Bumblebee (Movie)

The name or term "Bumblebee" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bumblebee (disambiguation).

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Bumblebee is an Autobot from the live-action film continuity family. He is also known as N.B.E.-02.

SAM, I AM YOUR CAR...

Bumblebee is one of Optimus Prime's most trusted lieutenants. Although he is not the strongest or most powerful of the Autobots, Bumblebee more than makes up for this with a bottomless well of luck, determination and bravery. He would gladly give his life to protect others and stop the Decepticons.

Badly damaged in battle, Bumblebee lost the ability to speak verbally, though he can still communicate over inter-Autobot frequencies (in a fashion that seems somewhat akin to instant messaging, a usable but more distant and less personal means of interaction). He can also communicate with the Autobots' human allies and his friend, Sam Witwicky, by playing audio clips from popular media on his radio.

If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.Bumblebee quoting Forrest Gump to Sam, Revenge of the Fallen

Fiction

Movies

The four movies are the primary component of the live-action movie continuity family. Their events should be taken as canon for all other pieces of fiction listed below, unless otherwise specified.

Transformers film

Voice actor: Mark Ryan (English), Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japan radio voice) Akio Kato (Japan normal voice), Helmut Gauß (German), Eduardo Borgerth (Brazil), Omar Soto (Latin American-Spanish Radio voice), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish normal voice)

The old old and the new old.

When the Autobots scattered to the stars in search of the lost AllSpark, Bumblebee made his way to the planet Earth, where he connected the trail of the lost relic to the Witwicky family line. Disguising himself as a battered 1970s Camaro, he followed Ron Witwicky and his son Sam to a second rate car dealership and slipped himself amongst the vehicles, intending to have the boy purchase him so that he could get close to the family. When proprietor Bobby Bolivia couldn't agree on a price, however, it looked like Sam would wind up buying another car, so Bumblebee used a high-frequency sound wave to blow out the windows of every other vehicle in the lot, leaving Bolivia with no choice but to sell him.

YOU BIG WINNER, HAHAHA.

The next day, Sam and his friend Miles Lancaster drove Bumblebee down to a party at the lake, where the disguised Autobot decided to do the boy a favor, playing "Drive" on his radio to subtly convince Sam to kick Miles out and offer his crush Mikaela Banes a ride home. When he neared a romantic spot overlooking the city, Bumblebee turned off his engine and began playing romantically suggestive songs; this didn't have the intended effect, and Bumblebee had to abruptly turn himself back on again when Mikaela started to walk off. After they returned Mikaela home, Bumblebee drove off during the night; Sam, believing it to be a car theft, followed him to a junkyard and witnessed the robot-mode Bumblebee sending a beacon into space to summon his fellow Autobots. Apparently unaware that he had been spotted, Bumblebee then scared off the junkyard's two guard dogs when they menaced Sam.

When Bumblebee returned to the Witwicky home the next day, a terrified Sam fled from what he dubbed "Satan's Camaro", only to wind up being attacked by the Decepticon Barricade, who was also on the trail of the AllSpark. While fleeing this new threat, Sam ran into Mikaela, and Bumblebee then snatched the pair up and drove them away, with Barricade in hot pursuit. Taking refuge at a deserted chemical plant, Bumblebee revealed his robot form to the two humans so he could engage Barricade in combat, eventually knocked the Decepticon out after a brawl. Afterward, Bumblebee—able only to communicate in sound bites broadcast over his radio—properly introduced himself to Sam and Mikaela, and drove them to nearby Griffith Observatory to watch as the other Autobots he had called upon arrived in the sky overhead. Along the way, when Mikaela wondered aloud why a super-advanced robot turned into a "piece of crap Camaro", a mildly insulted Bumblebee scanned a passing 2009 Camaro, taking on its sleek and shiny form himself.

I may be your guardian, but I will not carry you through a crowd to the music of Whitney Houston.

Bumblebee took his friends to a secluded alleyway, where Sam and Mikaela met the other Autobots, including their leader, Optimus Prime. Medical officer Ratchet explained that Bumblebee's inability to speak was a result of an old injury to his vocal processor, which Ratchet then treated with a regenerative plasma beam. Prime explained that Sam had been targeted because he owned a set of glasses belonging to his grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, which had the location on the AllSpark inscribed on their lenses, and the entire group returned to the Witwicky home so they could obtain them.

