Volkswagen

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Volkswagen (literally "the people's car") is a German multinational automobile manufacturer founded in 1937, known for their iconic Type 1, better known under its nickname "Beetle".

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Complete with Lindsay Lohan holomatter avatar.

For several years, Bumblebee used a Volkswagen Beetle as his disguise, much to the rejoice of the human Verity Carlo, who referred to his alternate mode under the less common nickname "bug".Infiltration issue 3 In this form, he was equipped with weaponry which he could deploy without the need to transform into his robot mode.Infiltration issue 4Man and Machine, Part Two

After Bumblebee had been elected as the new Autobot leaderThings Fall Apart, Part 1: "New Arrivals, Old Encounters"The Hanging Sword, he made a fateful deal with a rogue Skywatch colonel named Gordon Horiuchi, who promised the Autobots protection from Skywatch, but in return equipped them with new badges that allowed him to lock them into vehicle mode if they stepped out of line. After Bumblebee's badge had been damagedThe Impossible Knot, the Autobots used a real Volkswagen Beetle as a decoy to distract Horiuchi while Bumblebee was looking for a way to disable the other Autobots' badges. He eventually tracked down a Skywatch scientist named Sanjay Bharwaney and befriended his daughter Serena, who called him a "funny car".The Gift Horse After the situation with Colonel Horiuchi was resolved, Bumblebee had Ratchet upgrade his body, finally abandoning his Volkswagen Beetle alternate mode for good.Wings of Wax

Bumblebee film

After initially transforming into a Willys Jeep, Bumblebee scanned a Volkswagen Beetle after limping into a nearby riverbank. Bumblebee

Toys

Toys in italics indicate an unlicensed alternate mode.

Volkswagen Type 1 ("Beetle")

The legally questionable original.
Micro Change
  • MC-04 Mini Car Robo 03 Volkswagen Beetle (available in yellow, red or blue)
The Transformers ("Generation 1")
Generation 2
Smallest Transforming Transformers
  • GTF 04 Bumble (2003, yellow)
  • GTF X-2 Bumble (2003, red, unlicensed)
The Transformers Collection
  • 12 Minibot Team: Bumble (2004)
Collector's Edition
Transformers Encore
The watershed moment.
Masterpiece
Masterpiece Movie Series
Generations
Vintage G1
Bumblebee (movie toyline)
Buzzworthy Bumblebee

Volkswagen and "war toys"

In your dreams only.

Volkswagen, not unlike Porsche, has had a rather complicated relationship with the Transformers franchise: Back when the toy that would ultimately become the original Bumblebee was created for Takara's Micro Change line, car manufacturers weren't particularly concerned with their designs being used by toy companies. The same applied when Hasbro obtained the rights for releasing Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change figures under the original Transformers line.

That attitude changed after the turn of the millennium. In 2002, when Hasbro and Takara were planning their Alternators/Binaltech line of Transformers figures that turned into officially licensed cars, one of their earliest designs was for Bumblebee as a Volkswagen New Beetle (the 1997-onwards successor of the classic "Beetle"), but like Porsche, Volkswagen outright refused any sort of cooperation, not wanting anything to do with what they considered "war toys", not least because of the company's troubled origins during World War II. As a result, multiple toys of Bumblebee over the years have been fored to used a more generic hatchback car alternate mode as opposed to the original Beetle design. Bumblebee's appearance in comics was not affected, as he was still drawn as a classic Beetle in Dreamwave and IDW's comics.

It wasn't until the live-action film series made the Transformers name a multi-media franchise that was more well-known far beyond its toy and cartoon roots that Volkswagen had a change of mind, first licensing the Beetle for Takara's Japanese Masterpiece line in 2014, and subsequently also for Hasbro's release of the same figure in 2016. The Bumblebee film then saw a fully-fledged partnership between Hasbro, Paramount Pictures and Volkswagen, with the latter officially participating in the film's marketing, particularly in their home country of Germany.

In 2018, a Walmart exclusive "Vintage G1" reissue of the original 1984 Generation 1 Bumblebee figure was released, marking the first release of the figure that was officially licensed by Volkswagen, as evidenced by the presence of a "Volkswagen Official Licensed Product" symbol on the back of the packaging.

Notes

References

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