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

Marvel The Transformers comics

While he was enjoying A Kiss for Us (and a kiss with Jesse, much to "O"'s annoyance) at the Community Drive-In, Buster's car was rear-ended by a fender-bending Beetle. As Buster got out to investigate, the drive-in was attacked by three fighter jets and he urged his friends to get away, though he stayed with the Volkswagon[sic] because he heard it cry out in pain. While the battle at the drive-in continued to rage, Buster took the "bug" back to his father's garage. The Transformers

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 4 Man and Machine, Part Two

After Bumblebee had been elected as the new Autobot leader, Things 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 damaged, The 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 referred to him as 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 (having been founded by the German Labour Front of the Nazi Party no less). 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 brand 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, the same year the Bumblebee film came out, Hasbro released a Walmart exclusive "Vintage G1" reissue of the original 1984 Generation 1 Bumblebee figure. No doubt taking advantage of the existing licensing deal with Volkswagen thanks to the film's associated toyline, the packaging declares this reissue a "Volkswagen Official Licensed Product", thus making this the first release of the original G1 figure that was officially approved by the car manufacturer.

Notes

  • The correct spelling is "Volkswagen", not "Volkswagon".
  • Contrary to common misconceptions, the relationship between Porsche and Volkswagen is a lot more complicated than one being the parent company of the other one (which hasn't been true until a few years ago). Here's the cliff notes version: Company founder Ferdinand Porsche designed the original "Volkswagen" ("people's car"), later also called the "KdF" car ("Kraft durch Freude", "power through joy"), which later became known as the "Volkswagen Type 1", or "Volkswagen Beetle", or "Bug". However, Volkswagen and Porsche officially remained two separate companies, even though they collaborated on several projects, each company held stock of the other one, and members of the Porsche family as well as the Piëch family, which is related to the Porsche family, have been members of on the boards of directors and the supervisory boards of the two companies for decades. It's all very complicated, really. In 2005, the much smaller Porsche AG tried to take over the larger Volkswagen AG but eventually failed. Instead, Volkswagen then began taking over Porsche in 2009. The takeover was completed in 2012.

References

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