Though the glasses were soon found, the forces of Sector Seven soon descended upon the house and apprehended Sam and Mikaela. The Autobots wasted no time in rescuing them, but when the interrogation of Seymour Simmons went nowhere, Bumblebee became so annoyed with his attitude that he released lubricant onto the agent. When Sector Seven reinforcements arrived, the Autobots were forced to hide; unfortunately, Sam and Mikaela fell from their hiding place beneath a bridge, and Bumblebee had to reveal himself to save them. Harpooned and frozen by Sector Seven agents, he was captured by the organization, with Optimus Prime regrettably unable to intercede as he knew the Autobots could not do so without harming the humans.

Taken to Sector Seven's base at Hoover Dam, Bumblebee was continually doused with cryoblasts to keep him subdued while experiments were performed on him, until Sam and Mikaela (with some armed persuasion from Captain Lennox) convinced S7 to let him go. Upon his release, Bumblebee almost lashed out at his human oppressors until Sam calmed him down, informing him of the presence of the AllSpark and Megatron in the facility, and that the Decepticons were coming for both. Following the humans to the AllSpark's chamber, Bumblebee hesitantly reached out to the life source of his people and reformatted it, shrinking the cube until it was a size that the humans could manipulate. Cube in hand, Bumblebee and a military escort fled to Mission City, meeting the Autobots en route.

Soon after Bumblebee and the Autobots arrived in the city, the Decepticons descended in force, with a missile attack from Starscream blowing off Bumblebee's legs. To get him to safety, Mikaela and Sam hoisted Bumblebee onto an abandoned tow truck, but Bumblebee pushed the AllSpark into Sam's hands, urging him to run while he still could. As Sam reluctantly left, Mikaela drove Bumblebee away from the fighting to relative safety, but she was soon overcome with guilt for leaving Sam and the battle. With Bumblebee's assent, she turned headed back in, driving the truck in reverse so that Bumblebee could fire his weapons at Brawl, helping take the tank Decepticon out. Subsequently, Sam used the AllSpark to destroy Megatron, and in the aftermath, Bumblebee found that his voice had returned, and he used it to request permission to remain with Sam. Optimus and Sam agreed, and after his legs were repaired, Bumblebee allowed Sam and Mikaela to make out on top of him as Optimus sent his message to space calling other Autobots to Earth. Transformers

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Mark Ryan (dialogue cut from final movie), Omar Soto, Enrique Cervantes and Arturo Acosta (Latin American-Spanish radio voice)

Two years after the battle of Mission City, his voice still not properly repaired, Bumblebee was dozing in the Witwicky garage the day Sam was packing for Princeton University when a scream from Sam saw him called into action to blast the AllSpark Mutations a surviving sliver of the AllSpark had made of the Witwicky kitchen appliances. Shrugging off Judy Witwicky's complaints that he had blown up much of their house, 'Bee returned to the garage, where he was dismayed to learn that Sam was not planning on taking him to college with him, as just he wanted a normal life.

Hoping that Sam could serve as an ambassador of sorts to help convince the President of the United States that it was important the Autobots stay on Earth to fight off the Decepticons, Optimus Prime had Bumblebee pick up Sam from college so he could talk to him. 'Bee caused trouble for Sam right away, disrupting a frat party he was attending, then wound up with an unwanted passenger in Alice, about whom he could tell something wasn't right. Bonking her head off his dashboard and spraying her in liquid to get rid of her, he then took Sam to meet Optimus, but the boy turned down the Autobot leader's offer. Unfortunately, Sam soon proved to have little choice in whether or not he would be involved in the Transformers' war, when a resurrected Megatron captured him, and Bumblebee and Prime had to come to his rescue. 'Bee took Mikaela and Sam's roommate Leo Spitz, to safety, but Optimus died protecting the boy.

