Rescue}}
[[Image:Animated-toy_RescueRatchet.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Lemony-fresh goodness!]]
*'''Rescue Ratchet''' (Multi-pack, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener

: A Target-[[exclusive]] [[redeco]] of Deluxe Ratchet in a yellow and light gray. The photo of the toy on the back of the packaging shows a fairly obvious [[homage]] to the [[Movie (franchise)|live-action movie]] incarnation of [[Ratchet (Movie)|Ratchet]], with bright green instead of yellow and movie-inspired zig-zagged stripes, but the toy-as-released is in yellow, using the same tampos as the original ''Animated'' deluxe. He comes in a set with two [[Legends Class|Legends-class]] figures, [[Prowl (Animated)#RescueRatchet|Prowl]] and [[Starscream (Animated)#RescueRatchet|Starscream]]. He retains all of his original toy's [[Gimmick|gimmickry]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/RescueRatchet/ratchet.htm More information on Rescue Ratchet at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|VsSunstorm}}
*'''Sunstorm VS Autobot Ratchet''' (multipack, 2009)

: Activators Ratchet was packaged with Voyager [[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] in a Target-exclusive multipack. There are no notable differences between this and the original individual release of the toy.

==Trivia==
* The Autobot medical officer was originally conceived as a female robot named [[Red Alert (Animated)|Red Alert]].[http://tformers.com/transformers-interview-transformers-animated/8992/news.html] Even after it was decided to make the character male later in development, he retained the name "Red Alert" until executive producer [[Sam Register]] was able to convince Hasbro that "Ratchet" was a more identifable name for the character. However, Ratchet's final design still carries influences from various [[Red Alert (disambiguation)|Red Alert]] incarnations. In particular, [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]] was inspired by the box art for [[Red Alert (G1)|G1 Red Alert's]] [[Red Alert (G1)|Binaltech Asterisk]] incarnation. [http://community.livejournal.com/tf_animated/271043.html#cutid1"]
* The "war wound" on his left arm (seen in his main picture, above) was briefly gone after "The Thrill of the Hunt", apparently representing the replacement of his arm-mounted EMP generator. However, it has since returned in several instances. The "real world" reason is probably the animators sticking to the original animation model. Within story context, he apparently didn't carry the EMP generator around as standard until "[[TransWarped]]", when Prowl (who borrowed it [[A Fistful of Energon|once before]]) notes that he hadn't "taken it into battle since [he] got it back from Lockdown." It later emerges ''from'' the wound in "[[Endgame, Part II]]".
* There is a potential contradiction between "[[The Thrill of the Hunt]]" and "[['Bots of Science]]", as both stories depict Ratchet's right-hand chevron being broken off - by Lockdown's haymaker in the former and Oil Slick's roundhouse in the latter. This could be a continuity error, or it could be the case that Ratchet had his chevron broken on one occasion, repaired it, and then after it was broken a ''second'' time he allowed it to remain broken. It would certainly appear that the comic story took place before the Lockdown encounter, since Ratchet still has his EMP generator in ''Bots of Science''. Curiously though, Ratchet's chevron is shown to already have some kind of crack or weld-line running across it prior to Oil Slick's kick, which could indicate that it was already on the verge of breaking.
* The toys of ''Animated'' Ratchet, [[Ratchet (G1)|Generation 1 Ratchet]] and [[Ratchet (Movie)|Movie Ratchet]] are caught in a web of cross-referencing [[Redeco|redecos]]:
** In 2008, the original Generation 1 Ratchet mold got a green redeco as "Ratchet Emergency Green" in obvious reference to his yellowy-green [[Ratchet (Movie)|movie cousin]].
** About the same time, two of movie Ratchet's toys got a red and white ambulance redeco as "Rescue Ratchet" to ape [[Ratchet (G1)|Generation 1 Ratchet]].
** ''Animated'' Ratchet, his original design already referencing both predecessors with Generation 1 Ratchet's chevron and coloring and movie Ratchet's squiggly EEG symbol, had a further homage to the latter with a yellow redeco as (another) "Rescue Ratchet". You'd think they'd all be too busy patching up wounded 'bots to get so much personal detailing done.
* He can pinch with his magnet-clamps.
* He has microscope lenses which can be activated in either eye.
* His windshield chest can act as an image projector in robot mode.{{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}
* Seriously, he's not Kup.

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Ratchet/ratchet.htm Ratchet at TFU.info]

[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Medics]]
[[Category:Elderly Transformers]]
[[Category:Toys with sound]]

Bumblebee (Animated)

2009-07-04T16:11:04Z

24.125.200.180: /* Voyager */

{{picsneeded|Cartoon screencaps}}
{{disambig3|Bumblebee}}
:''Bumblebee is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Bumblebeeanimated.jpg|thumb|300px|Little. Yellow. Different.]]
'''Bumblebee''' is the youngest, yellowest, and most energetic of the Autobots...[[Bumblebee (G1)|as]] [[Bumblebee (Movie)|usual]]. A hyperactive wisecracker, Bumblebee is quite convinced he's the fastest—and coolest—thing on four wheels. He has a tendency to bite off more than he can chew, so it's a good thing he pals around with the massive [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]. He does ''not'' take well to being called short, and his over-eager ways can get on [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet's]] nerves all too easily. Still, Bumblebee is good people, as evidenced by his fast friendship with [[Sari Sumdac]].

{{bigquote|I may be small, but I'm scrappy! And I can ride circles around your big, old, rusty chassis!|Bumblebee to Bulkhead|"[[Total Meltdown]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Bumper Robinson]] (English), [[Santiago Ziesmer]] (German), [[Krzysztof Korzeniowski]] (Polish)

[[Image:Autobot_Cadets.jpg|thumb|left|250px|There's a [[Wasp|green me]] and a [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|red me]]!]]
Early in his career, Bumblebee dreamed of becoming a member of the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]]. He joined the [[Autobot boot camp]], but things didn't exactly go as planned—his [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|drill sergeant]] was a jerk, [[Wasp|most]] of his [[Ironhide (Animated)|classmates]] bullied him and the only bot willing to befriend him was a complete [[Bulkhead (Animated)|mudflap]]. His luck seemed to change, however, when he accidentally overheard someone communicating with a Decepticon. He then saw fellow classmate [[Wasp]] walk out, which aroused his suspicions. After taking the advice of [[Shockwave (Animated)|Longarm]], Bumblebee attempted to weed out the spy, but Sentinel Minor got in the way twice. Needless to say, this resulted in many transform-ups for his squadron. After Wasp and Ironhide tore off his legs and put him in a closet, he was saved by Longarm, who encouraged him not to give up. Later that day, the group was put through their first training exercise—combat in a simulated battlezone. When somebody switched the turret settings to fire actual lasers, it was Bulkhead who saved him. However, they accidentally knocked over a building in the process, flattening Sentinel.

When Sentinel was conducting a surprise locker inspection, Sentinel discovered a Decepticon communicator in Wasp's trunk, ousting him as a traitor. Sentinel was prepared to put Bumblebee on an Elite Guard fast track program. Sadly, his new friendship with Bulkhead forced him to throw it all away in order to prevent his new buddy being kicked out, and they both wound up working on [[space bridge]]s. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

[[Image:Bumblebeeanimatedpreearth.jpg|thumb|250px|Wait... who are [[Hot Shot (Animated)|you]]?]]

The two friends were assigned to [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]]'s space bridge repair [[Teletran-1|vessel]]. During one mission, Bumblebee and Bulkhead stumbled across [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]], a ninja-bot meditating near an isolated space bridge. Due to an [[energon cube]] accident on [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]'s part, Prowl's spaceship was destroyed, and he was forced to join their crew. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}} After this, Bumblebee's work continued as usual until the crew discovered the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] itself on another asteroid, which unfortunately attracted the attention of [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. Even though he expressed significant fear of the [[Decepticon]] leader, he still managed to crack wise at his appearance once they were face-to-face. The humor vanished when Megs pulled out his sword. After Megatron was thrown off the ship, Bumblebee entered stasis with the rest of the crew just before the crew's ship crash-landed on [[Earth]].

Fifty years later, Teletran-1 awoke the crew to alert them to the intrusion of a nanite-powered bug-slug. Sending out a probe to find local disguises, the probe scanned [[Captain Fanzone]]'s [[Captain Fanzone's car|car]] amongst other things. Bumblebee was given the car for his new bodyform. Lucky him.

[[Image:TFA_TFandRollout_Sari_followedmehome.jpg|thumb|left|250px|"Can we keep it?"]]
Upon noticing [[Sari Sumdac|"a little creature"]] struggling with her [[Sparkplug (robot dog)|"owner"]], 'Bee and Mr. Bulk showed their unfamiliarity with organic life by assuming the owner/pet relationship was reversed. Their speculation was interrupted by the attacks of the giant, nanite-fueled bug monster, and Bumblebee intervened to get Sari out of the way. Later in the battle, Bumblebee was called on to deliver the override command to the beast's nanites, as he was the fastest and most nimble of the crew.

His defeat of the monster seriously impressed Sari, who decided to befriend him. Sari's definition of befriending included cajoling him into sneaking her aboard the Autobots' ship. Of course, Sari wouldn't stay still as Bumblebee asked, compelling him to jettison her into a ventilation shaft. After introducing her to the group, Sari and 'Bee became fast friends. When [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] attacked [[Detroit]], Bumblebee took a shot intended for Sari, allowing Screamer to capture Bumblebee, [[Isaac Sumdac]], [[Captain Fanzone]], and the Mayor. Sari, with [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]'s help, managed to rescue them. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out!}}

The Autobots quickly became famous for their heroic deeds in Detroit, much to Bumblebee's delight. Prowl, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic about all the attention, however, and he and Bumblebee quickly had a clash of opinions on the values of peace and quiet versus the values of fun. When the Autobots' factory base was turned against them, however, Bumblebee was forced to listen to Prowl's "stillness and strike" attitude to get past the motion sensors preventing him from shutting the factory down. In the aftermath, he had a newfound respect for Prowl as the two played a relaxed game of Twister™. {{storylink|Home Is Where the Spark Is}}

At one point, Bumblebee took part in a match against [[Colossus Rhodes|Cyrus "Colossus" Rhodes]], hosted by [[Meltdown (Animated)|Prometheus Black]] to show off the effectiveness of biotechnology. Unfortunately, Cyrus [[wikipedia:Hulk_(comics)|hulked up]], then proceeded to beat the [[Slag (slang)|slag]] out of Bumblebee. The other Autobots were forced to rescue him, using it as a chance to riff on his small stature. However, only Bumblebee was able to get into [[Sumdac Tower]] when [[Meltdown (Animated)|Meltdown]] went to kill Isaac Sumdac. Bumblebee managed to get him to the ground floor, but Meltdown arrived. Bulkhead tried to stop him, but Meltdown threw a glob of acid at Bulkhead, which Bumblebee took instead (basically, 'Bee is a <s>human</s> robot shield). Bulkhead offered his apologies over his comments, saying he was only having a little fun—which sent Bumblebee into declaring his good moves and speed. He's going to be pretty impossible to live with for a while. {{storylink|Total Meltdown}}

The troubles in Detroit were far from over, as the Autobots soon found themselves facing three rampaging [[Dinobot (Animated)|robotic dinosaurs]]. During the battle, Bumblebee combined his stingers' electrical with Ratchet's magnets to create an [[electromagnetic pulse]] that would hopefully shut the prehistoric menaces down. Sari decided to pitch in by boosting Bumblebee's stingers with her [[Key]], which proved enough to defeat the "Dinobots"... but also provided them with [[Spark|sparks]]. {{storylink|Blast from the Past}} He later bought a neat car horn and tried to chase down a mysterious muscle car with little success. The car turned out to be the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], who kidnapped Optimus Prime and made short work of Bumblebee as well, threatening to take his stingers. In the end, Lockdown was defeated by Ratchet and Prime was saved. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}}

