Bee in the City 2: Electric Bugaloo

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"Bee in the City 2: Electric Boogaloo"
Original presentation April 29, 2012
Written by Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Continuity TransTech and a Generation 1 universe

"Joe" escapes from Axiom Nexus with his most devious scheme yet: marketing clout!

Synopsis

Across the mutliverse, the Transformers fight their war, raging across all of space time, except for one universe. This universe, home to the the highly advanced TransTechs of Axiom Nexus, stands guard to multiversal threats, one of which is happening right now, one that could change the multiverse forever.

This is not that story.

Reporting from Around Cybertron on ANN, Andromeda receives a call from a "Joe", who reveals live on-air that he is in fact the Predacon Megatron! Hanging up from the payphone as Andromeda traces the call and signals the authorities, exactly as he planned. Interrupted by his supervisor, Snapdragon, Megatron tells him to inform Cryotek that he's done watering down liquor, and explains to his lackeys Soundwave of Planet X and a Malgus Lugnut his plan. Having been previously defeated by the TransTech, along with a little yellow Autobot and his pre-teen friend, Megatron will finally have his revenge, which starts with being arrested. Officer Stungun arrives, and Megatron tells the three to comply. Reading their identification bolts, which Soundwave has hacked and edited to place their home dimension as Primax 984.17 Alpha, the underpaid Stungun sends them back to their "home universe". Arriving in the rocky mesas of Madagascar, the three quickly travel across the globe with a scene transition, where Lugnut finds the sign pointing to Autobot Headquarters. The three watch as three Autobots-Bumblebee, Blaster, and Road Rage, who has always been there-wander about. Megatron greet the three, introducing himself and his team as "Joe", "Soundblaster", and Lugnut, a group of publishing agents from Planet X. "Joe" entices Bumblebee with an offer to have him write his memoirs, but when Bumblebee sees that his "office" is a car wash, he gets suspicious. As he and Blaster banter, Megatron springs the trap, forcing the three Autobots into the carwash, which is really a giant burlap sack.

Meanwhile, Stungun, having realized his mistake, has enlisted the help of an Aurex Optimus Prime to go and hunt down Megatron. Knowing from his experiences with his Megatron that the Predacon will go for the closest plot device he can find, and the two set out. At Megatron's secret canyon based, Bumblebee and his friends have been wired up to a huge machine, as Joe reveals his true identity to the three. Before he can explain his nefarious plan, however, Optimus Prime and Stungun confront him, having bribed the writers with sandwiches. Megatron grabs Bumblebee, telling them to stay back, and Prime stops Stungun from advancing, realizing with this particular Bumblebee, the entire franchise could be changed forever. Megatron laughs, telling them all his plan; using Bumblebee's harmonic signature amplified through Soundwave and Blaster's sonic energies, and aided with the instability caused by this years "Invasion" exclusive comic, Megatron will rewrite his narrative structure and take Bumblebee's place. Doing so, he will gain the greatest power of them all: being the face of the franchise! And after all that is done, Megatron will send Bumblebee to the most horrible place of all: the world of My Little Pony fanfictions. Horrifed, the others beg Optimus to stop him, and Prime quickly uses Megatron's one weakness: flattery. Reminding him that he's already popular, and one of the most well regarded versions of Megatron by the fandom, the Autobots manage to convince him to let Bumblebee go, but he still plans on kill Optimus. Thinking fast, Bumblebee rushes to the red button marked "overload", causing the machines to blow up in Megatron's face. The other two are quickly defeated in combat, and Megatron rants, letting it slip that he hails from the Beast Wars. Stungun tells everyone to never speak of these events again, and they all agree, going home to their respective times and places, and everyone laughs as the day comes to a close.

The end!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons/Predacons Others

Quotes

Notes

Continuity notes

  • This story follows the events of the original "Bee in the City" a few years later, with Megatron attempting to get his "extremely overwrought and melodramatic revenge." The story also takes place around the same time as the BotCon 2012 comic "Invasion", the multiversal fallout of which Megatron attempts to use in his scheme.
  • The beginning narration mentions that there is over fifteen quadrillion realities in the multiverse, a fact originally spouted by Bug Bite in "Games of Deception".
  • Andromeda and Around Cybertron showed up in the two TransTech-themed Around Cybertron comic strips, published in the last two issues of the 2008 Club Magazine run.
  • Cryotek and his business showed up in the TransTech prose stories published in 2008.