Bumblebee, together with Skids and Mudflap, took the three humans to an abandoned prison where they would be safe, but soon, the Decepticons' master The Fallen struck across Earth, demanding Sam he turned over to them. Bearing Sam no grudge for Optimus's death, Bumblebee promised to help his fugitive friend in any way, though he advised against Sam turning himself in. At Leo's suggestion, the group went to New York City to meet his internet rival, the Robo-Warrior—in actuality, Bumblebee's old lubrication post Seymour Simmons, who provided evidence that a group of Decepticons had been on Earth thousands of years ago. Following this information, the group located and reactivated the ancient Jetfire, who teleported them to Egypt to search for the Matrix of Leadership, which Sam hoped could be used to revive Optimus.

Respect my authoritah!

Bumblebee transported the humans to Petra, the supposed location of the Tomb of the Primes, but when it appeared to be a dead end, the Twins got into an argument over why they were following Sam around. The argument turned into a brawl which threatened to crush the humans in the close quarters, so Bumblebee picked his two subordinates, slammed them together, and threw them out of the temple. However, the Twins' brawl had managed to unearth the Tomb of the Primes, and Bumblebee further opened the hole with his plasma cannon, where they found the Matrix...which instantly turned to dust. Gathering up the dust in hopes it would still work, the team headed back to Egypt, but were assaulted by Starscream on the way. 'Bee, Simmons, Leo, and the Twins led Starscream and the Decepticons away while Sam and Mikaela went on ahead, and when it became apparent that Starscream was no longer pursuing them, Bumblebee left to rejoin the pair.

Move your body Rampage! Yeah, like that, gymnastics are really easy when you have two legs. Oh wait...

Arriving in the abandoned town Sam and Mikaela were hiding from the Decepticons in, Bumblebee found that Sam's parents were being held captive by Rampage. Sam distracted the Constructicon long enough for Bumblebee to jump him, but while they were grappling, Ravage ambushed Bumblebee. The plucky Autobot managed to fight off Ravage and rip out his spine, then overpowered and killed Rampage. At Sam's instruction, Bumblebee took the boy's parents to safety, returning in time to see Sam apparently be killed by a blast from Megatron, upon which he broke down in grief. However, Sam miraculously survived the attack, and with the reformed Matrix of Leadership, resurrected Optimus Prime. Together, the assembled Autobots and humans watched as Optimus combined with the remains of Jetfire, destroyed the harvester and killed The Fallen. Revenge of the Fallen

Dark of the Moon film

Voice actor: N/A (English), Omar Soto, Ferso Velázquez and Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American-Spanish radio voice)

Stealth Force? Right...

Three years after Operation Firestorm, Bumblebee continued to live with Sam and Carly Spencer in Washington, D.C., although he would frequently go on top secret NEST missions with the rest of the Autobots, mostly to prevent human conflict. He was among a force consisting of himself, Sideswipe, Dino and Que which was to investigate an illegal nuclear facility, employing his Stealth Force mode to destroy it. Meanwhile a mission to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant revealed an engine part to a Cybertronian fuel cell belonging to the long lost Ark. Upon returning to the NEST base, Bumblebee assisted in teaching soldiers how to fight Decpticons, and watched as National Intelligence Director Charlotte Mearing informed them that the Ark was on the moon.

Yeah, good thing Que's gone.

After Sam's encounter with Laserbeak, he went looking for Bumblebee with the information given to him by Jerry Wang, about a conspiracy of humans collaborating with the Decepticons. However the guards outside weren't willing to let him in, and after hearing Sam calling for help on a radio Bumblebee went to warn the guards off. Sam told Bumblebee that he wasn't happy that Bumblebee wasn't visiting him very often now, and Wheelie accused him of thinking he was too good for them. Bumblebee witnessed the reactivation of Sentinel Prime, and then went home with Sam, who's offer of help was denied by Mearing. However Sam wasn't ready to let go of the situation, and Bumblebee helped in trying to figure out why Decepticons were killing humans, and took the time to allow Bruce Brazos to get up close and personal.

Here comes another Flight of the Bumblebee joke...