[[Image:TFA_Nanosec_Bumblebee_turbo_boosters.JPG|thumb|250px|BB got back!]]
After Bumblebee showed a lack of ability (or inclination) to be subtle on Earth, Prime had Prowl try to teach Bumblebee how to blend in. This ruined some plans with Sari, as she wanted to attach some turbo-boosters to him to make him go even faster. During the exercise, they encountered [[Nanosec]], a crook that had gained Professor Sumdac's new speed suit via [[Megatron (Animated)|unknown patrons]]. Unable to keep up with Nanosec, Bumblebee was convinced by Sari attach the turbo-boosters against Prime's orders. Unfortunately, he couldn't control them in vehicle mode, allowing Nanosec to escape from the Autobots twice. Worse, he was carrying enough [[Destronium]] to destroy all of Detroit. Overhearing Bulkhead and Prowl's comments on his change of appearance, Bumblebee realized that the suit was causing him to age the more he used it, so he purposefully ran him into old age (cold, Bee). With the Destronium about to go critical, Bumblebee, with help from Prowl and Bulkhead, managed to use his turbo-boosters to head into the outer atmosphere and get the Destronium away from the city before detonating. The whole experience seems have given Bumblebee a bit more respect for subtlety. {{storylink|Nanosec (episode)|Nanosec}}

October soon came around, and Sari decided to teach the Autobots about [[Halloween]]. Bumblebee dressed up as "Count Dracubot", but his trick-and-treating session went sour when he and Bulkhead were attacked by the spider-bot [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] and knocked unconscious. They recovered in time to save Sari from falling off a skyscraper, although Bumblebee blew out his tires in the process. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}} After participating in Sari's eighth birthday party, Bumblebee decided that he also wanted one of those cool [[Soundwave (Animated)|Soundwave]] toys. He was less enthusiastic after Soundwave took control of all [[automaton]]s in Detroit and faked Bumblebee's voice in order to confuse the Autobots. {{storylink|Sound and Fury}} While Soundwave was eventually defeated, the Decepticon attacks were far from over—[[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] and [[Lugnut]] soon arrived on Earth in their search for Megatron. Bumblebee and the others were knocked unconscious by Lugnut's [[Punch of Kill Everything|mighty punch]] in their first battle, but the odds were in the Autobots' favour when they later fought in the muddy waters of [[Lake Erie]]. Bumblebee got to electrocute Blitzwing a bit before both Decepticons were blasted to pieces by Teletran-1's main cannon. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}}

When Sari was later kidnapped by a [[Swoop (Animated)|pterosaur]], Bumblebee participated in the police investigation. {{storylink|Survival of the Fittest}} Bulkhead later got into the fine arts, so Bumblebee helped out by modeling for him until his friend got his body hijacked by the human villain known as the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]]. As the other Autobots investigated, Bumblebee kept Bulkhead's head company and helped him create art pieces for his upcoming gallery (all while relentlessly cracking jokes about the situation, naturally). The Headmaster soon threatened to destroy Detroit using Bulkhead's body, so the Autobots approached him by pretending to be rescue vehicles, with Bumblebee being driven by Captain Fanzone. During the battle against the Headmaster, he got to play both bowling and football with Bulkhead's head before it was returned to its body. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}}

Some time during that winter, Bumblebee and Sari were playing video games and listening to music while ignoring Prowl's lectures on how spending so much time on "electronic devices" was unnecessary. All three of them were then sent out to investigate a Cybertronic energy signal in the woods; a prospect which filled Bumblebee with dread as nature was just so ''incredibly'' boring compared to his TV, games and music back home. He came along on what Sari described as a "camping trip" anyway, although he brought plenty of electronic devices with him. Prowl was not impressed, and even less so when Bumblebee decided to use his holographic projector as a TV screen. The lack of electricity proved to be the least of Bumblebee's problems, however, as the group was attacked by a [[Space barnacles|space barnacle monster]] shortly after nightfall. After a drawn-out fight with the creature, Bumblebee eventually knocked it off a cliff with his stingers, only to find that Prowl had been infected by the barnacles himself. While Sari had the bright idea of trapping the crazed Prowl in a mine, Bumblebee ended up trapping both of ''them'' in it as well, and got himself infected. Ultimately, Sari saved the day by using hot water to remove the barnacles, and in the aftermath Bumblebee voiced his opinion that nature should just be paved over as soon as possible. {{storylink|Nature Calls}}

[[Image:Megatron_rising_1_Starscream_freakout.jpg|thumb|left|250px|"YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!"]]
When Decepticon activity was detected in high levels, Bulkhead spilled the beans on what he and Prowl had done with the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], and Optimus Prime pretty much lost it. Ranting that all he had was a group of insubordinate malfunctions, he told Ratchet to take Sari's [[AllSpark]]-infused [[key]] from her, saying it wasn't safe in her hands. As she ran off crying, Bumblebee defended her, and Prime pointed out that Bumblebee wasn't a good character witness. Bumblebee mouthed off that their situation meant that Prime wasn't fit to command, and then went looking for Sari. Heading to [[Sumdac Tower]], Bumblebee spotted Starscream, and disobeyed Prime's order to hold off. Heading up the elevator (which could not only fit him, but also carry his weight), Bumblebee charged, firing his stingers at Starscream. All it really did was interrupt his speech, which made Starscream ''seriously'' freak out. However, a crane pulled Starscream, who was holding Bumblebee, up to the roof, where the two fought it out...right until Megatron burst through the roof of the tower. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

After Megatron's restoration, Starscream absentmindedly beat on Bumblebee for a while, then threw him aside when Megatron called the Decepticons to him. Once he'd been repaired with remaining key energy in Professor Sumdac's lab, Bumblebee called Prime on his previous statements, and Optimus apologized, saying he'd been out of line. When Ratchet brought the Autobots' ship to them, the Autobots and Sumdacs boarded the vessel in an attempt to lead Megatron and the Decepticons off-planet, but were shot down and crashed on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]]. As the Autobots rallied to defend the AllSpark, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Prowl took on [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]]. Ratchet and Bumblebee teamed up again to create an [[electromagnetic pulse]], causing him to crash. After shelling them in tank mode, Blitzwing again took to the air for some strafing runs. Prowl noticed a connection between Blitzwing's alternate modes and personalities, so they had Bumblebee use his greatest strength, his obnoxious personality, to cause Angry Blitzwing to emerge. Taunting the triple changer, Bumblebee got him to transform accidentally into tank mode and crash into the lake. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:Super_secretary.jpg|thumb|250px|"[[Aaron Archer]]'s office. Please hold."]] Following the defeat of Megatron and the disappearance of Professor Sumdac, Bumblebee helped Sari run [[Sumdac Systems]] until the arrival of the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]]. Among their numbers was [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]], Bumblebee and Bulkhead's old sergeant from boot camp, but thankfully he didn't seem to remember them. 'Bee and the rest of the crew were subsequently contained within the [[Elite Guard flagship]] while the Sentinel and [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] went with Optimus Prime to investigate the supposed defeat of Megatron and dispersion of the AllSpark, but soon had to leave to deal with an out-of-control [[police drone]] factory. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}} Shortly afterwards, Bumblebee greeted Sari when she was thrown out of Sumdac Tower by [[Porter C. Powell]] and forced to live with the Autobots. He and Bulkhead tried to cheer her up by saying that living together would be like a non-stop party, making her food and teaching her about "stuff and how it works", but were met with limited success. {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}}

Bumblebee and Sari later helped stop a runaway train powered by an AllSpark fragment. When Starscream stopped by again, 'Bee and Ratchet again combined their powers to attack him with an electromagnetic pulse, but the AllSpark-powered Decepticon shrugged it off like it was nothing. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}} After noticing truly how bad Ratchet's people skills were, Optimus Prime assigned Bumblebee and Sari to help him improve on them, something neither party was very enthusiastic about. During their training, the three encountered the newly created Transformer [[Wreck-Gar (Animated)|Wreck-Gar]], who proceeded to throw beef and motorcycles at Bumblebee. The Autobots chased Wreck-Gar across the city to retrieve the experimental nanobots he had in his backpack, but Bumblebee was not present during Ratchet's final confrontation with the confused 'bot. {{storylink|Garbage In, Garbage Out}}

[[Image:TFA_Velocity_Bumblebee_Blurr_meet.JPG|thumb|left|250px|"If you're [[Auggie Cahnay]], your ass is grass!"]]
Bumblebee became involved in the illegal street races organised by the criminal [[Master Disaster]]. Believing himself to be the fastest things on wheels, Bumblebee was unsurprisingly shocked after getting thrashed in a race by a [[Blurr (Animated)| Mysterious Blue Race Car]]. Following this, AllSpark traces, and the appearance of Blitzwing at the race track, Bumblebee became determined to get to the bottom of the mystery (although deep down he just wanted another chance to beat the Unknown Racer.) He made a deal with Master Disaster to appear in his races. Enlisting the help of Sari, Bumblebee returned to the track, and, to cut a long story short, ending up being pursued by the maniacal Blitzwing. After nearly being frozen one minute and melted to slag the next, Bumblebee was eventually rescued by the Mysterious Racer driving into Blitzwing. The excitement wasn't over for Bumblebee yet, as when returning to Master Disaster's trailer for answers, he and his pal Bulkhead (who had angrily followed Bumblebee there for defying him) had to face off against Blitzwing (he was desperate for that AllSpark fragment...), and had to be rescued once again... although this time it was Sari using Master Disaster's controlling device. {{storylink|Velocity}}

Later, he went on a trip to the Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom theme park with Sari. Optimus, fool that he is, believed him when he called it "an important fact-finding mission". {{storylink|A Fistful of Energon}}

[[Image:Watching_SUVs.jpg|thumb|250px|If they start to do it, let me see, ok?]]
On another occasion, Bumblebee was attempting to clear up the streets of Detroit by catching some of their [[Nanosec|small]] [[Angry Archer|time]] [[Professor Princess|criminals]]. However, in each case, whenever Bumblebee came close to the capture, he froze up completely, and allowed the baddies to escape. It later became apparent that this was due to the AllSpark-infused timepiece belonging to [[Slo-Mo]]. After revealing himself and snatching the timepiece, [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]] froze all of the Autobots and looked set for victory. However, after being lifted to Sumdac Tower by Sari and the members of the [[Society of Ultimate Villainy|SUV]] and repaired, Bumblebee took on Swindle (even managing to floor him at one point with his stingers.) After getting the timepiece back from Swindle, Bumblebee was double-crossed by the SUV, but fortunately for the Autobot, the rest of his pals were back online by now, and managed to get the criminals arrested. {{storylink|SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy}}

After learning of Wasp's escape, Bumblebee felt a stirring of his old dreams, and dragged Bulkhead off to trace a signal leaked to them, containing a conversation between Megatron and his spy. As they tracked it down, Bumblebee fell into old habits, and started putting Bulkhead down, just like in the old days. It took a nasty fall to remind him that Bulkhead was the best friend he'd ever have, and he didn't need to spend his time chasing big dreams. Together, the two headed home, never realizing they were just outside of the carbon mines where the Decepticons were hiding.

