Bumblebee (G1)
Bumblebee is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity. He was known as Goldbug for a time.
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.
As Goldbug, his rebuilt and "matured" form, Bumblebee retains most of his earlier strengths and weaknesses, but without his crippling need for approval. (This is true of some "matured" versions of Bumblebee without new names or bodies, as well, but is quite markedly associated with the change to Goldbug).
French-Canadian name: Bourdon/Coccinelle
Japanese name: Bumble/Goldback
European-market name: Wagenbot
South American name: Volks
Fiction
Marvel Comics Continuity
Conflicting Goldbug origins
In G.I. Joe and the Transformers, Bumblebee is destroyed by G.I. Joe due to a misunderstanding. They later rebuild him as Goldbug with help from Ratchet (G1). However, Marvel UK did not initially print the crossover, so an alternate origin for Goldbug was conceived. In the pages of the UK comic, Bumblebee was destroyed by a time-travelling Death's Head and repaired by a time-travelling Wreck-Gar. (The Marvel Joe/TF crossover was published in the UK towards the end of the series.) The conflicting origins for Goldbug is the single largest difference between the American and British Marvel Transformers comics.
Animated continuity
Voice Actor: Dan Gilvezan (US), Yoku Shioya (Japan)
He was on the Ark, which landed on Earth 4 million years ago, went sleepy, woke up in 1984 as a Volkswagen Beetle.
In 2005, he and Jazz were on Moonbase 1. Unicron ate it.
When the body of Optimus Prime was retrieved by Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan, Rodimus Prime led a team that included Bumblebee to investigate. However, Bumblebee and his teammates were attacked by a Hate Plague-infested Superion and heavily damaged. After Optimus Prime was rebuilt by the Quintessons, so too was Bumblebee into a more powerful but similar form. Bumblebee remarked that he now looked like a "gold bug." Optimus Prime decided this would be his new name.
Goldbug journeyed with Optimus Prime and the other survivors to Chaar in search of a heat-resistent alloy that could insulate Prime from the Hate Plague. However, infected Decepticon forces attacked and contaminated Goldbug as well.
Dreamwave Comics continuity
IDW Comics continuity
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. At the bunker, while the humans are inside, two Decepticons attack, and Bumblebee manages to take down Skywarp, but not before Ratchet is shot by Blitzwing.
Bumblebee uses a "holomatter" avatar when in public to avoid looking like an unmanned vehicle, which has the appearance of a young human female. It is unknown how he handles the voice matter.
IDW "Hearts of Steel" continuity
Timelines
Energon cartoon
A robot using Bumblebee's character model is shown in a still-shot flashback as a member of the Autobot group led by Rodimus. Whether this robot is an alternate-universe incarnation of Bumblebee or simply a similar-looking robot is --like all Unicron Trilogy character-model cameos-- left to conjecture.
Toys
Generation 1
- Bumblebee (Mini Vehicle)
- Japanese ID number: 11, C-56
- Bumblebee's original toy, released in 1984 and in Japan in 1985, transformed into a "penny-racer"-proportioned Volkwagen Beetle. The toy, taken from the Japanese Microchange line, was released in both red and yellow versions in the US, and was available through the first three years of the series, the entire duration of the Mini Vehicle assortment.
- Bumblebee was released in a wide variety of colors in markets south of the border; a blue version has surfaced from Mexico, while both metallic gold and gunmetal-silver versions have appeared from South American companies Antex and Estrella.
- Bumblebee was reissiued as a keychain by Fun4All under license form Hasbro in the US in 2001. Along with haing its rear bumper retooled to accommodate the chain, 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 series also had a black "chase" version.
- In 2004, Bumblebee was again reissiued in Japan in a six-toy multi-pack alongside Huffer, Cosmos, Gears, Powerglide and Warpath, but this time with a cartoon-accurate head.
- The original mold is also used by Volks. The keychain version is used by Glyph, while the new-head multi-pack version was used to make Bug Bite.
- Goldbug (Throttlebot)
- Japanese ID number: C-97
- 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.
- Bumblebee (Pretender)
- 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, but with the inner-robot gun to his teammate Jazz, who had Bumblebee's small gun in exchange. The Legends figure was also sold in a set with Legends Grimlock, Jazz and Starscream in Japan the same year.
- Bumblebee (Action Master)
- A non-transforming action figure that mixed cartoon model with toy-detail, Bumblebee's Action Master release came with a Heli-Pack that transforms into a large gun with spring-loaded deploying barrel. This release makes Bumblebee the only character to have a toy of some kind available during the entire original Transformers production run (from 1984-1990).
- Bumble (Smallest Transformers)
- Bumblebee was released in 2003 in the Japanese Smallest Transformers line as a scaled-down version of his original toy, in both yellow and a "chase" red color scheme.
Generation 2
- Bumblebee (Mini Vehicle)
- Bumblebee's first Generation 2 toy was a redeco of his original toy, but with gold chrome on the previously yellow parts.
- Bumblebee (Go-Bot)
- Bumblebee's second release in the Generation 2 line was as a recolor of the Go-Bot High Beam, transforming into a concept race car with exposed rear engine.
- This mold was also used to make Crosswise and Nightracer.
Alternators
- One of the earliest proposals in the Alternators line, line-art of a "new Beetle" incarnation of Bumblebee (with a Cliffjumper retooling) has been revealed by Takara in their Binaltech sourcebook. However, since Volkswagen rejected Hasbro/Takara's licensing pitch, the toy never progressed beyond line-art phase.
Classics
- Bumble-bee
Merchandise
External links