After Sam, Simmons and Dutch learned that the Decepticons had tricked the Autobots into retrieving and reviving Sentinel so that they could use him to work the Space Bridge pillars, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Dino escorted the humans and Sentinel back to the NEST base. Along the way they were attacked by the Dreads, and Bumblebee and Sideswipe used their Stealth Force modes to shoot at Hatchet while Dino held him in place. But when Crankcase knocked a truck into his path, Bumblebee had to transform over the crash, tossing Sam out and then returning to vehicle mode after grabbing Sam. But upon arriving back at NEST, Sentinel revealed he had made a deal with Megatron to restore Cybertron, and Bumblebee was unable to prevent Ironhide from being killed and the base from being destroyed as Sentinel retrieved his pillars.

Bee good.

Bumblebee was among the team tracking Sentinel, but was too late to prevent him from transporting a Decepticon army from the moon to Earth, and as they were horribly outnumbered, Optimus ordered a retreat. When Sentinel forced the humans to exile the Autobots on their ship, the Xantium, Bumblebee was allowed by Optimus a short time to say goodbye to Sam, and assured him he was always going to be his friend, before helping the others prepare the ship for launch. However shortly after lift-off, the Xantium was destroyed by Starscream, and Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots were presumed dead.

If someone asks, I killed Starscream, not you Sam.

However, they had hidden in a rocket booster that was jettisoned before the Xantium's destruction, and arrived in the Decepticon-occupied *Chicago in time to help Sam, Epps and a team of soldiers in finding the kidnapped Carly. Bumblebee piloted one of the downed Decepticon fighters to get Sam into the building Dylan Gould had Carly, and used it to rescue the pair and blasted off Laserbeak's head. He rejoined his fellow Autobots in attacking the Decepticon forces, and arrived in time to save Sam and Lennox from falling to their deaths after Sam managed to kill Starscream.

He's right behind me, isn't he?

However after rejoining the others, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Dino, Ratchet and Que were rounded up and captured by Soundwave and his troops. Dylan convinced Soundwave not to take prisoners, and Barricade and another Decepticon executed Que, and Bumblebee was upset over the loss of his friend. He had barely a moment to mourn as he was pulled forward and about to be killed by Soundwave himself. He then caught sight of Sam and Carly sadly watching the scene and gave a heartfelt last look at his friend as he prepared for the end, noting they "had a hell of a run". It was then that Wheelie and Brains caused chaos by dropping Decepticon fighters from a Decepticon warship above, distracting Soundwave. Taking advantage, Bumblebee took Soundwave on, and following a tumultuous battle, killed the Decepticon officer by throwing an uppercut through his chest and firing his arm cannon upwards, disintegrating his head.

(Looking at Ratchet strangely) "Er, why are you touching me like that?"

Following this, Bumblebee battled his way to the Control Pillar with his fellow Autobots, and helped Optimus in fighting Sentinel. With Ratchet's help, he tackled and destroyed the pillar, stopping Cybertron from appearing in Earth's orbit. After the defeat of the Decepticons and Sentinel Prime, Bumblebee took out some rings inside him as he gave them to Sam, so Sam could propose to Carly, though Sam told him that he needed to slow it down. Ratchet commended Bumblebee for his bravery during the battle, and accepted Earth as his new home with Cybertron now destroyed. Dark of the Moon

Age of Extinction film

Voice actor: N/A (English), Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese radio voice), Ferso Velázquez and Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American Spanish radio voice)

After a wild bender, Bumblebee woke up in the desert, stripped of his 2011 Camaro kibble.

At some point in the past, Bumblebee had a phase where he became extremely insubordinate and disrespectful to his father figure Optimus Prime.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Chicago, Bumblebee remained on Earth with the other Autobots, although the US government officially cut off all contact with the alien refugees and disbanded NEST. Harold Attinger's new Cemetery Wind taskforce began hunting down both Autobots and Decepticons. Bumblebee went on the lam, disguising himself as a beat-up 1976 Camaro. After Optimus Prime disappeared, Bumblebee took command of the remaining Autobot refugees on Earth, even though the others saw him as brash and inexperienced. When Optimus reunited with the other Autobots, Bumblebee relinquished command, but this did not stop Drift from complaining about Bumblebee's leadership skills. He didn't take to well to being called a child and a fight between the two soon broke out. Drift managed to pin Bee with his swords and claimed that his "puppy dog eyes act" was beneath him. The mood was soon sobered when Cade Yeager revealed footage of Ratchet being attacked as well as Leadfoots death.