Later, Bumblebee relayed the information they'd gathered to his old friend, Longarm, now Longarm ''Prime'', head of Cybertron Intel. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

[[Image:TFA_Black_Friday_Meltdown_Bee.jpg|thumb|left|250px|IDK, my BFF Jill?]]
Due to his inability to stay quiet, Prowl placed a bet on Bumblebee—that he couldn't go 10 [[Cycle|cycles]] without talking. Should he keep to this, a sweet can of axle grease would be his! However, the poor bot just couldn't do it. Prime took 'Bee and Prowl with him to Dinobot Island to investigate Meltdown's prison break, and the plucky yellow bot vowed he would win the axle grease. However, the bet was put on hold after both he and Prowl were off-lined by [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia's]] cyber-venom. After the day was saved, Prime used the antidote on the bots, and 'Bee pointed out he'd been quiet for ages! Prowl dryly noted it took 'Bee being comatose to achieve this, but the yellow bot didn't care—he just wanted his grease! {{storylink|Black Friday (episode)| Black Friday}}

After insulting Bulkhead's latest painting of Sari, Bumblebee realized that he was wrong and actually apologized for his comments. It didn't go over very well, and that was before Megatron showed up with Professor Sumdac. Though Bumblebee suspected that Sumdac was a willing accomplice, Sari refused to hear it. At that moment, the mysterious blue racer appeared. Thinking he was a Decepticon, Bumblebee rolled after the racer, running him off the road. It was only at this point that the racer revealed that he was [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]], a member of the Elite Guard sent to keep tabs on Decepticons and Prime's crew. Worse, Bumblebee's actions allowed Bulkhead to be kidnapped by Megatron. Once Optimus Prime was informed that the Decepticons were building a [[space bridge]] to attack Cybertron, 'Bee went with the Autobots to rescue Bulkhead and destroy the bridge. During a brief skirmish with Lugnut and Blitzwing, Bumblebee admitted that he'd lost his title as "fastest thing on wheels" to Blurr. Unfortunately, when they confronted Megatron himself, the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicons]] managed to incapacitate the pair...just in time for Starscream and his [[Starscream clone|clones]] to attack. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

Managing to escape the Decepticons, the Autobots went for the clones, apparently deciding that they were the greater evil. The battle went poorly for them, as Blurr was lost in the space bridge and Bumblebee was cemented to a wall. When Isaac Sumdac decapitated Starscream and took his body with the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster unit]], Bumblebee was convinced that he was working for the Decepticons, though Sumdac revealed that it was to destroy Megatron. That didn't work out too well. After Megatron explained his plan to the captive Autobots, the Decepticon [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] revealed that he was Longarm Prime and that Bumblebee had sent an innocent Wasp to the stockade. Fortunately, [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]] arrived, reactivated thanks to Sari and Ratchet, and sacrificed himself to save the Autobots and Sumdacs. With the threat passed, Sumdac revealed that he had been forced to help the Decepticons, and Bumblebee's mistrust of the professor presumably faded away—only to return when Sari saw that the skin of her right arm had torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

Despite the revelation that one of his best friends was a robot, Bumblebee actually remained focused on the larger picture: namely, Shockwave's presence on Cybertron. Optimus reasoned that since Bulkhead was a genius with regards to space bridges (something Bumblebee said he'd never get used to, revealing his high opinion of his other best friend), so the two headed out to the mine. Bumblebee managed to find a recall beacon generator, which was needed to locate the position in space, and the plasmadynamic thruster, which generated the transwarp field. Unfortunately, the thruster activated before Bumblebee could give it to Bulkhead, sending him across the galaxy. After catching another transwarp wave, he was again transported to another part of the galaxy—where he was swallowed by a rock alien.

Fortunately, Bulkhead was able to capture Bumblebee's signal, and reel him in. Sadly, it also brought the alien to Detroit. As the Autobots struggled to figure out how to defeat the monster and save Bumblebee, Sari used the Key on herself to upgrade with new weapons and a teenage appearance. Sari quickly trounced the monster, freeing Bumblebee. Unfortunately, Sari didn't remove the key after the upgrade, causing her to overload and lose control of her abilities. Bumblebee made a mad dash to try to remove the key, but Sari's defenses systems registered him as a threat, and Sari horrifically watched as she stabbed Bumblebee through the chest and blasted him across the street. Ratchet immediately went to work, saying that he could repair Bumblebee without the Key. However, the damage was severe, and Bumblebee's spark was fading fast. Even when they got the Key, Ratchet was still hard pressed, as the Key had been burned out upgrading Sari. Fortunately, Ratchet managed to stabilize Bumblebee with his magnets, but Ratchet was forced to deactivate Sari with his EMP generator.

After Ratchet made what repairs he could, the Autobots allowed Professor Sumdac some time alone with Sari. Lamenting on how troubled their day had been, Bumblebee tempted fate by asking how much worse it could get. On cue, the plasmadynamic thruster began to power up, but Bulkhead manged to shut it down. Unfortunately, Omega Supreme soon arrived, under the control of Megatron. Bumblebee was given an illegal stinger upgrade to help against Omega Supreme, but it still did little good. Optimus and Prowl managed to sneak inside and remove Megatron's control while Bumblebee and Bulkhead served as <s>bait</s> a distraction. However, Starscream managed to gain control, and soon moved to conquer Cybertron. Bumblebee came up with the idea to throw the plasmadynamic thruster inside Omega to send the three randomly warping across the galaxy, managing to reach the altitude with his turbo boosters (why Optimus let him keep those is unknown). Later, Sari was awakened, and all was well with the Autobots...except for being out of contact with Cybertron, but still, it's the thought that counts. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

While Bulkhead and Professor Sumdac began constructing a space bridge, Bumblebee and the other Autobots focused on hunting down the remaining Decepticons on Earth. The first one they found was Lugnut, who was defeated and [[stasis cuffs|stasis cuffed]] after a drawn-out battle. Unfortunately, this left the Autobot force trying to pull the massive Decepticon out of the deep crater he had caused during the fight—a daunting task that they spent the rest of the night working on. Before any real progress could be made, Bumblebee and the others were called away to help Bulkhead, who had been dragged into an oil-stealing scheme by the Constructicons. Upon arriving at the [[Fossil Fuel]] oil refinery, Bumblebee fought against Scrapper, but was warned to watch his stingers so he wouldn't set fire to a nearby oil spill. Unfortunately, a collision between Scrapper and Mixmaster led to a spark setting fire to it anyway, so the Autobots were forced to transwarp an entire oil tank (with the Constructicons on it) out to Lake Erie, where it exploded. {{storylink|Three's a Crowd}}

Some time later, Bumblebee's old friend Wasp arrived on Earth, with a few screws loose and a vendetta against the 'bot who put him away. That night, Bumblebee was on monitor duty as the other Autobots were searching for Wasp, but spent his time playing ''[[Ninja Gladiator]]'' instead (after all, a TV is a monitor too!), which led to Wasp easily getting the drop on him. Bumblebee tried explaining how Longarm had set the whole thing up back in the day, but the deranged Wasp wouldn't listen, instead knocking Bumblebee out and saying it was ''his'' turn to lose everything he'd ever had. When Bumblebee woke up, he found himself equipped with Wasp's helmet, paintjob and voice synthesizer and all his friends staring down at him... including Wasp dressed up as himself. Unable to prove his own identity, Bumblebee was forced to escape from his own friends, only to be chased down by Elite Guard members [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] and [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]]. Luckily for the small 'bot, Jetstorm's wind blasts were too powerful for him, and he was blown away from danger. A desperate Bumblebee tried painting himself yellow with mustard from a hot dog stand, only to be confronted by Bulkhead and Prowl. Thinking of ideas to prove his innocence, Bumblebee reminded Bulkhead of their misadventures in boot camp—misadventures Wasp could never have known about. While his friends were finally convinced, the newly arrived Jetstorm and Jetfire were not, and a fight broke out until Optimus and Sentinel arrived and sorted it out. Returning to the Autobot base, they confronted Wasp, who had unfortunately spent the meantime researching Bumblebee's past and could easily list many of 'Bee's past adventures like he was there in person. With no way to prove who was the real deal, Bulkhead suggested that they simply play ''Ninja Gladiator'' for the title of Bumblebee... after all, the real one would ''never'' lose at ''Ninja Gladiator''. The plan worked, as Wasp cracked under the pressure before the match could even begin, grabbing Bumblebee and holding him at stinger-point. With the Autobots unable to attack, Wasp cancelled his and Bumblebee's [[electronic paint job]]s and made a getaway, leaving Bumblebee to be pummelled by a confused Bulkhead. {{storylink|Where Is Thy Sting?}}

Chasing Wasp across Detroit, the Autobots eventually cornered him, and Bumblebee again tried explaining the "funny story" on how Longarm was the true Decepticon spy who caused Wasp's misfortune. However, Wasp didn't see the funny part of it, and Bumblebee nearly got himself blasted in the face for trying. Before the group could capture Wasp, he was suddenly abducted by [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]], so Optimus Prime and Bumblebee had to follow him to [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]]. Upon arrival, Prime suggested that Bumblebee stopped making excuses like blaming Longarm and tried ''apologizing'' to Wasp instead. Making their way into the tunnels of the island, the two soon found Wasp... mutated into a large, monstrous [[technorganic]] form by Blackarachnia. Face to face with the monster, Bumblebee followed Prime's advice and apologized for everything he did and didn't do to Wasp. His old nemesis responded that Wasp forgave him... but he was Wasp''inator'' now, and Waspinator would ''never'' forgive Bumblebee! However, before Waspinator could destroy Bumblebee once and for all, his new body started going out of control, and he went back to Blackarachnia. After being run down by both the spider and the wasp as the latter chased the former, Bumblebee helped carry the damaged Sentinel Prime out of the tunnels. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

Christmas eventually came around, and between shaking his presents and decorating the tree, Bumblebee didn't notice a [[Sound Wave]] toy poisoning the Autobots' [[Oil|oilnog]]. After having a taste, the 'bots all felt strangely tired and decided to take a stasis nap... only to wake up in human bodies. Bumblebee took it with a pinch of humour as he made fun of Bulkhead for being small, before the "Automen" headed out to see if Professor Sumdac could find out what was going on. However, during a brief break for food at [[Burger Bot]], the city came under attack from a large force of Decepticons. The Autobots chose to fight back despite their small fleshy bodies, but Bumblebee grabbing onto Starscream's leg had no real effect on the marauding Decepticon, and the heroes were quickly forced to run. Eventually arriving at Sumdac Tower, Bumblebee was shocked when Cybertron itself appeared in the sky and blasted part of the tower to smithereens, followed by the arrival of Megatron himself. However, by this stage, Optimus Prime and Prowl had figured out that none of this was actually happening—they were trapped in some kind of simulated reality. Realizing that they could break through the illusion with their imagination, the Autobots fought back and defeated the simulated Decepticons, with the tiny human Bumblebee easily punching out Blitzwing before transforming back into a robot. But before the Autobots could figure out how to escape from the virtual reality, they were subdued by a giant Soundwave—the one who had trapped them to begin with in order to brainwash them into becoming his mind slaves. {{storylink|Human Error, Part I}}

As Soundwave increased his control over the simulation, Bumblebee and the others were transformed back into humans. Deciding that they had to find Soundwave's interface to the world, they grabbed some vehicles matching their alternate modes, leading to Bumblebee pushing a virtual Captain Fanzone out of his own car. The Autobots took to chasing after a black Soundwave van, only to fall into a trap that let Soundwave brainwash them completely. As Sari and her "[[Substitute Autobot]]s" came to save the day, Soundwave used the Autobots' bodies to fight back, with Bumblebee and Prowl teaming up against Wreck-Gar. However, controlling five people at once proved too much for Soundwave, and as he lost focus, Bumblebee's mindless body found itself bound up in Christmas lights and defeated. Shortly afterward, Bumblebee's mind was returned to normal when Optimus Prime shattered Soundwave's body. {{storylink|Human Error, Part II}}

When the Autobots discovered Decepticon signals on the [[Moon (moon)|moon]], Bumblebee found himself an volunteering (read: ordered) to transwarp there and plant a transmitter. However, the transmitter was inadvertedly broken by [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] shortly after arrival, so Bumblebee changed his strategy into infiltrating Omega Supreme. Inside, he found [[Arcee (Animated)|Arcee]] babbling on and on about school. Deeming it impossible to take her back to Earth, 'Bee chose to activate Arcee's transmitter before leaving, using her to spy on the Decepticons. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}} When Megatron used the information inside Arcee to attack Detroit with a trio of "[[Lugnut Supreme]]s", Bumblebee went back to the moon alongside Bulkhead, Ratchet and Sari to attempt a retrieval of Omega Supreme. They quickly located Arcee again, only to be attacked by Shockwave. While Bumblebee's stingers had no effect on his old platoonmate, he was eventually defeated by Bulkhead's brawns. Shockwave transformed back to his Longarm mode in an attempt to trick his "old pals", but failed and was captured. Bumblebee was aboard Omega Supreme when he battled against the oversized Lugnuts-turned-oversized Starscreams, and following their victory, was told that Prowl had died during the battle. When the Autobots returned to Cybertron, he helped carry his friend's coffin. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

===Toy bios===
At some point, Bumblebee began taking stealth lessons from Prowl, presenting him with a new battle tactic: sneaking up from behind instead of racing fender-first into danger. To further that end, Bumblebee apparently painted himself as a police patrol car. {{storylink|Bumblebee (Animated)#ActivPatrol|Patrol Bumblebee}}

After "getting up close to members of the AUTOBOT Elite Guard", Bumblebee decided more than ever that he wanted to join their ranks. He had Sari borrow some of her dad's auto-painting robots so that he could truly look the part of an Elite Guard team member. He also began doing combat training with Prowl, and may have gotten his energy stingers enhanced. {{storylink|Bumblebee (Animated)#EliteGuard|Elite Guard Bumblebee}}

{{note|Presumably Bumblebee's "getting up close to members of the AUTOBOT Elite Guard" refers to the events of the episodes [[The Elite Guard]], [[The Return of the Headmaster]] and [[Mission Accomplished]]. However, at the time of those episodes, Isaac Sumdac was missing and Sari no longer had access to Sumdac Systems technology, so, uh... just go with it.}}

===Titan Magazines===
In battle with new villain [[Quake-Maker]], Bumblebee got to not only mock the villain but fight alongside the super-cool new Autobot [[Afterburn]]. {{storylink|Burnout}}

The two later went on a mission to Dinobot Island to stop a Rage virus infection, a mission that had Bumblebee nervous. During the mission, Bumblebee screwed up a landing that Afterburn aced, got thrown into a mud puddle by Swoop, was left with an incredibly dirty finish, and generally looked worse than Afterburn and on ''four separate occasions'' got put down by him. This made him sad. {{storylink|Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?}}

When [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] was in a huff, it was Bumblebee who convinced him to help them against the [[Wraith-X]] by appealing to that greatest of emotions, the ego! He didn't have time to gloat though, as he then found Afterburn reporting back to ''Megatron'', who then stormed the base, {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 23|Divebomb}} killed Afterburn, and started a massive battle. Bumblebee was shocked to find Afterburn had only been a sparkless drone infiltrator, but still viewed him as a real Autobot, ''taking on Megatron himself'' out of anger for what had happened.

