Bumblebee (G1)

Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity.

Bumblebee, Espionage

Bumblebee is one of the smallest and weakest Autobots. While this does allow him to do his job better than most Autobots could manage, he is self-conscious about his size. He looks up (so to speak) to the other Autobots, but what he doesn't realize is that they look up to him. He may be small, but he's brave, and he's one of the most likeable Autobots around. Bumblebee already has the respect he craves.

Fiction

Animated Continuity

Voice Actor: Dan Gilvezan (US), ? (Japan)

IDW Continuity

Artist E.J. Su redesigned Bumblebee for the IDW "Infiltration" series.

Bumblebee is part of a secret Autobot outpost on Earth. When Ratchet blows their cover by rescuing a trio of humans, Bumblebee is the one Autobot who supports his efforts. He encompanies Ratchet and the humans to investigate an abandoned Decepticon bunker in Nebraska.

Toys

Generation 1

Left to right, starting at the top: Original Bumblebee's head and Goldbug's head, Cliffjumper's head and Pretender Classics Bumblebee's head, Action Master Bumblebee's head and reissue Bumblebee's head. (The Action Master's head is really only there to fill the hole.)

Bumblebee's original toy, released in 1984 and in Japan in 1985, transformed into a chibi VW Beetle. The toy, taken from the Japanese Microchange line, was released in both red and yellow versions in the US, and in many colors in South America. Bumblebee was reissiued as a keychain in the US in 2001. The keychain form lacked the "Dunlop" text on the tires, and was also released in Japan in 2003 as a 7-Eleven exclusive. The Japanese keychain also had a black "chase" version. In 2004, Bumblebee was again reissiued in Japan alongside Huffer, Cosmos, Gears, Powerglide and Warpath, but this time with a cartoon-accurate head.

• The Throttlebot Goldbug was released in 1987, and like the other Throttlebots, he had a pull-back motor and a simple transformation. The vehicle mode was not designed to look like a penny racer, as the original toy was, so its variation on the Volkswagen Beetle was much more realistically-proportioned. Though the other Throttlebots seem to have always been intended to be new characters, Goldbug's head was based directly on that of Bumblebee's original toy. Bumblebee was the first Transformer to be given a second toy.

• In 1989, Bumblebee was released as a Classic Pretender. Bumblebee was still a Volkswagen Beetle, but now had what looked like off-road tires. He came with a gun for his robot mode that could be mounted on his roof and another gun for his Human shell. Oddly, the robot's head is modelled after Cliffjumper's toy head. The inner robot was sold without the shell as a K-Mart exclusive Legends figure. The Legends figure was also sold in a set with Legends Grimlock, Jazz and Starscream in Japan the same year.

• Bumblebee was released in 2003 in the Japanese World's Smallest Transformers line as a scaled-down version of his original toy, in both yellow and a "chase" red color scheme.

• Bumblebee's Action Master release came with a heli-pack that transformed into a large gun.

Generation 2

• Bumblebee's first Generation 2 toy was a redeco of his original toy, but with gold chrome on the previously yellow parts.

• Bumblebee's second release in the Generation 2 line was as a recolor of the Gobot Highbeam.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.