Bumblebee later helped Cade forge false ID cards to infiltrate KSI's headquarters in Chicago. He served as a disguise for Cade and Shane Dyson, masquerading as a non-sentient vehicle being processed for scanning. Upon seeing the company's display of Stinger, a drone based on his own design, as well several videos and posters claiming that he was inferior to the human-made Transformer, Bumblebee flipped out and knocked over the prototype, then left Shane to take the blame for the accident. He managed to avoid discovery and had to sneak out of the building along with Shane to prevent Cade from being caught by Joshua Joyce. However, as soon as Optimus saw that KSI were melting down Ratchet's head, Bumblebee joined in the Autobot attack of the building, but not before scanning a sleek new alternate mode. He got a lift from Drift's helicopter mode to the buildings upper levels and was able to rescue Cade from Harold Attinger.

After the Autobots retreated from KSI, Bumblebee attempted to fend off Galvatron and Stinger but was left in utter shock when Galvatron merely disintegrated and reassembled himself after being hit by Bumblebee's missiles.

Never mind the fact we should be ripped to shreds by the shattered glass from this skyscraper, you're the best, Bee!"

Bumblebee helped infiltrate Lockdown's ship when Prime was captured and later helped the humans escape from several Steeljaws but could not stop the ships anchors from being detached, causing the humans to fall towards Chicago. They were saved, however, when Bumblebee swung down on the cables and grabbed the falling humans, though he couldn't stop from slamming into the side of a building. They were then given a lift by Crosshairs in a gunship, but were then pursued by Lockdown's Henchmen and Crosshairs was forced to pass over control to Bumblebee so he could shoot down the pursuers. Though Bumblebee managed to lose their pursuers in a tunnel, he wound up crashing the gunship through the street.

Bumblebee and the humans met up with the rest of the Autobots at a disused train yard where Brains informed them that Megatron had been tricking KSI into building him a new body and was planning to detonate the seed in the Earth's "biggest city" to announce his return, then use the resulting transformium to build a new army of Decepticons. Optimus then declared that the Autobots would retrieve the Seed, but then leave Earth for good. The group set off to China to stop Galvatron.

But how does he feel about the length of his toy page?

When the Autobot ship reached Hong Kong it was shot down by one of Galvatron's Traxes, Bumblebee, Hound and the humans fell out and had to escort the seed out of the city. Bumblebee and Hound provided a defensive line against Galvatron's forces and though they destroyed many drones, they slowly became overwhelmed by the onslaught. They were only saved when Optimus returned with reinforcements. Bumblebee was confronting Stinger when Strafe flew down and picked him up. Stinger, however, grabbed onto Bumblebee and a battle between the lookalikes raged on the flying Dinobot. Stinger caused Strafe to fall onto the Hong Kong streets before Bumblebee eliminated him and claimed that he hated "cheap knockoffs" and let Strafe gnaw on the drones broken head.

Bumblebee was later tasked by Cade to take Tessa Yeager and Shane out of the city until he was convinced to turn back and help Optimus and Cade fight Lockdown. Despite Optimus ordering him to leave, he assisted Cade in fighting Lockdown. Bumblebee quickly found himself to be no match for Lockdown, but the bounty hunter was soon killed by Optimus. Bumblebee, alongside the other Autobots, was tasked with protecting the Yeager family from any threats when Optimus left Earth to confront his Creators. Age of Extinction

Novels

Ghosts of Yesterday

Between Tyger Pax and his arrival on Earth, Bumblebee and the rest of the Ark crew encountered an alien ship, the Ghost 1, in an abandoned solar system. After the ship turned tail and headed for one of the planet, Optimus sent Bumblebee down after it. Bumblebee located the ship, and was about to approach it when Starscream arrived, and he was forced to retreat under the Decepticon's superior firepower. Shortly after discovering some apparently artificial pillars, the ground gave way, and Bumblebee found himself plunged into a cave system. With his radio damaged, he explored the caves, and encountered giant worm creatures. Though they were only organic, they had managed to back him into a corner by the time Optimus arrived to rescue him.