Optimus later consoled Bumblebee that he'd been a hero and that Afterburn hadn't been real anyway. But he'd been real to Bumblebee...{{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 24|Megatron's Revenge}}

[[Image:Bumblebeepizza_Titan25.jpg|right|250px|thumb|]]

But then he got over that and started breaking traffic laws for fun to get pizzas to Sari quickly! This led to Prowl dissing him and claiming Bumblebee wouldn't be so fast if he had to obey some rules, which led to a race between the two at [[Crazy Coyote Canyon]] (plus Bulkhead joined in, which gave Bumblebee a good laugh). Autobots doing ''anything'', of course, leads to Decepticon plots, and Bumblebee (who had a Decepticon tracer stuck on his butt) found they'd ambushed Prowl halfway through the race. Locating the tracer, he stuck it on ''Lugnut's'' butt and helped Prowl escape to win.

All that excitement had allowed Bulkhead to win the race unopposed though, making him the official fastest thing in Detroit. Bumblebee accepted it amiably enough. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 25|The Race}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
====Activators====
*'''Bumblebee''' (Activator, 2008)
[[Image:Activators_Bumblebee_toy.jpg|thumb|250px|He's a Bumblevator - or is it Actibee?]]
: Part of the first wave of [[Activators]], this small version of Bumblebee [[Autotransform|automatically transforms]] from vehicle to robot mode via spring-loaded releases when you press his top-mounted police light. Interestingly enough, this toy is probably the closest to "proper" scale in robot mode when compared to the Deluxe Prowl and Ratchet, the Voyager Optimus, and Leader Bulkhead. Like the Deluxe class toy, Bumblebee was intended to be molded with a benign sideways smile on his face, but at this small of scale the effect does not come off as intended, leaving Bumblebee looking rather more like he's grimacing. Furthermore, his insignia is ''also'' grimacing; for some reason this toy was given the [[Insignia#2007_movie|movie Autobot "angry eyes" insignia]], rather than the standard "neutral expression" insignia found on most other ''Animated'' Autobots. Add him to the list of Transformers who just need a hug.

:This mold was later [[Retool|retooled]] to make [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]].

{{-}}
{{anchor|ActivPatrol}}
[[Image:Activators_PatrolBumblebee_toy.JPG|thumb|200px|Bumblecade]]
*'''Patrol Bumblebee''' (Activator, 2008)

: A police-themed redeco of Activators Bumblebee, instead of his current "undercover" markings, he gets full-on black-and-white deco with "POLICE" lettering across his doors.

{{-}}
====Deluxe====
[[Image:Bumblebee_anim_toy.jpg|thumb|300px|Awwww, it's so adorable...]]
*'''Bumblebee''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories:'' Left & right rocket boosters

: Bumblebee transforms from a small yellow hatchback with a single red flasher to a scrappy robot with a smile on his face. He has a fake car roof on his chest (but to be fair, so does his cartoon counterpart.) in robot mode, and the two halves of his stinger weapon, stored in his forearms, can be flipped out and pegged together. In both robot and car mode, his two booster rockets can be attached on his back.

: Due to support struts added inside his forearms to ensure durability, his stingers do not recede all the way back into his arms. The latest releases of the toy fix this problem. There have also been some complaints that the socket in his left arm tends to crack easily, which makes the arm impossible to pose.

: Amusingly, flipping his bumper up in his alt-mode works like a tiny trunk.

: This mold was also used to make [[#EliteGuard|"Elite Guard" Bumblebee]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Bumblebee/bumblebee.htm More information on Deluxe Bumblebee at TFU.info]''

{{-}}
{{anchor|EliteGuard}}
[[Image:Ani-toy BumblebeeEG.jpg|thumb|300px|Back from his internship with Donald Trump. Sentinel Prime, YOU'RE FIRED!]]
*'''Elite Guard Bumblebee''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories:'' Left & right rocket boosters

: A [[redeco]] of [[#Deluxe|Deluxe Bumblebee]], this figure represents Bumblebee after getting Sari to help paint him up in [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]] deco as part of his anticipated ascension into their ranks. Dare to dream! He retains all the play-gimmicks of the original, though his arms have been slightly [[retool]]ed to allow the stingers to recede fully. The color scheme of the toy bears a little resemblance to [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys#Deluxe Class toys|Stealth Bumblebee]] from the [[Movie (franchise)|live-action movie]] franchise.

: The [[Hasbro]] stock photography and [[package art]] for this toy [[:Image:Deluxeeliteguardbumblebee.jpg|depict "Elite Guard" Bumblebee with his normal yellow helmet]]. However, the actual toy has a black helmet due to the plastic color layouts.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/EGBumblebee/bumblebee.htm More information on Elite Guard Bumblebee at TFU.info]''

====Voyager====
[[Image:Ani-toy_HydrodiveBumblebee.jpg|thumb|250px|Oh slag. Where did my police light go?]]
*'''Hydrodrive Bumblebee''' (Voyager, 2009)
:A new sculpted and downscaled figure of Bumblebee in much the same style as [[Prowl (Animated)#Toys|Samurai Prowl]]. He comes with a jet/submarine that can be configured into some sort of battle armour/jet-pack. He can be placed in it in both robot and alt mode. Rather atypically for an ''Animated'' Autobot, he appears to come with a pair of guns (in lieu of his usual [[stinger]]s). These pistols can be hand-held or mounted on his armour.
{{comingsoontoy}}

====Other====
*'''Bumper Battlers Bumblebee''' (Bumper Battlers, 2008)
[[Image:BumperBattlers_Bumblebee_toy.jpg|thumb|200px|Does this make him [[Bumper (G1)|Animated Bumper]]?]]
: Part of the first wave of [[Bumper Battlers]], this very simple version of Bumblebee is meant for the much younger set. About the same size as the Deluxe Bumblebee in car mode, pressing the Autobot [[faction symbol]] on his hood activates the toy's sound feature, using a seemingly randomized assortment of sound effects and original voice samples from [[Bumper Robinson]]. Pressing the car mode's front bumper in activates the simple spring-loaded one-step transformation to robot mode... "properly" activated by using the toy's [[pull-back motor]] [[gimmick]] to propel it forward into an obstacle.

{{-}}
{{anchor|McD}}
*'''Bumblebee''' (McDonalds Happy Meal toy, 2008)
[[Image:Bumblebrick.png|thumb|180px|Bumblebrick.]]
: A simple version of Bumblebee with a very simple transformation sequence, one of six toys available as part of the McDonald's ''Transformers Animated'' promotion (held concurrently with the ''Littlest Pet Shop'' promo). You transform him by pulling out the arms from the sides, pulling down the legs and rotating them around and flipping up the head. The arms hold the legs in place, and need to be pulled out before his legs. His vehicle mode is accurate to the show, and his robot mode is reasonably accurate, although rather on the "bulky" side.

{{-}}
{{anchor|StingRacer}}
*'''Sting Racer Bumblebee''' (Bumper Battlers, 2008)
[[Image:Ani-toy_BumperBattlers_StingBumblebee.JPG|thumb|200px|]]
: This Bumper Battlers Bumblebee has a blue stripe in place of the black one, and blue electrical marks on his sides.

{{-}}
[[Image:Ani-toy_LegendsBumblebee.jpg|thumb|200px|]]
*'''Stealth Lockdown''' (Animated 3-pack, 2008)

: A ''Universe'' [[Legends of Cybertron|Legends-class]] Bumblebee came packaged with this Target-[[exclusive]] clear version of [[Lockdown#Stealth|Lockdown]], as well as a Legends [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]]. This Bumblebee is ''almost'' identical to the individual ''Universe'' release, except this version has a silver [[faction symbol]] rather than the ''Universe'' release's red.

{{-}}
{{anchor|PowerBots}}
*'''Cyber Speed Bumblebee''' ([[Power Bots]], 2008)
[[Image:CyberSpeedBumblebee_toy.JPG|thumb|120px|]]
: A large, non-transforming figure of Bumblebee in bulky, child-friendly form. He comes with lights and sounds, including a stinger sound on the right arm, which has the stinger deployed, and a "punching" sound and extending fist on the left. He also speaks a slew of phrases, including "Bring it on, Decepticons!" and "Hi, I'm Bumblebee!", again using Bumper Robinson voice clips. He is, of course, utterly adorable.

{{-}}
*'''Street Patrol Bumblebee''' (Power Bots, 2009)
[[Image:Ani-toy_StreetPatrolBumblebee.JPG|thumb|120px|]]
: This Bumblebee has red stripes on his stinger arm and his stripe is dark blue.

{{-}}
*'''Shockwave VS Bumblebee''' (multipack, 2009)
[[Image:Shockwavepurplebumblebeetoys.jpg|thumb|200px|Hey, they said I was supposed to meet Longarm here. Who are you?]]
: Activators Bumblebee packaged with a purple redeco of Voyager [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] in a Target-exclusive multipack.

{{-}}

===Transformers (2007 movie line)===
*'''Legacy of Bumblebee''' (Deluxe class multi-pack, 2008)

: A Walmart [[exclusive]] three pack, the ''Legacy of Bumblebee'' collector's set comes with [[Bumblebee (G1)|''Classics'']], [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Movie]] Deluxe Class Concept Camaro ([[Premium Series]]) and ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'' Bumblebee figures. While the movie and ''Animated'' Bumblebees are identical to their original, single carded releases, the ''Classics'' Bumblebee has been redecoed to more closely resemble his movie and ''Animated'' counterparts, changing his white stripes to black, and his grey/silver plastic to yellow, similarly to ''Henkei! Henkei!'' Bumble.

===Universe (2008)===
*'''Bumblebee''' (Legends, 2008)
[[Image:Legends_bb_sized.jpg|thumb|125px|Is that size-accurate enough?]]
: A smaller, simplified [[Legends of Cybertron|Legends]]-scale Bumblebee toy, released under the ''Universe'' toyline.

: A slightly different version of this toy can also be found as part of the ''Animated'' [[Lockdown (Animated)|Stealth Lockdown]] three-pack with Legends [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], and as part of a ''Universe'' three-pack with Legends Optimus Prime and Legends [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]].
{{--}}

==Notes==
[[Image:Bumblebeeanimatedkibble.jpg|thumb|150px|My real windshield is on my heels!]]
* Bumblebee's arm-mounted shock stingers are very likely inspired by an early weapon concept from the 2007 movie [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]].

* The character who would become Bumblebee was originally conceived as [[Hot Shot (Armada)|Hot Shot]], but changed to Bumblebee at the insistence of incoming supervising director [[Matt Youngberg]] and art director [[Derrick J. Wyatt]]<ref>[https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21975298&postID=1516366009698858110&isPopup=true]</ref>. This explains why his character is more like Hot Shot and less like... well, Bumblebee. He also arguably shares personality traits with other, similarly brash "ADHD" characters such as [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] and [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]. Cut from the same cloth, at any rate.

* Bumblebee appears to have a fake car roof on his chest in both his toy and on his [[character model]]. Not only does Bumblebee transform like his toy in his drawn-out animated transformation sequences, with his legs forming the top of the vehicle and the rest forming the underside, but his "real" windshield is drawn on the back of his legs, just like the toy. Plus the headlights on Bumblebee's feet are upside-down, just like the toy's. However, Bumblebee's vehicle mode stripe doesn't change sides like on the toy. Cheatsy!

