Goldbug (IDW)

This article is about the Throttlebots' leader who was never Bumblebee. For the Throttlebot member who was once Bumblebee, see Bumblebee (G1). For a list of other meanings, see Goldbug (disambiguation).

Goldbug is an Autobot Throttlebot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

"How can I know others when I don't even know myself?"

Along with his other Throttlebot teammates, Goldbug is a proven courier officer, skilled at being able to evade the enemy to keep important data out of unauthorized hands and speed it where it needs to go.

Let's not kid ourselves. We're scared but we're not gutless.Goldbug, "Spotlight: Metroplex"

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

• First Appearance: Spotlight: Metroplex

"I have no idea who you're talking about, and why do I keep getting this guy's mail?"

Goldbug and the Throttlebots were assigned to Orvus Base, orbiting Salvvatan VI, to safeguard top-secret Autobot research. Their purpose was to act as couriers in case the lab came under threat, taking the data and keeping it out of enemy hands. They had no idea what the research actually was, but that wasn't deemed essential to their job. And indeed, when an attack did come in the form of Sixshot, the Throttlebots were the only ones who made it out of the station alive, the information in their sole possession. They crashed on the planet below and quickly rushed for cover, Sixshot hot on their trail.

What they found on the planet was a strangely unoccupied, Cybertronian-style city with energon reserves. But just as they were powering up, Sixshot caught up with them and demanded the information. Goldbug suggested that they might not have the information at all, then asked him if he would torture them in that case. Sixshot said he would, so Goldbug ordered the Throttlebots to scatter.

It's so obvious that we're gonna lose.

Sixshot quickly took down half the team, even as they tried to feint and counterattack. The remaining three bantered with Sixshot and then attacked him, the battle taking them into a strange chamber where an "intruder alert" alarm began to blare. There, Sixshot shot Goldbug point-blank in the chest, and his remaining two comrades fared little better.

But just as Sixshot was about to execute Searchlight, the city around them awakened. A giant fist smashed Sixshot, followed by a similarly proportioned foot. Goldbug and his two companions gaped in awe at the transformed Metroplex, who declared his own position compromised and announced that he was going to leave and hide again. He told them where to find a shuttle and supplies, but Goldbug was indignant, asking him what kind of Autobot would abandon the dying Throttlebots. Metroplex replied that he wept for them, but his mission was more important, and with that, he left. Rollbar and Searchlight, the latter carrying Goldbug, began walking back to recover their teammates. As they pondered how important Metroplex's mission must be and how lonely he surely was, Sixshot stirred... Spotlight: Metroplex

Using Metroplex's shuttle, Goldbug and the other surviving Throttlebots made it off Salvvatan VII, but were tracked by the still-living Sixshot, who ambushed them only a few hundred light years away. Though they were able to badly wound the Six Changer, the damage their vessel sustained caused them to crash-land over the surface of a strange world of titanic flora that Searchlight nicknamed "Botanica". With no way to get offworld, and the rest of the Autobot military more concerned with the Surge, the Throttlebots were forgotten about and could only assume that the Decepticons had won the war. For the next decade, even after the end of the war, they eked out an existence on one of the colossal plants, boiling them to produce an energon substitute and camping out in the wreckage of their ship while awaiting the day that the Decepticons finally found them.

He's upgraded from Bumblebee in the sense that he has TWO canes.

This all changed one evening, when a group of Maximals attacked their campsite. As his fellow Throttlebots fell, Goldbug was rescued by a motley group led by Prowl, who told him that they had been fighting the beastformers and Goldbug was now a part of the team. The Dead Come Home, Part 1 After being informed that everyone believed the Throttlebots to be dead, the group clambered aboard Peaceful Revolution, the group blasted away. The Dead Come Home, Part 2

Continuing to track the Maximals, Goldbug had been repaired by the time Unicron attacked Elonia, taking the helm position alongside Garnak. The group then followed Nemesis to Devisiun as the Chaos Bringer began devouring the planet. Though the group attempted to defend the colony, they were forced to retreat in light of their opposition with Goldbug believing Optimus Prime should assemble a fleet with which to fight off the monster-planet. Unstopped and Unstoppable

After Unicron had destroyed Cybertron, the battle moved to Earth. At Prowl's order, Goldbug quantum jumped to pick up Jazz's group at Mount Rushmore only to wind up materializing underground (he was aiming for "moderate density") and receiving an earful from Garnak for his poor piloting and unfamiliarity with organic planets. A Sunrise Dark He then piloted the ship to Victoria Falls so the crew could join in the final offensive against Unicron and its followers. Assembly Goldbug, Garnak, and Wheelie greeted Prowl and Stardrive as they took Shockwave into custody after Unicron had been defeated. Ceremony

Beast Wars: Uprising

During the horrific event known as the Rending, Throttlebot commander Goldbug's vocoder was shredded, leaving him unable to speak. He instead communicated by text dispatch for orders requiring clarity, and snippets of old Earth songs when emotion or urgency was required.

Much much later, during the climax of the Grand Uprising, he was the Builder commander of the strategically critical Yuss Batteries, hardwired into the system. When the Maxilla, the seven fortresses on the Hydrax Plateau guarding the landward approach to the batteries, fell to the Resistance, Goldbug did his best to keep the batteries out of enemy hands. He failed and was forcibly disconnected and interrogated. He refused to yield the command codes, and was knocked unconscious by Lio Convoy. Derailment

He survived the war and, along with a few other Macromaster-sized Builders, bore witness to the new Constructicons at a graduation ceremony. One of the new recruits, Wideload, was a former Throttlebot and traitor to the Autobot cause. The two reached something of an understanding during this hopeful moment. The Inexorable March

Toys

The Transformers

• Goldbug (Throttlebot, 1987/1991)
  • Takara ID number: C-97

• Known designers: Takayuki Ishizawa (TakaraTomy), Takashi Matsuda (initial concept)

The Goldbug version of Bumblebee doubles as the independent Beast Wars: Uprising character Goldbug.

The Goldbug toy transforms into a 1971-72 Volkswagen 1302 “Super Beetle”. Like all Throttlebots, it features a pull-back motor that zips him forward in both vehicle and robot modes. In 1991, the Throttlebots were re-released in European markets as part of the "Classics" sub-line. Goldbug was retooled to remove the rubsign indent on his roof/chest, and the rubsign decal itself was replaced with a glossy-paper Autobot sigil.

• More information on Goldbug at TFU.info
• Image gallery of Goldbug at Seibertron.com

Notes

• Goldbug owes his existence to IDW editor/writer Andy Schmidt's decision to make the IDW version of Goldbug a character who is separate from the 2005 IDW version of Bumblebee just as Megatron and Galvatron are separate.
  • And then Hasbro released a G1 Goldbug-inspired redeco/retool of a Bumblebee toy, which itself was directly based on an IDW design, and explicitly identified the toy as a new form of Bumblebee in its on-packaging bio. What's more, the toy design was even to be featured in IDW's comics due to a re-emerged desire on Hasbro's behalf to have its Generations toys promoted by the comics. Conveniently, the name "Goldbug" was unavailable for trademark reasons at the time, so the toy was released under the substitute name "Goldfire" instead; and when the toy design was introduced in the comics, that name was merely referenced in a throwaway line, while the character still went by the name "Bumblebee". Phew!
• Goldbug's Cybertronian alternate mode appears to be an homage to Bumblebee's, as seen in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
• Goldbug's characterization in Beast Wars: Uprising borrows heavily from the 2007 film series interpretation of Bumblebee.