Transformers references

  • Characters in the story include:
    • Beast Wars Megatron.
    • Cybertron Soundwave and Optimus Prime.
    • Animated Lugnut.
    • Generation 1 Snapdragon, who serves as Megatron's manager at Cryotek's place.
    • Along with original The Transformers characters Bumblebee and Blaster, Road Rage, a Collector's Edition e-HOBBY exclusive, appears. Her function as a bodyguard is mentioned in passing.
  • Megatron claims he is the winner of the Smoothest Voice in Axiom Nexus Award three years running, in reference to actor David Kaye's baritone Megatron voice.
  • Megatron works for Cryotek, watering down his drinks; various versions of him worked for their universe's Cryotek before betraying him.
  • While Megatron and Soundwave's i.d. bolts have been edited to present them as being their counterparts from the original cartoon, Lugnut's has been edited so that it claims he is the Giant Purple Griffin from "Aerial Assault".
  • Much of this story is dedicated to lightly ribbing on the various quirks and oddities of the original cartoon:
    • Madagascar is described as being full of rocky mesas, rather than the jungle it is in the real world; while mostly consistent, The Transformers had the occasional geographical slip-up. Additionally, rocky mesas were an exceptionally common feature in the first two seasons of The Transformers. Prime later quips in the story that this Earth looks more like "Planet Utah."
    • Megatron and his crew travel to the opposite side of the world with the scene transition effect from the original cartoon; the Autobots occasionally traveled great distances with little to no indication how, such as in "Changing Gears", when they traveled from the American Southwest to Africa. Speaking of the American Southwest, Autobot Headquarters was there, but it was never specified which state, something that Lugnut pokes fun at.
    • The three find Autobot base by a large, conveniently labelled sign; odd, unnecessary signage was a fairly common oddity among various 80's cartoons, although it wasn't used specifically for Autobot HQ in The Transformers.
    • Bumblebee, Blaster, and Road Rage are wandering about aimlessly, which is often how various Transformers walked into the plot of the episode.
    • Bumblebee tries to tell Blaster and Road Rage about the time he and Spike were captured and stopped Megatron's evil plans, to which the two respond that he'll have to narrow it down; this happened a lot in various episodes throughout the series.
    • Megatron tells the others to walk in and act like they've been their the whole time, as that's how others get introduced; this happened for the majority of season 2 The Transformers characters. Additionally, when Road Rage goes unrecognized, Bumblebee claims she's been here the entire time.
    • When Road Rage wonders why they can't break free of the burlap sack, Megatron tells her to pretend he said something sciency; something that many, many cartoons, including The Transformers, did and still do.
    • Stungun states that a MacGuffin pops up on this Earth just about every week; as often seen when Megatron tried to steal whichever one was in that particular episode.
    • Megatron's secret base is in an exposed canyon, as was the Decepticon's space bridge tests in "Transport to Oblivion". Megatron wires the three Autobots into a purple machine there; all of the Decepticon's machinery in the original cartoon was purple.
    • When imitating his Megatron, Bumblebee puts on a raspy voice, pretends to show off his latest stolen alien device/evil invention that won't backfire, on him, and then shouts "Decepticons, retreat!" Later in the story, as the Autobots flatter Megatron, Blaster points out that all of Megatron's best plans relies on stealing stuff from humans.
    • Bumblebee destroys Megatron's machines by pressing a big read button marked "Overload," similar to the one from much-reviled The Transformers episode "B.O.T."
    • Lugnut and Soundwave's blasts miss the Autobots by three meters, prompting Road Rage to call them expert marksmen; the Transformers gunfights in the original cartoon often proved quite useless due to being on broadcast television.
    • The script reading ends with the cast all ending, as many 80's cartoons often did.
  • Other shows prove no less immune:
    • When Lugnut marvels at how fast they traveled, Megatron claims that he once walked from Africa to the Arctic, as seen in "Fallen Comrades".
    • Prime claims that Megatron will reach for the closest plot device and make a lengthy speech, something that both the Unicron Trilogy and Beast Era Megatrons did.
    • Before seeing each other, Megatron and Prime both assume that the other is their universe's version of the character, as Gary Chalk and David Kaye voiced the Optimus and Megatron of both series. When Megatron sees Prime, he questions why he's a flying fire truck and not a monkey (referencing the old "Trukk not munky" turn of phrase), and why is CGI is cel-shaded, a method that Cybertron employed instead of the tradition CGI seen in Beast Wars. Prime, meanwhile, questions why Megatron isn't an ill-defined jet-car (his Megatron's alt-mode from Cybertron) and why he has a "hand puppet" (Megatron's beast mode head).
    • Prime shouts his attack as he punches Megatron, something which Cybertron sometimes did, and which pops up numerous times in other Transformers anime.
  • Bumblebee calls Megatron a "meaty little Dinobot."
  • Soundwave uses the alias "Soundblaster" when initially introduced to the Autobots, the name taken by Generation 1 Soundwave after being upgraded in The Headmasters.
  • Megatron claims he and his crew are publishing agents from Planet X, Soundwave's homeworld from Cybertron.
  • Stungun tries to use stasis cuffs on Megatron, a piece of technology introduced in Animated.
  • Possible reasons the Autobots think of for Megatron wanting to take Bumblebee's place include assassinating Optimus Prime, as he attempted in "The Agenda (Part III)", stealing the Matrix of Leadership, and dating Juanita, Luisa's brothers convertible mentioned in "Fire on the Mountain".
  • Things Megatron claims he will do once he takes Bumblebee's place include: have Armada Hot Shot vaguely remind people of him (as Hot Shot was designed to take Bumblebee's place); be packed on 4 cards in a case of 8 toys (in reference to the live-action movie toyline's utter glut of Bumblebee toys); and being a sweet Camaro hanging out with Shia Labeouf and unrealistically attractive girlfriend (in reference to the live-action movie Bumblebee, who hung out with Sam Witwicky, played by Shia LaBeouf).
  • Optimus Prime points out that Megatron is special, getting to be nominated to the Transformers Hall of Fame separately from the other Megatrons (as he was that year).
  • Stungun asks Prime if he got the Cyber Key (the main MacGuffin from Cybertron) from the Moron Planet when he calls Megatron a "magnificent jerk".
  • The Autobots quote several of Megatron's lines, including "Always send the boob in first!" from "Cutting Edge" and his evergreen catchphrase "Yesss".
  • Optimus says "well, that's just prime," and Blaster points out that he's the wrong Optimus, as that's Optimus Primal's line.
  • Optimus Prime uses a "Galaxy Force Punch," named for the Japanese name for Cybertron.
  • When trying to make up an excuse for being in the wrong timeline, Megatron claims he traveled through the Blasty Zone in search for Solitarium, which another version of him actually did in Robotmasters.