* In addition to the above, in "[[The Thrill of the Hunt]]," Bumblebee reaches under his '''fake''' car roof kibble to get out his air freshener and fuzzy dice. This would mean that he had kept them in his back seat or trunk. Interestingly enough, on the Deluxe toy, you can actually store small items in his chest thanks to his opening 'trunk'.

* He likes to swear a lot. [[Slag (slang)|Slag yeah!]]

[[Image:TFA_Bumblebee_Elite_Guard_promoimage.JPG|thumb|150px|[[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] was so horrified his scream blew out [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]]'s audio sensors...and Jazz was in another building at the time.]]
* He apparently got his name for being a bumbler in [[Autobot boot camp]]. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

* On the Transformers Animated Season One DVD set, the "Season Two Sneak Peek" special feature shows Bumblebee's character model colored in the Elite Guard Bumblebee toy's deco. Bumblebee did not actually ''use'' that color scheme in Season 2, so its inclusion in a Season Two gallery is puzzling at best...

* With the airing of the episodes "Human Error" Parts 1 and 2, an interesting and probably unintentional question has been brought up. Bumblebee's human form is obviously much younger than the others, even Prowl and Bulkhead, putting him somewhere around pre-teen to early teen years. Everything else about the humans reflect their bot conterparts spot on, down to a scar on Ratchet's face to represent his broken chevron. So, seeing as human Bee is obviously so young, does that make him a child soldier?

* Bumblebee's original [[body-type]] is apparently quite common on Cybertron—he shares it with [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]], [[Wasp]], [[Tap-Out (Animated)|Tap-Out]], [[Freeway (Animated)|Freeway]], [[Searchlight (Animated)|Searchlight]], [[Hubcap (Animated)|Hubcap]], [[Sedan (Animated)|Sedan]], [[Carerra (Animated)|Carerra]], [[Furao]], [[Bumper (Animated)|Bumper]] and [[Glyph (Animated)|Glyph]].

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Bumblebee/bumblebee.htm Bumblebee at TFU.info]
* [http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/transformers//Transformers_Draw_Bumblebee.pdf Hasbro.com - How to Draw: Animated Bumblebee]

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Autobots]]

Bumblebee (Animated)

2009-07-04T16:10:20Z

24.125.200.180: /* Animated */

{{picsneeded|Cartoon screencaps}}
{{disambig3|Bumblebee}}
:''Bumblebee is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Bumblebeeanimated.jpg|thumb|300px|Little. Yellow. Different.]]
'''Bumblebee''' is the youngest, yellowest, and most energetic of the Autobots...[[Bumblebee (G1)|as]] [[Bumblebee (Movie)|usual]]. A hyperactive wisecracker, Bumblebee is quite convinced he's the fastest—and coolest—thing on four wheels. He has a tendency to bite off more than he can chew, so it's a good thing he pals around with the massive [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]. He does ''not'' take well to being called short, and his over-eager ways can get on [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet's]] nerves all too easily. Still, Bumblebee is good people, as evidenced by his fast friendship with [[Sari Sumdac]].

{{bigquote|I may be small, but I'm scrappy! And I can ride circles around your big, old, rusty chassis!|Bumblebee to Bulkhead|"[[Total Meltdown]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Bumper Robinson]] (English), [[Santiago Ziesmer]] (German), [[Krzysztof Korzeniowski]] (Polish)

[[Image:Autobot_Cadets.jpg|thumb|left|250px|There's a [[Wasp|green me]] and a [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|red me]]!]]
Early in his career, Bumblebee dreamed of becoming a member of the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]]. He joined the [[Autobot boot camp]], but things didn't exactly go as planned—his [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|drill sergeant]] was a jerk, [[Wasp|most]] of his [[Ironhide (Animated)|classmates]] bullied him and the only bot willing to befriend him was a complete [[Bulkhead (Animated)|mudflap]]. His luck seemed to change, however, when he accidentally overheard someone communicating with a Decepticon. He then saw fellow classmate [[Wasp]] walk out, which aroused his suspicions. After taking the advice of [[Shockwave (Animated)|Longarm]], Bumblebee attempted to weed out the spy, but Sentinel Minor got in the way twice. Needless to say, this resulted in many transform-ups for his squadron. After Wasp and Ironhide tore off his legs and put him in a closet, he was saved by Longarm, who encouraged him not to give up. Later that day, the group was put through their first training exercise—combat in a simulated battlezone. When somebody switched the turret settings to fire actual lasers, it was Bulkhead who saved him. However, they accidentally knocked over a building in the process, flattening Sentinel.

When Sentinel was conducting a surprise locker inspection, Sentinel discovered a Decepticon communicator in Wasp's trunk, ousting him as a traitor. Sentinel was prepared to put Bumblebee on an Elite Guard fast track program. Sadly, his new friendship with Bulkhead forced him to throw it all away in order to prevent his new buddy being kicked out, and they both wound up working on [[space bridge]]s. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

[[Image:Bumblebeeanimatedpreearth.jpg|thumb|250px|Wait... who are [[Hot Shot (Animated)|you]]?]]

The two friends were assigned to [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]]'s space bridge repair [[Teletran-1|vessel]]. During one mission, Bumblebee and Bulkhead stumbled across [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]], a ninja-bot meditating near an isolated space bridge. Due to an [[energon cube]] accident on [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]'s part, Prowl's spaceship was destroyed, and he was forced to join their crew. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}} After this, Bumblebee's work continued as usual until the crew discovered the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] itself on another asteroid, which unfortunately attracted the attention of [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. Even though he expressed significant fear of the [[Decepticon]] leader, he still managed to crack wise at his appearance once they were face-to-face. The humor vanished when Megs pulled out his sword. After Megatron was thrown off the ship, Bumblebee entered stasis with the rest of the crew just before the crew's ship crash-landed on [[Earth]].

Fifty years later, Teletran-1 awoke the crew to alert them to the intrusion of a nanite-powered bug-slug. Sending out a probe to find local disguises, the probe scanned [[Captain Fanzone]]'s [[Captain Fanzone's car|car]] amongst other things. Bumblebee was given the car for his new bodyform. Lucky him.

[[Image:TFA_TFandRollout_Sari_followedmehome.jpg|thumb|left|250px|"Can we keep it?"]]
Upon noticing [[Sari Sumdac|"a little creature"]] struggling with her [[Sparkplug (robot dog)|"owner"]], 'Bee and Mr. Bulk showed their unfamiliarity with organic life by assuming the owner/pet relationship was reversed. Their speculation was interrupted by the attacks of the giant, nanite-fueled bug monster, and Bumblebee intervened to get Sari out of the way. Later in the battle, Bumblebee was called on to deliver the override command to the beast's nanites, as he was the fastest and most nimble of the crew.

His defeat of the monster seriously impressed Sari, who decided to befriend him. Sari's definition of befriending included cajoling him into sneaking her aboard the Autobots' ship. Of course, Sari wouldn't stay still as Bumblebee asked, compelling him to jettison her into a ventilation shaft. After introducing her to the group, Sari and 'Bee became fast friends. When [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] attacked [[Detroit]], Bumblebee took a shot intended for Sari, allowing Screamer to capture Bumblebee, [[Isaac Sumdac]], [[Captain Fanzone]], and the Mayor. Sari, with [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]'s help, managed to rescue them. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out!}}

The Autobots quickly became famous for their heroic deeds in Detroit, much to Bumblebee's delight. Prowl, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic about all the attention, however, and he and Bumblebee quickly had a clash of opinions on the values of peace and quiet versus the values of fun. When the Autobots' factory base was turned against them, however, Bumblebee was forced to listen to Prowl's "stillness and strike" attitude to get past the motion sensors preventing him from shutting the factory down. In the aftermath, he had a newfound respect for Prowl as the two played a relaxed game of Twister™. {{storylink|Home Is Where the Spark Is}}

At one point, Bumblebee took part in a match against [[Colossus Rhodes|Cyrus "Colossus" Rhodes]], hosted by [[Meltdown (Animated)|Prometheus Black]] to show off the effectiveness of biotechnology. Unfortunately, Cyrus [[wikipedia:Hulk_(comics)|hulked up]], then proceeded to beat the [[Slag (slang)|slag]] out of Bumblebee. The other Autobots were forced to rescue him, using it as a chance to riff on his small stature. However, only Bumblebee was able to get into [[Sumdac Tower]] when [[Meltdown (Animated)|Meltdown]] went to kill Isaac Sumdac. Bumblebee managed to get him to the ground floor, but Meltdown arrived. Bulkhead tried to stop him, but Meltdown threw a glob of acid at Bulkhead, which Bumblebee took instead (basically, 'Bee is a <s>human</s> robot shield). Bulkhead offered his apologies over his comments, saying he was only having a little fun—which sent Bumblebee into declaring his good moves and speed. He's going to be pretty impossible to live with for a while. {{storylink|Total Meltdown}}

The troubles in Detroit were far from over, as the Autobots soon found themselves facing three rampaging [[Dinobot (Animated)|robotic dinosaurs]]. During the battle, Bumblebee combined his stingers' electrical with Ratchet's magnets to create an [[electromagnetic pulse]] that would hopefully shut the prehistoric menaces down. Sari decided to pitch in by boosting Bumblebee's stingers with her [[Key]], which proved enough to defeat the "Dinobots"... but also provided them with [[Spark|sparks]]. {{storylink|Blast from the Past}} He later bought a neat car horn and tried to chase down a mysterious muscle car with little success. The car turned out to be the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], who kidnapped Optimus Prime and made short work of Bumblebee as well, threatening to take his stingers. In the end, Lockdown was defeated by Ratchet and Prime was saved. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}}

[[Image:TFA_Nanosec_Bumblebee_turbo_boosters.JPG|thumb|250px|BB got back!]]
After Bumblebee showed a lack of ability (or inclination) to be subtle on Earth, Prime had Prowl try to teach Bumblebee how to blend in. This ruined some plans with Sari, as she wanted to attach some turbo-boosters to him to make him go even faster. During the exercise, they encountered [[Nanosec]], a crook that had gained Professor Sumdac's new speed suit via [[Megatron (Animated)|unknown patrons]]. Unable to keep up with Nanosec, Bumblebee was convinced by Sari attach the turbo-boosters against Prime's orders. Unfortunately, he couldn't control them in vehicle mode, allowing Nanosec to escape from the Autobots twice. Worse, he was carrying enough [[Destronium]] to destroy all of Detroit. Overhearing Bulkhead and Prowl's comments on his change of appearance, Bumblebee realized that the suit was causing him to age the more he used it, so he purposefully ran him into old age (cold, Bee). With the Destronium about to go critical, Bumblebee, with help from Prowl and Bulkhead, managed to use his turbo-boosters to head into the outer atmosphere and get the Destronium away from the city before detonating. The whole experience seems have given Bumblebee a bit more respect for subtlety. {{storylink|Nanosec (episode)|Nanosec}}

October soon came around, and Sari decided to teach the Autobots about [[Halloween]]. Bumblebee dressed up as "Count Dracubot", but his trick-and-treating session went sour when he and Bulkhead were attacked by the spider-bot [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] and knocked unconscious. They recovered in time to save Sari from falling off a skyscraper, although Bumblebee blew out his tires in the process. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}} After participating in Sari's eighth birthday party, Bumblebee decided that he also wanted one of those cool [[Soundwave (Animated)|Soundwave]] toys. He was less enthusiastic after Soundwave took control of all [[automaton]]s in Detroit and faked Bumblebee's voice in order to confuse the Autobots. {{storylink|Sound and Fury}} While Soundwave was eventually defeated, the Decepticon attacks were far from over—[[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] and [[Lugnut]] soon arrived on Earth in their search for Megatron. Bumblebee and the others were knocked unconscious by Lugnut's [[Punch of Kill Everything|mighty punch]] in their first battle, but the odds were in the Autobots' favour when they later fought in the muddy waters of [[Lake Erie]]. Bumblebee got to electrocute Blitzwing a bit before both Decepticons were blasted to pieces by Teletran-1's main cannon. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}}

