Plight of the Bumblebee!

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They're actually both looking for characterization.

<span style="font-size:125%;font-weight:900;">Let's see what you can see...</span><hr /> This article is in need of images.

</div><small>Specifics: IDW Generations #4 covers</small> </td></tr></table> </center> <table class="infobox" style="width: 20em;">

<tr style="background-color:#e7d492;text-align:center;font-size:12px;"> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> <table width="100%" style="background-color:transparent">

<tr style="font-size:14px;"> <td class="tti_buttonlink">« </td><td align="center">The Transformers (US) #16 </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink">» </td></tr> <tr class="tt1_secondarynav"> <td class="tti_buttonlink">« </td><td align="center">The Transformers (UK) #57–58 </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink">» </td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 12px; background-color:#ffffff;" align="center"> <img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/b/ba/MarvelUS-16.jpg/230px-MarvelUS-16.jpg" width="230" height="347" border="0" /><br />The most evil of Decepticons, Buzzsaw, aims for the crotch. </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> "Plight of the Bumblebee!" </td></tr> <tr> <td>Publisher </td><td> Marvel Comics </td></tr> <tr> <td>Date published </td><td> January 1986 </td></tr> <tr> <td>Cover date </td><td> May 1986 </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Story </td><td> Len Kaminski </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Pencils </td><td> Graham Nolan </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Inks </td><td> Tom Morgan </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Colors </td><td> Nel Yomtov </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Letters </td><td> Bill Oakley </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Editor </td><td> Mike Carlin </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Continuity </td><td> Marvel Comics continuity </td></tr>

</table> Bumblebee is isolated and pursued by a group of Decepticons.

Synopsis

Shockwave intends to capture the Autobot Bumblebee and install a device that will make Bumblebee his slave, allowing him to conquer the Autobots.

At the Ark, Bumblebee is feeling useless after their last battle. He decides to abandon the Autobots, feeling that they would be better off without him.

Driving through the city, Laserbeak soon locates Bumblebee; a whole squad of Decepticons attacks him out of the blue. Damaged, Bumblebee evades them by hiding out in an impound lot and shutting down his systems. The ruse works, and the Decepticons withdraw, waiting for him to reactivate. Meanwhile, the Autobots have observed news footage of the attack, and mobilize to search for their missing comrade.

Later that night, a couple of joyride-seeking teens decide that a Volkswagen Beetle will make a nice inconspicuous choice of vehicles to steal. Bumblebee goes along with the theft, actually enjoying the ability to show off his better-than-average driving abilities when the pair is challenged by a hot rod driver. When his damages cause him to sputter out, one of the teens makes some repairs, restoring him to full power, but this soon alerts the Decepticons, who attack again, to the humans' shock.

Bumblebee prepares to make a last stand to defend himself and his new friends. The timely arrival of Jetfire buys him some time, but Jetfire is quickly shot down; Bumblebee cannot help him, as he must save the humans from a collapsing overpass. Surrounded, Bumblebee is saved at the last moment by the arrival of Optimus Prime and a convoy of Autobots, and realizes his true place is with the Autobot team.

Quotes

"Cheese, Waldo -- I never seen a VW that could do 200 before."

—Ernie is impressed by Bumblebee's speed.

"Oh, no! Oh, man! Oh, momma!"

—Waldo is impressed by Bumblebee's driving.

"Lessee, the doohickey is connected to the framistat, which is plugged into the thingamabob... which goes to the whatchamacallit!"

—Waldo works some repair magic.

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

<table border="5" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" align="center" style="border:#800000"> <tr> <th style="background:#FFEEEE"> Autobots</th><th style="background:#EEEEFE"> Decepticons</th><th style="background:antiquewhite"> Humans </th></tr> <tr> <td style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top">

• Bumblebee (1)
• Optimus Prime (6)
• Ratchet (7)
• Wheeljack (8)
• Jetfire (9)
• Bluestreak (10)

</td><td style="background:#EEEEFE" valign="top">

• Starscream (2)
• Shockwave (3)
• Thundercracker (4)
• Skywarp (5)
• Laserbeak (11)
• Buzzsaw (12)

</td><td style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top"> Guests

• Waldo and Ernest (13)

</td></tr></table>

Errors

• On the first page, the schematics of Bumblebee that Shockwave examines are based on his toy, not his comic book design.
• "Laserbeak" is consistently misspelled as "Lazerbeak".
• "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Volkswagen">Volkswagen</a>" is repeatedly misspelled as "Volkswagon".
• As Bumblebee leaves the Autobots, he passes a sign on which Mount St. Hilary is misspelled "Hillary".
• The cover bears the blurb, "Bumblebee's last stand!" Actually, he had lots more stands after this one.
• It's nearly impossible to tell whether the non-Starscream jet is Thundercracker or Skywarp. He is never named, and both their Marvel Color models were solid dark blue, though the lack of red stripes on his wings tips the odds towards Skywarp.

Items of note

• This is the first issue not written by Bob Budiansky since Budiansky started writing the US Marvel series with issue #5.
• Comic book writer Peter David stated in an interview that he originally turned in a draft for this fill-in-story featuring Bumblebee, but the script was somehow lost, so Marvel commissioned this issue to take its place instead.
• This issue was reprinted as issue #4 of IDW Publishing's Generations series.
• Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's presence in this issue raises interesting questions, explored further in the notes for "The Bridge to Nowhere!".
• The exact nature of Shockwave's plan is never revealed, beyond "control Bumblebee".
• The issue's title is a pun on the famous piece of music, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Bumblebee" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Flight_of_the_Bumblebee">Flight of the Bumblebee</a>.

Covers (3)

<table class="gallery" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/b/ba/MarvelUS-16.jpg/79px-MarvelUS-16.jpg" width="79" height="119" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> US issue #16 - Woe, woe is me

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/8/84/MarvelUK-57.jpg/90px-MarvelUK-57.jpg" width="90" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> UK issue #57 - Shockwave sets his sights high...

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/c/c7/MarvelUK-58.jpg/91px-MarvelUK-58.jpg" width="91" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> UK issue #58 - Don't shoot the kid-friendly character!

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• US cover: Bumblebee attacked by the Decepticons, by Herb Trimpe.
• UK issue #57 cover: Shockwave examining Bumblebee's schematics, by John Stokes.
• UK issue #58 cover: reuse of art from US cover with some judicious editing.

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