Real-world references

  • The title is a reference to the 1985 film Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, which has been lampooned across pop culture in the years since.
  • As with the original "Bee in the City", the story makes multiple references to the concepts of kid-appeal characters and macguffins.
  • The beginning narration, while describing the story, proclaims that "this is my handle, this is my spout", in reference to the nursery rhyme "I'm a Little Teapot".
  • As they're sent through the multiverse, Soundwave quips that "by Primus, it's full of stars," paraphrasing the famous line from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • Soundwave claims to love the music of Debbie Gibson to show that he is "native" to this timeframe.
  • Megatron attempts to entice Bumblebee with an offer to publish his memoirs as an Autobot, something that Bumblebee finds vaguely familiar, in reference to voice actor Dan Gilvezan's own memoirs, Bumblebee & Me: Life As a G1 Transformer.
  • Megatron proclaims that he is "the Predacon Megatron of the Future from the Past", riffing on the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, a character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
  • Megatron mockingly calls Bumblebee "Herbie," in reference to the other famous Volkswagen Beetle by that name.
  • Optimus claims that one errant shot could accidentally change history and send them to a ThunderCats convention.
  • Soundwave claims that as the kid-appeal character, Megatron's "milkshakes will bring all the boys to the yard," in reference to the song "Milkshake" by Kelis.
  • Megatron plans on banishing Bumblebee to the universe of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; everyone is confused at first, as it's not a terrible fate, until Megatron clarifies he's not sending him to the TV universe, but the universe of fanfics; the more, ah, extreme side of the fandom was well known for their...questionable content.
  • Stungun paraphrase the "Big Cheese" line from Airplane! as the Autobots try to come up with a plan to stop Megatron.
  • As Megatron prepares his hip blasters, he shouts "my hips don't lie!", quoting the lyrics from "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira.

Errors

  • In the beginning narration, the announcer describes the story of "Invasion" as involving two evil minds from across dimensions teaming up. This isn't what happens in the comic; the main antagonist is Ultra Magnus, with Gigatron (presumably who the other evil mind is) fighting against him. Is this from an earlier draft, or just a plain mistake?

Trivia

  • Though titled "Bee in the City 2", the story has very little to do with the first "Bee in the City" story aside from the return of Megatron and his manipulating a Bumblebee character. Towards the end, the characters even question why this story was even titled "Bee in the City 2" since it didn't take place in a city or really focus that much on Bumblebee at all.
  • Having not played Blaster in over two decades, Buster Jones's performance in this script reading was far more laid back and unenthusiastic compared his more lively, upbeat Blaster in the The Transformers cartoon, despite his dialogue in this script reading evidently meant to evoke Jones's more enthusiastic Blaster performance from the cartoon.
  • Not really an error, but it's never said where Prime comes from. He's not a member of the group of Optimus Prime seen in "Invasion Prologue" (later given the name the Convoy) and he's never seen in subsequent stories.
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