When Sari was later kidnapped by a [[Swoop (Animated)|pterosaur]], Bumblebee participated in the police investigation. {{storylink|Survival of the Fittest}} Bulkhead later got into the fine arts, so Bumblebee helped out by modeling for him until his friend got his body hijacked by the human villain known as the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]]. As the other Autobots investigated, Bumblebee kept Bulkhead's head company and helped him create art pieces for his upcoming gallery (all while relentlessly cracking jokes about the situation, naturally). The Headmaster soon threatened to destroy Detroit using Bulkhead's body, so the Autobots approached him by pretending to be rescue vehicles, with Bumblebee being driven by Captain Fanzone. During the battle against the Headmaster, he got to play both bowling and football with Bulkhead's head before it was returned to its body. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}}

Some time during that winter, Bumblebee and Sari were playing video games and listening to music while ignoring Prowl's lectures on how spending so much time on "electronic devices" was unnecessary. All three of them were then sent out to investigate a Cybertronic energy signal in the woods; a prospect which filled Bumblebee with dread as nature was just so ''incredibly'' boring compared to his TV, games and music back home. He came along on what Sari described as a "camping trip" anyway, although he brought plenty of electronic devices with him. Prowl was not impressed, and even less so when Bumblebee decided to use his holographic projector as a TV screen. The lack of electricity proved to be the least of Bumblebee's problems, however, as the group was attacked by a [[Space barnacles|space barnacle monster]] shortly after nightfall. After a drawn-out fight with the creature, Bumblebee eventually knocked it off a cliff with his stingers, only to find that Prowl had been infected by the barnacles himself. While Sari had the bright idea of trapping the crazed Prowl in a mine, Bumblebee ended up trapping both of ''them'' in it as well, and got himself infected. Ultimately, Sari saved the day by using hot water to remove the barnacles, and in the aftermath Bumblebee voiced his opinion that nature should just be paved over as soon as possible. {{storylink|Nature Calls}}

[[Image:Megatron_rising_1_Starscream_freakout.jpg|thumb|left|250px|"YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!"]]
When Decepticon activity was detected in high levels, Bulkhead spilled the beans on what he and Prowl had done with the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], and Optimus Prime pretty much lost it. Ranting that all he had was a group of insubordinate malfunctions, he told Ratchet to take Sari's [[AllSpark]]-infused [[key]] from her, saying it wasn't safe in her hands. As she ran off crying, Bumblebee defended her, and Prime pointed out that Bumblebee wasn't a good character witness. Bumblebee mouthed off that their situation meant that Prime wasn't fit to command, and then went looking for Sari. Heading to [[Sumdac Tower]], Bumblebee spotted Starscream, and disobeyed Prime's order to hold off. Heading up the elevator (which could not only fit him, but also carry his weight), Bumblebee charged, firing his stingers at Starscream. All it really did was interrupt his speech, which made Starscream ''seriously'' freak out. However, a crane pulled Starscream, who was holding Bumblebee, up to the roof, where the two fought it out...right until Megatron burst through the roof of the tower. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

After Megatron's restoration, Starscream absentmindedly beat on Bumblebee for a while, then threw him aside when Megatron called the Decepticons to him. Once he'd been repaired with remaining key energy in Professor Sumdac's lab, Bumblebee called Prime on his previous statements, and Optimus apologized, saying he'd been out of line. When Ratchet brought the Autobots' ship to them, the Autobots and Sumdacs boarded the vessel in an attempt to lead Megatron and the Decepticons off-planet, but were shot down and crashed on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]]. As the Autobots rallied to defend the AllSpark, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Prowl took on [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]]. Ratchet and Bumblebee teamed up again to create an [[electromagnetic pulse]], causing him to crash. After shelling them in tank mode, Blitzwing again took to the air for some strafing runs. Prowl noticed a connection between Blitzwing's alternate modes and personalities, so they had Bumblebee use his greatest strength, his obnoxious personality, to cause Angry Blitzwing to emerge. Taunting the triple changer, Bumblebee got him to transform accidentally into tank mode and crash into the lake. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:Super_secretary.jpg|thumb|250px|"[[Aaron Archer]]'s office. Please hold."]] Following the defeat of Megatron and the disappearance of Professor Sumdac, Bumblebee helped Sari run [[Sumdac Systems]] until the arrival of the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]]. Among their numbers was [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]], Bumblebee and Bulkhead's old sergeant from boot camp, but thankfully he didn't seem to remember them. 'Bee and the rest of the crew were subsequently contained within the [[Elite Guard flagship]] while the Sentinel and [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] went with Optimus Prime to investigate the supposed defeat of Megatron and dispersion of the AllSpark, but soon had to leave to deal with an out-of-control [[police drone]] factory. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}} Shortly afterwards, Bumblebee greeted Sari when she was thrown out of Sumdac Tower by [[Porter C. Powell]] and forced to live with the Autobots. He and Bulkhead tried to cheer her up by saying that living together would be like a non-stop party, making her food and teaching her about "stuff and how it works", but were met with limited success. {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}}

Bumblebee and Sari later helped stop a runaway train powered by an AllSpark fragment. When Starscream stopped by again, 'Bee and Ratchet again combined their powers to attack him with an electromagnetic pulse, but the AllSpark-powered Decepticon shrugged it off like it was nothing. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}} After noticing truly how bad Ratchet's people skills were, Optimus Prime assigned Bumblebee and Sari to help him improve on them, something neither party was very enthusiastic about. During their training, the three encountered the newly created Transformer [[Wreck-Gar (Animated)|Wreck-Gar]], who proceeded to throw beef and motorcycles at Bumblebee. The Autobots chased Wreck-Gar across the city to retrieve the experimental nanobots he had in his backpack, but Bumblebee was not present during Ratchet's final confrontation with the confused 'bot. {{storylink|Garbage In, Garbage Out}}

[[Image:TFA_Velocity_Bumblebee_Blurr_meet.JPG|thumb|left|250px|"If you're [[Auggie Cahnay]], your ass is grass!"]]
Bumblebee became involved in the illegal street races organised by the criminal [[Master Disaster]]. Believing himself to be the fastest things on wheels, Bumblebee was unsurprisingly shocked after getting thrashed in a race by a [[Blurr (Animated)| Mysterious Blue Race Car]]. Following this, AllSpark traces, and the appearance of Blitzwing at the race track, Bumblebee became determined to get to the bottom of the mystery (although deep down he just wanted another chance to beat the Unknown Racer.) He made a deal with Master Disaster to appear in his races. Enlisting the help of Sari, Bumblebee returned to the track, and, to cut a long story short, ending up being pursued by the maniacal Blitzwing. After nearly being frozen one minute and melted to slag the next, Bumblebee was eventually rescued by the Mysterious Racer driving into Blitzwing. The excitement wasn't over for Bumblebee yet, as when returning to Master Disaster's trailer for answers, he and his pal Bulkhead (who had angrily followed Bumblebee there for defying him) had to face off against Blitzwing (he was desperate for that AllSpark fragment...), and had to be rescued once again... although this time it was Sari using Master Disaster's controlling device. {{storylink|Velocity}}

Later, he went on a trip to the Five Banners Roller Coaster Kingdom theme park with Sari. Optimus, fool that he is, believed him when he called it "an important fact-finding mission". {{storylink|A Fistful of Energon}}

[[Image:Watching_SUVs.jpg|thumb|250px|If they start to do it, let me see, ok?]]
On another occasion, Bumblebee was attempting to clear up the streets of Detroit by catching some of their [[Nanosec|small]] [[Angry Archer|time]] [[Professor Princess|criminals]]. However, in each case, whenever Bumblebee came close to the capture, he froze up completely, and allowed the baddies to escape. It later became apparent that this was due to the AllSpark-infused timepiece belonging to [[Slo-Mo]]. After revealing himself and snatching the timepiece, [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]] froze all of the Autobots and looked set for victory. However, after being lifted to Sumdac Tower by Sari and the members of the [[Society of Ultimate Villainy|SUV]] and repaired, Bumblebee took on Swindle (even managing to floor him at one point with his stingers.) After getting the timepiece back from Swindle, Bumblebee was double-crossed by the SUV, but fortunately for the Autobot, the rest of his pals were back online by now, and managed to get the criminals arrested. {{storylink|SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy}}

After learning of Wasp's escape, Bumblebee felt a stirring of his old dreams, and dragged Bulkhead off to trace a signal leaked to them, containing a conversation between Megatron and his spy. As they tracked it down, Bumblebee fell into old habits, and started putting Bulkhead down, just like in the old days. It took a nasty fall to remind him that Bulkhead was the best friend he'd ever have, and he didn't need to spend his time chasing big dreams. Together, the two headed home, never realizing they were just outside of the carbon mines where the Decepticons were hiding.

Later, Bumblebee relayed the information they'd gathered to his old friend, Longarm, now Longarm ''Prime'', head of Cybertron Intel. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

[[Image:TFA_Black_Friday_Meltdown_Bee.jpg|thumb|left|250px|IDK, my BFF Jill?]]
Due to his inability to stay quiet, Prowl placed a bet on Bumblebee—that he couldn't go 10 [[Cycle|cycles]] without talking. Should he keep to this, a sweet can of axle grease would be his! However, the poor bot just couldn't do it. Prime took 'Bee and Prowl with him to Dinobot Island to investigate Meltdown's prison break, and the plucky yellow bot vowed he would win the axle grease. However, the bet was put on hold after both he and Prowl were off-lined by [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia's]] cyber-venom. After the day was saved, Prime used the antidote on the bots, and 'Bee pointed out he'd been quiet for ages! Prowl dryly noted it took 'Bee being comatose to achieve this, but the yellow bot didn't care—he just wanted his grease! {{storylink|Black Friday (episode)| Black Friday}}

After insulting Bulkhead's latest painting of Sari, Bumblebee realized that he was wrong and actually apologized for his comments. It didn't go over very well, and that was before Megatron showed up with Professor Sumdac. Though Bumblebee suspected that Sumdac was a willing accomplice, Sari refused to hear it. At that moment, the mysterious blue racer appeared. Thinking he was a Decepticon, Bumblebee rolled after the racer, running him off the road. It was only at this point that the racer revealed that he was [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]], a member of the Elite Guard sent to keep tabs on Decepticons and Prime's crew. Worse, Bumblebee's actions allowed Bulkhead to be kidnapped by Megatron. Once Optimus Prime was informed that the Decepticons were building a [[space bridge]] to attack Cybertron, 'Bee went with the Autobots to rescue Bulkhead and destroy the bridge. During a brief skirmish with Lugnut and Blitzwing, Bumblebee admitted that he'd lost his title as "fastest thing on wheels" to Blurr. Unfortunately, when they confronted Megatron himself, the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicons]] managed to incapacitate the pair...just in time for Starscream and his [[Starscream clone|clones]] to attack. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

Managing to escape the Decepticons, the Autobots went for the clones, apparently deciding that they were the greater evil. The battle went poorly for them, as Blurr was lost in the space bridge and Bumblebee was cemented to a wall. When Isaac Sumdac decapitated Starscream and took his body with the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster unit]], Bumblebee was convinced that he was working for the Decepticons, though Sumdac revealed that it was to destroy Megatron. That didn't work out too well. After Megatron explained his plan to the captive Autobots, the Decepticon [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] revealed that he was Longarm Prime and that Bumblebee had sent an innocent Wasp to the stockade. Fortunately, [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]] arrived, reactivated thanks to Sari and Ratchet, and sacrificed himself to save the Autobots and Sumdacs. With the threat passed, Sumdac revealed that he had been forced to help the Decepticons, and Bumblebee's mistrust of the professor presumably faded away—only to return when Sari saw that the skin of her right arm had torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

Despite the revelation that one of his best friends was a robot, Bumblebee actually remained focused on the larger picture: namely, Shockwave's presence on Cybertron. Optimus reasoned that since Bulkhead was a genius with regards to space bridges (something Bumblebee said he'd never get used to, revealing his high opinion of his other best friend), so the two headed out to the mine. Bumblebee managed to find a recall beacon generator, which was needed to locate the position in space, and the plasmadynamic thruster, which generated the transwarp field. Unfortunately, the thruster activated before Bumblebee could give it to Bulkhead, sending him across the galaxy. After catching another transwarp wave, he was again transported to another part of the galaxy—where he was swallowed by a rock alien.