The pair had a brief encounter with Starscream and the Ghost 1, the crew of which had been persuaded by the Decepticon that the Autobots were the aggressors in the Transformer war. Optimus and Bumblebee retreated back below ground, and later found the Ghost 1 in a battered state, having been abandoned by Starscream. Bumblebee made contact with it, and the earlier misunderstanding was soon cleared up. When more of the worm creatures turned up, Bumblebee acted as a diversion so Optimus could blast a way out of the caves, and everyone escaped intact. They returned to the Ark in time to fight the Decepticons once more. Bumblebee joined Ratchet in attacking Barricade, though the Decepticon gave them more than enough trouble. Ghosts of Yesterday

The Veiled Threat

The events of The Veiled Threat take place during IDW Publishing's Alliance comic.

Bumblebee was guarding Sam Witwicky and did not take part in any NEST missions.The Veiled Threat

Classified novels

Bumblebee was at Edwards Air Force Base with Ratchet when they received word that two Cybertronians in transition forms had landed near Hurley's Crossing. The pair went there by helicopter and encountered Reverb, who claimed to be a Decepticon defector hunting down another Decepticon who was after the technology at Hawthorne Army Depot. Though Bumblebee was highly skeptical, he followed Ratchet's lead, and they took Reverb to the depot. When they reached it, Kevin Bowman let them know that Gears was an Autobot and in reality trying to protect an ancient weapons cache. The warning came too late, as Reverb turned the weapons on Bumblebee and Ratchet, who were unable to penetrate the personal forcefield Reverb had acquired. Despite this, Bumblebee lasted out Reverb's defeat with minimal damage. Switching Gears

When Bumblebee and Gears were left at base, they received word from Douglas Porter that the Decepticon Blowback was heading up to Battle Mountain where a storehouse of Cybertronian artifacts had been discovered. The pair were compelled to travel to Battle Mountain with Kevin and Douglas, though Bumblebee made a detour to a Kwiki-Burger on the way. On arrival, they were attacked by Blowback and his men, and by the time they'd dispatched the four Decepticons, Kevin and Douglas had found the storehouse. They were subsequently picked up by Ironhide and taken back to face Optimus Prime's anger at them having gone off on their own. Battle Mountain

When the Battle Mountain cylinder was in danger of activating, Bumblebee and Gears took part in a convoy to transport the device to a NEST vault near Yucca Mountain. The trip was cut short when the convoy was ambushed outside Beatty by Reverb and some stolen Hyperdynamix autonomous tanks. They caught a break when Reverb was called away to the nearby Hyperdynamix Aerospace facility, and while Gears and Kevin followed the Decepticon, Bumblebee remained to protect the remains of the convoy. Satellite of Doom

IDW Transformers movie comics

"Tell Hasbro that I don't want to be a repaint of you anymore!"

Many years in the past, Bumblebee was hatched among the second generation since the rediscovery of the AllSpark and revival of Cybertron. Movie Prequel #1 He and Cliffjumper were guardians of the AllSpark at the Temple of Simfur. One day, Bumblebee wondered aloud why Optimus and Lord High Protector Megatron were out investigating the nearby excavation site when the AllSpark was "freaking" out with energy spikes. Cliffjumper assured him that whatever Optimus and the others were investigating, it must have been important, then reminded his colleague that they had their duties. When Bumblebee admitted nerves, Cliffjumper said that the two of them could handle anything, and just to let trouble come to them. He would soon regret those words when aliens attacked Simfur. They were seeking cover inside the temple when Lord Megatron swooped in, berated them for not taking the fight to the enemy and destroyed their opponent. He then told commander Starscream to keep the lowly security guards out of the way of the military. Defiance #1

Bumblebee was concerned this was the start of something big, to which Cliffjumper agreed, but he felt that as little cogs in the great machine, all they needed to do was stand guard. Prowl advised them to stay at their posts and report to him of any unusual activity from the AllSpark during the battle. Defiance #2

Well, that's one way to make a first impression.

After the relic informed Megatron of Optimus' break and enter of his personal quarters, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Cliffjumper, Camshaft, Jazz and Prowl were sent to the ruins near Burthov to arrest Optimus Prime's party on trumped-up charges of treason. When Optimus angrily demanded to know just what he had done to be charged with treason, Bumblebee pointed his weapon at the science leader and said they were just following orders, which seemed to satisfy Optimus. What the security officers didn't know was they were being led into a trap, and soldiers loyal to Megatron were under orders to eliminate all but Optimus. After being hit by an explosive round, the group banded together, realising they had all been marked for death. Optimus ordered them to flee to Burthov while he took care of Starscream's group personally. Defiance #3 Bumblebee hauled Arcee from the wreckage. Foundation #3

My alt mode is Pac-Man!