Fortunately, Bulkhead was able to capture Bumblebee's signal, and reel him in. Sadly, it also brought the alien to Detroit. As the Autobots struggled to figure out how to defeat the monster and save Bumblebee, Sari used the Key on herself to upgrade with new weapons and a teenage appearance. Sari quickly trounced the monster, freeing Bumblebee. Unfortunately, Sari didn't remove the key after the upgrade, causing her to overload and lose control of her abilities. Bumblebee made a mad dash to try to remove the key, but Sari's defenses systems registered him as a threat, and Sari horrifically watched as she stabbed Bumblebee through the chest and blasted him across the street. Ratchet immediately went to work, saying that he could repair Bumblebee without the Key. However, the damage was severe, and Bumblebee's spark was fading fast. Even when they got the Key, Ratchet was still hard pressed, as the Key had been burned out upgrading Sari. Fortunately, Ratchet managed to stabilize Bumblebee with his magnets, but Ratchet was forced to deactivate Sari with his EMP generator.

After Ratchet made what repairs he could, the Autobots allowed Professor Sumdac some time alone with Sari. Lamenting on how troubled their day had been, Bumblebee tempted fate by asking how much worse it could get. On cue, the plasmadynamic thruster began to power up, but Bulkhead manged to shut it down. Unfortunately, Omega Supreme soon arrived, under the control of Megatron. Bumblebee was given an illegal stinger upgrade to help against Omega Supreme, but it still did little good. Optimus and Prowl managed to sneak inside and remove Megatron's control while Bumblebee and Bulkhead served as <s>bait</s> a distraction. However, Starscream managed to gain control, and soon moved to conquer Cybertron. Bumblebee came up with the idea to throw the plasmadynamic thruster inside Omega to send the three randomly warping across the galaxy, managing to reach the altitude with his turbo boosters (why Optimus let him keep those is unknown). Later, Sari was awakened, and all was well with the Autobots...except for being out of contact with Cybertron, but still, it's the thought that counts. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

While Bulkhead and Professor Sumdac began constructing a space bridge, Bumblebee and the other Autobots focused on hunting down the remaining Decepticons on Earth. The first one they found was Lugnut, who was defeated and [[stasis cuffs|stasis cuffed]] after a drawn-out battle. Unfortunately, this left the Autobot force trying to pull the massive Decepticon out of the deep crater he had caused during the fight—a daunting task that they spent the rest of the night working on. Before any real progress could be made, Bumblebee and the others were called away to help Bulkhead, who had been dragged into an oil-stealing scheme by the Constructicons. Upon arriving at the [[Fossil Fuel]] oil refinery, Bumblebee fought against Scrapper, but was warned to watch his stingers so he wouldn't set fire to a nearby oil spill. Unfortunately, a collision between Scrapper and Mixmaster led to a spark setting fire to it anyway, so the Autobots were forced to transwarp an entire oil tank (with the Constructicons on it) out to Lake Erie, where it exploded. {{storylink|Three's a Crowd}}

Some time later, Bumblebee's old friend Wasp arrived on Earth, with a few screws loose and a vendetta against the 'bot who put him away. That night, Bumblebee was on monitor duty as the other Autobots were searching for Wasp, but spent his time playing ''[[Ninja Gladiator]]'' instead (after all, a TV is a monitor too!), which led to Wasp easily getting the drop on him. Bumblebee tried explaining how Longarm had set the whole thing up back in the day, but the deranged Wasp wouldn't listen, instead knocking Bumblebee out and saying it was ''his'' turn to lose everything he'd ever had. When Bumblebee woke up, he found himself equipped with Wasp's helmet, paintjob and voice synthesizer and all his friends staring down at him... including Wasp dressed up as himself. Unable to prove his own identity, Bumblebee was forced to escape from his own friends, only to be chased down by Elite Guard members [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] and [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]]. Luckily for the small 'bot, Jetstorm's wind blasts were too powerful for him, and he was blown away from danger. A desperate Bumblebee tried painting himself yellow with mustard from a hot dog stand, only to be confronted by Bulkhead and Prowl. Thinking of ideas to prove his innocence, Bumblebee reminded Bulkhead of their misadventures in boot camp—misadventures Wasp could never have known about. While his friends were finally convinced, the newly arrived Jetstorm and Jetfire were not, and a fight broke out until Optimus and Sentinel arrived and sorted it out. Returning to the Autobot base, they confronted Wasp, who had unfortunately spent the meantime researching Bumblebee's past and could easily list many of 'Bee's past adventures like he was there in person. With no way to prove who was the real deal, Bulkhead suggested that they simply play ''Ninja Gladiator'' for the title of Bumblebee... after all, the real one would ''never'' lose at ''Ninja Gladiator''. The plan worked, as Wasp cracked under the pressure before the match could even begin, grabbing Bumblebee and holding him at stinger-point. With the Autobots unable to attack, Wasp cancelled his and Bumblebee's [[electronic paint job]]s and made a getaway, leaving Bumblebee to be pummelled by a confused Bulkhead. {{storylink|Where Is Thy Sting?}}

Chasing Wasp across Detroit, the Autobots eventually cornered him, and Bumblebee again tried explaining the "funny story" on how Longarm was the true Decepticon spy who caused Wasp's misfortune. However, Wasp didn't see the funny part of it, and Bumblebee nearly got himself blasted in the face for trying. Before the group could capture Wasp, he was suddenly abducted by [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]], so Optimus Prime and Bumblebee had to follow him to [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]]. Upon arrival, Prime suggested that Bumblebee stopped making excuses like blaming Longarm and tried ''apologizing'' to Wasp instead. Making their way into the tunnels of the island, the two soon found Wasp... mutated into a large, monstrous [[technorganic]] form by Blackarachnia. Face to face with the monster, Bumblebee followed Prime's advice and apologized for everything he did and didn't do to Wasp. His old nemesis responded that Wasp forgave him... but he was Wasp''inator'' now, and Waspinator would ''never'' forgive Bumblebee! However, before Waspinator could destroy Bumblebee once and for all, his new body started going out of control, and he went back to Blackarachnia. After being run down by both the spider and the wasp as the latter chased the former, Bumblebee helped carry the damaged Sentinel Prime out of the tunnels. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

Christmas eventually came around, and between shaking his presents and decorating the tree, Bumblebee didn't notice a [[Sound Wave]] toy poisoning the Autobots' [[Oil|oilnog]]. After having a taste, the 'bots all felt strangely tired and decided to take a stasis nap... only to wake up in human bodies. Bumblebee took it with a pinch of humour as he made fun of Bulkhead for being small, before the "Automen" headed out to see if Professor Sumdac could find out what was going on. However, during a brief break for food at [[Burger Bot]], the city came under attack from a large force of Decepticons. The Autobots chose to fight back despite their small fleshy bodies, but Bumblebee grabbing onto Starscream's leg had no real effect on the marauding Decepticon, and the heroes were quickly forced to run. Eventually arriving at Sumdac Tower, Bumblebee was shocked when Cybertron itself appeared in the sky and blasted part of the tower to smithereens, followed by the arrival of Megatron himself. However, by this stage, Optimus Prime and Prowl had figured out that none of this was actually happening—they were trapped in some kind of simulated reality. Realizing that they could break through the illusion with their imagination, the Autobots fought back and defeated the simulated Decepticons, with the tiny human Bumblebee easily punching out Blitzwing before transforming back into a robot. But before the Autobots could figure out how to escape from the virtual reality, they were subdued by a giant Soundwave—the one who had trapped them to begin with in order to brainwash them into becoming his mind slaves. {{storylink|Human Error, Part I}}

As Soundwave increased his control over the simulation, Bumblebee and the others were transformed back into humans. Deciding that they had to find Soundwave's interface to the world, they grabbed some vehicles matching their alternate modes, leading to Bumblebee pushing a virtual Captain Fanzone out of his own car. The Autobots took to chasing after a black Soundwave van, only to fall into a trap that let Soundwave brainwash them completely. As Sari and her "[[Substitute Autobot]]s" came to save the day, Soundwave used the Autobots' bodies to fight back, with Bumblebee and Prowl teaming up against Wreck-Gar. However, controlling five people at once proved too much for Soundwave, and as he lost focus, Bumblebee's mindless body found itself bound up in Christmas lights and defeated. Shortly afterward, Bumblebee's mind was returned to normal when Optimus Prime shattered Soundwave's body. {{storylink|Human Error, Part II}}

When the Autobots discovered Decepticon signals on the [[Moon (moon)|moon]], Bumblebee found himself an volunteering (read: ordered) to transwarp there and plant a transmitter. However, the transmitter was inadvertedly broken by [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] shortly after arrival, so Bumblebee changed his strategy into infiltrating Omega Supreme. Inside, he found [[Arcee (Animated)|Arcee]] babbling on and on about school. Deeming it impossible to take her back to Earth, 'Bee chose to activate Arcee's transmitter before leaving, using her to spy on the Decepticons. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}} When Megatron used the information inside Arcee to attack Detroit with a trio of "[[Lugnut Supreme]]s", Bumblebee went back to the moon alongside Bulkhead, Ratchet and Sari to attempt a retrieval of Omega Supreme. They quickly located Arcee again, only to be attacked by Shockwave. While Bumblebee's stingers had no effect on his old platoonmate, he was eventually defeated by Bulkhead's brawns. Shockwave transformed back to his Longarm mode in an attempt to trick his "old pals", but failed and was captured. Bumblebee was aboard Omega Supreme when he battled against the oversized Lugnuts-turned-oversized Starscreams, and following their victory, was told that Prowl had died during the battle. When the Autobots returned to Cybertron, he helped carry his friend's coffin. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

===Toy bios===
At some point, Bumblebee began taking stealth lessons from Prowl, presenting him with a new battle tactic: sneaking up from behind instead of racing fender-first into danger. To further that end, Bumblebee apparently painted himself as a police patrol car. {{storylink|Bumblebee (Animated)#ActivPatrol|Patrol Bumblebee}}

After "getting up close to members of the AUTOBOT Elite Guard", Bumblebee decided more than ever that he wanted to join their ranks. He had Sari borrow some of her dad's auto-painting robots so that he could truly look the part of an Elite Guard team member. He also began doing combat training with Prowl, and may have gotten his energy stingers enhanced. {{storylink|Bumblebee (Animated)#EliteGuard|Elite Guard Bumblebee}}

{{note|Presumably Bumblebee's "getting up close to members of the AUTOBOT Elite Guard" refers to the events of the episodes [[The Elite Guard]], [[The Return of the Headmaster]] and [[Mission Accomplished]]. However, at the time of those episodes, Isaac Sumdac was missing and Sari no longer had access to Sumdac Systems technology, so, uh... just go with it.}}

===Titan Magazines===
In battle with new villain [[Quake-Maker]], Bumblebee got to not only mock the villain but fight alongside the super-cool new Autobot [[Afterburn]]. {{storylink|Burnout}}

The two later went on a mission to Dinobot Island to stop a Rage virus infection, a mission that had Bumblebee nervous. During the mission, Bumblebee screwed up a landing that Afterburn aced, got thrown into a mud puddle by Swoop, was left with an incredibly dirty finish, and generally looked worse than Afterburn and on ''four separate occasions'' got put down by him. This made him sad. {{storylink|Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?}}

When [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] was in a huff, it was Bumblebee who convinced him to help them against the [[Wraith-X]] by appealing to that greatest of emotions, the ego! He didn't have time to gloat though, as he then found Afterburn reporting back to ''Megatron'', who then stormed the base, {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 23|Divebomb}} killed Afterburn, and started a massive battle. Bumblebee was shocked to find Afterburn had only been a sparkless drone infiltrator, but still viewed him as a real Autobot, ''taking on Megatron himself'' out of anger for what had happened.

Optimus later consoled Bumblebee that he'd been a hero and that Afterburn hadn't been real anyway. But he'd been real to Bumblebee...{{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 24|Megatron's Revenge}}

[[Image:Bumblebeepizza_Titan25.jpg|right|250px|thumb|]]

But then he got over that and started breaking traffic laws for fun to get pizzas to Sari quickly! This led to Prowl dissing him and claiming Bumblebee wouldn't be so fast if he had to obey some rules, which led to a race between the two at [[Crazy Coyote Canyon]] (plus Bulkhead joined in, which gave Bumblebee a good laugh). Autobots doing ''anything'', of course, leads to Decepticon plots, and Bumblebee (who had a Decepticon tracer stuck on his butt) found they'd ambushed Prowl halfway through the race. Locating the tracer, he stuck it on ''Lugnut's'' butt and helped Prowl escape to win.

All that excitement had allowed Bulkhead to win the race unopposed though, making him the official fastest thing in Detroit. Bumblebee accepted it amiably enough. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 25|The Race}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
====Activators====
*'''Bumblebee''' (Activator, 2008)
[[Image:Activators_Bumblebee_toy.jpg|thumb|250px|He's a Bumblevator - or is it Actibee?]]
: Part of the first wave of [[Activators]], this small version of Bumblebee [[Autotransform|automatically transforms]] from vehicle to robot mode via spring-loaded releases when you press his top-mounted police light. Interestingly enough, this toy is probably the closest to "proper" scale in robot mode when compared to the Deluxe Prowl and Ratchet, the Voyager Optimus, and Leader Bulkhead. Like the Deluxe class toy, Bumblebee was intended to be molded with a benign sideways smile on his face, but at this small of scale the effect does not come off as intended, leaving Bumblebee looking rather more like he's grimacing. Furthermore, his insignia is ''also'' grimacing; for some reason this toy was given the [[Insignia#2007_movie|movie Autobot "angry eyes" insignia]], rather than the standard "neutral expression" insignia found on most other ''Animated'' Autobots. Add him to the list of Transformers who just need a hug.

:This mold was later [[Retool|retooled]] to make [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]].

{{-}}
{{anchor|ActivPatrol}}
[[Image:Activators_PatrolBumblebee_toy.JPG|thumb|200px|Bumblecade]]
*'''Patrol Bumblebee''' (Activator, 2008)

: A police-themed redeco of Activators Bumblebee, instead of his current "undercover" markings, he gets full-on black-and-white deco with "POLICE" lettering across his doors.

{{-}}
====Deluxe====
[[Image:Bumblebee_anim_toy.jpg|thumb|300px|Awwww, it's so adorable...]]
*'''Bumblebee''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories:'' Left & right rocket boosters

: Bumblebee transforms from a small yellow hatchback with a single red flasher to a scrappy robot with a smile on his face. He has a fake car roof on his chest (but to be fair, so does his cartoon counterpart.) in robot mode, and the two halves of his stinger weapon, stored in his forearms, can be flipped out and pegged together. In both robot and car mode, his two booster rockets can be attached on his back.

: Due to support struts added inside his forearms to ensure durability, his stingers do not recede all the way back into his arms. The latest releases of the toy fix this problem. There have also been some complaints that the socket in his left arm tends to crack easily, which makes the arm impossible to pose.

: Amusingly, flipping his bumper up in his alt-mode works like a tiny trunk.

: This mold was also used to make [[#EliteGuard|"Elite Guard" Bumblebee]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Bumblebee/bumblebee.htm More information on Deluxe Bumblebee at TFU.info]''

{{-}}
{{anchor|EliteGuard}}
[[Image:Ani-toy BumblebeeEG.jpg|thumb|300px|Back from his internship with Donald Trump. Sentinel Prime, YOU'RE FIRED!]]
*'''Elite Guard Bumblebee''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Accessories:'' Left & right rocket boosters

: A [[redeco]] of [[#Deluxe|Deluxe Bumblebee]], this figure represents Bumblebee after getting Sari to help paint him up in [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]] deco as part of his anticipated ascension into their ranks. Dare to dream! He retains all the play-gimmicks of the original, though his arms have been slightly [[retool]]ed to allow the stingers to recede fully. The color scheme of the toy bears a little resemblance to [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys#Deluxe Class toys|Stealth Bumblebee]] from the [[Movie (franchise)|live-action movie]] franchise.

: The [[Hasbro]] stock photography and [[package art]] for this toy [[:Image:Deluxeeliteguardbumblebee.jpg|depict "Elite Guard" Bumblebee with his normal yellow helmet]]. However, the actual toy has a black helmet due to the plastic color layouts.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/EGBumblebee/bumblebee.htm More information on Elite Guard Bumblebee at TFU.info]''

====Voyager====
[[Image:Ani-toy_HydrodiveBumblebee.jpg|thumb|250px|Oh slag. Where did my police light go?]]
*'''Hydrodrive Bumblebee''' (Voyager, fall of 2009)
:A new sculpted and downscaled figure of Bumblebee in much the same style as [[Prowl (Animated)#Toys|Samurai Prowl]]. He comes with a jet/submarine that can be configured into some sort of battle armour/jet-pack. He can be placed in it in both robot and alt mode. Rather atypically for an ''Animated'' Autobot, he appears to come with a pair of guns (in lieu of his usual [[stinger]]s). These pistols can be hand-held or mounted on his armour.
{{comingsoontoy}}

====Other====
*'''Bumper Battlers Bumblebee''' (Bumper Battlers, 2008)
[[Image:BumperBattlers_Bumblebee_toy.jpg|thumb|200px|Does this make him [[Bumper (G1)|Animated Bumper]]?]]
: Part of the first wave of [[Bumper Battlers]], this very simple version of Bumblebee is meant for the much younger set. About the same size as the Deluxe Bumblebee in car mode, pressing the Autobot [[faction symbol]] on his hood activates the toy's sound feature, using a seemingly randomized assortment of sound effects and original voice samples from [[Bumper Robinson]]. Pressing the car mode's front bumper in activates the simple spring-loaded one-step transformation to robot mode... "properly" activated by using the toy's [[pull-back motor]] [[gimmick]] to propel it forward into an obstacle.

{{-}}
{{anchor|McD}}
*'''Bumblebee''' (McDonalds Happy Meal toy, 2008)
[[Image:Bumblebrick.png|thumb|180px|Bumblebrick.]]
: A simple version of Bumblebee with a very simple transformation sequence, one of six toys available as part of the McDonald's ''Transformers Animated'' promotion (held concurrently with the ''Littlest Pet Shop'' promo). You transform him by pulling out the arms from the sides, pulling down the legs and rotating them around and flipping up the head. The arms hold the legs in place, and need to be pulled out before his legs. His vehicle mode is accurate to the show, and his robot mode is reasonably accurate, although rather on the "bulky" side.

{{-}}
{{anchor|StingRacer}}
*'''Sting Racer Bumblebee''' (Bumper Battlers, 2008)
[[Image:Ani-toy_BumperBattlers_StingBumblebee.JPG|thumb|200px|]]
: This Bumper Battlers Bumblebee has a blue stripe in place of the black one, and blue electrical marks on his sides.

{{-}}
[[Image:Ani-toy_LegendsBumblebee.jpg|thumb|200px|]]
*'''Stealth Lockdown''' (Animated 3-pack, 2008)

: A ''Universe'' [[Legends of Cybertron|Legends-class]] Bumblebee came packaged with this Target-[[exclusive]] clear version of [[Lockdown#Stealth|Lockdown]], as well as a Legends [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]]. This Bumblebee is ''almost'' identical to the individual ''Universe'' release, except this version has a silver [[faction symbol]] rather than the ''Universe'' release's red.

{{-}}
{{anchor|PowerBots}}
*'''Cyber Speed Bumblebee''' ([[Power Bots]], 2008)
[[Image:CyberSpeedBumblebee_toy.JPG|thumb|120px|]]
: A large, non-transforming figure of Bumblebee in bulky, child-friendly form. He comes with lights and sounds, including a stinger sound on the right arm, which has the stinger deployed, and a "punching" sound and extending fist on the left. He also speaks a slew of phrases, including "Bring it on, Decepticons!" and "Hi, I'm Bumblebee!", again using Bumper Robinson voice clips. He is, of course, utterly adorable.

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*'''Street Patrol Bumblebee''' (Power Bots, 2009)
[[Image:Ani-toy_StreetPatrolBumblebee.JPG|thumb|120px|]]
: This Bumblebee has red stripes on his stinger arm and his stripe is dark blue.

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*'''Shockwave VS Bumblebee''' (multipack, 2009)
[[Image:Shockwavepurplebumblebeetoys.jpg|thumb|200px|Hey, they said I was supposed to meet Longarm here. Who are you?]]
: Activators Bumblebee packaged with a purple redeco of Voyager [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] in a Target-exclusive multipack.

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===Transformers (2007 movie line)===
*'''Legacy of Bumblebee''' (Deluxe class multi-pack, 2008)

: A Walmart [[exclusive]] three pack, the ''Legacy of Bumblebee'' collector's set comes with [[Bumblebee (G1)|''Classics'']], [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Movie]] Deluxe Class Concept Camaro ([[Premium Series]]) and ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'' Bumblebee figures. While the movie and ''Animated'' Bumblebees are identical to their original, single carded releases, the ''Classics'' Bumblebee has been redecoed to more closely resemble his movie and ''Animated'' counterparts, changing his white stripes to black, and his grey/silver plastic to yellow, similarly to ''Henkei! Henkei!'' Bumble.

===Universe (2008)===
*'''Bumblebee''' (Legends, 2008)
[[Image:Legends_bb_sized.jpg|thumb|125px|Is that size-accurate enough?]]
: A smaller, simplified [[Legends of Cybertron|Legends]]-scale Bumblebee toy, released under the ''Universe'' toyline.

: A slightly different version of this toy can also be found as part of the ''Animated'' [[Lockdown (Animated)|Stealth Lockdown]] three-pack with Legends [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], and as part of a ''Universe'' three-pack with Legends Optimus Prime and Legends [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]].
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==Notes==
[[Image:Bumblebeeanimatedkibble.jpg|thumb|150px|My real windshield is on my heels!]]
* Bumblebee's arm-mounted shock stingers are very likely inspired by an early weapon concept from the 2007 movie [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]].

* The character who would become Bumblebee was originally conceived as [[Hot Shot (Armada)|Hot Shot]], but changed to Bumblebee at the insistence of incoming supervising director [[Matt Youngberg]] and art director [[Derrick J. Wyatt]]<ref>[https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21975298&postID=1516366009698858110&isPopup=true]</ref>. This explains why his character is more like Hot Shot and less like... well, Bumblebee. He also arguably shares personality traits with other, similarly brash "ADHD" characters such as [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] and [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]. Cut from the same cloth, at any rate.

* Bumblebee appears to have a fake car roof on his chest in both his toy and on his [[character model]]. Not only does Bumblebee transform like his toy in his drawn-out animated transformation sequences, with his legs forming the top of the vehicle and the rest forming the underside, but his "real" windshield is drawn on the back of his legs, just like the toy. Plus the headlights on Bumblebee's feet are upside-down, just like the toy's. However, Bumblebee's vehicle mode stripe doesn't change sides like on the toy. Cheatsy!

* In addition to the above, in "[[The Thrill of the Hunt]]," Bumblebee reaches under his '''fake''' car roof kibble to get out his air freshener and fuzzy dice. This would mean that he had kept them in his back seat or trunk. Interestingly enough, on the Deluxe toy, you can actually store small items in his chest thanks to his opening 'trunk'.

* He likes to swear a lot. [[Slag (slang)|Slag yeah!]]

[[Image:TFA_Bumblebee_Elite_Guard_promoimage.JPG|thumb|150px|[[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] was so horrified his scream blew out [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]]'s audio sensors...and Jazz was in another building at the time.]]
* He apparently got his name for being a bumbler in [[Autobot boot camp]]. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

* On the Transformers Animated Season One DVD set, the "Season Two Sneak Peek" special feature shows Bumblebee's character model colored in the Elite Guard Bumblebee toy's deco. Bumblebee did not actually ''use'' that color scheme in Season 2, so its inclusion in a Season Two gallery is puzzling at best...

* With the airing of the episodes "Human Error" Parts 1 and 2, an interesting and probably unintentional question has been brought up. Bumblebee's human form is obviously much younger than the others, even Prowl and Bulkhead, putting him somewhere around pre-teen to early teen years. Everything else about the humans reflect their bot conterparts spot on, down to a scar on Ratchet's face to represent his broken chevron. So, seeing as human Bee is obviously so young, does that make him a child soldier?

* Bumblebee's original [[body-type]] is apparently quite common on Cybertron—he shares it with [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]], [[Wasp]], [[Tap-Out (Animated)|Tap-Out]], [[Freeway (Animated)|Freeway]], [[Searchlight (Animated)|Searchlight]], [[Hubcap (Animated)|Hubcap]], [[Sedan (Animated)|Sedan]], [[Carerra (Animated)|Carerra]], [[Furao]], [[Bumper (Animated)|Bumper]] and [[Glyph (Animated)|Glyph]].

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/Bumblebee/bumblebee.htm Bumblebee at TFU.info]
* [http://www.hasbro.com/common/images/news/transformers//Transformers_Draw_Bumblebee.pdf Hasbro.com - How to Draw: Animated Bumblebee]

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Autobots]]