While on an apparent scouting mission, Bumblebee and Arcee discovered the Nemesis while it was under construction and reported their findings back to Prowl. Then Bumblebee transformed into a ball and Arcee transformed into a hover-bike and they both headed back to base. When the Nemesis was completed, Bumblebee and Arcee were there once again to witness the majority of the Decepticon forces board and take off for parts unknown to them.

With the bulk of the war-like Decepticons gone into space, the Autobots were able to hold their own in their resistance to Megatron's rule, but the war was ever-escalating in intensity, leading to increasing casualties and devastation to Cybertron. Defiance #4 Bumblebee was part of an assault on Simfur Temple to activate Sentinel Prime's "torch" that he promised would end the war, Foundation #3 but when Starscream blew up Sentinel's ship, Bumblebee retreated with the rest of the Autobots. However, the battle had weakened Decepticon forces to the extent that the Autobots were soon able to steal the AllSpark. Foundation #4

Megatron's attempt at a "Give me your arm!" meme didn't really take off...

Optimus Prime made the desperate decision to launch the AllSpark into space. This decision took Bumblebee by surprise, but he supported Optimus. Defiance #4 Bumblebee commanded the Autobot forces at Tyger Pax on Cybertron attempting to hold the Decepticons off while the AllSpark was launched off-planet. He succeeded, but Megatron crushed his voice box, and he lost his ability to speak in the process. Ratchet has been having trouble fixing it ever since. Bumblebee was declared a hero for his actions, but he feared that all they had done was potentially spread their war to other worlds. Movie Prequel #1

Later, he was the first to track the AllSpark to Earth, making planetfall in 2003. Here, he learned to express his emotions by tuning in appropriately emotive music on his car radio. Though the clandestine human organization Sector Seven tracked his descent Movie Prequel #2 and secured the area in Virginia where he landed, his quick assumption of a local alternate mode disguise allowed him to escape via Interstate 64. Bumblebee's search for the AllSpark began in St. Louis, Missouri, where he used a remote link to a coffee shop computer to search Shwiggle for any signs of extraterrestrial sightings. There, he discovered the legend of the Ice Man, and the story of Captain Archibald Witwicky. Movie Prequel #3

Bumblebee's quest took him to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Captain Witwicky had been committed. First he visited the ruins of the long-abandoned Psychopathic Institute for the Long-Term Insane, Witwicky's final home. Movie Prequel #4 From there, Bumblebee headed into downtown, where he scanned the records of Captain Witwicky from an unnamed asylum. This action unfortunately put Sector Seven onto his trail.

The Baton Rouge clues led Bumblebee to Springfield, Missouri, in search of Witwicky's son Clarence. En route, he evaded the first of several attacks by Sector Seven. In Springfield, he found records of Clarence's descendants, and started out to track them down. The oldest son, Ben, had resided in Denver, Colorado, but the trail ended there. En route to his next stop in Tucson, Bumblebee was again attacked by Sector Seven, evading their helicopters by blinding them and rocketing off at high speed. Not long after, he was attacked by Barricade in the desert. Interlude

Damaged and smoking, Bumblebee stopped by the roadside to rest and recover. Suddenly detecting a burst of AllSpark energy, he continued onwards out of Colorado. In New Mexico, as he approached the source of the AllSpark energy, he came under attack once again from Barricade. Other Decepticons, meanwhile, attacked the energy source and found it to be a Sector Seven ruse. Bumblebee managed to escape Barricade again, though unbeknownst to him the Decepticons let him go so that they could track him. Eventually, his search took him to Tranquility, Nevada, Movie Prequel #4 where he would soon encounter Sam Witwicky.

Transformers: Beginnings

Voice actor: Mark Ryan

Optimus Prime entrusted Bumblebee with the secret that the AllSpark would be sent into deep space to prevent Lord Megatron from possessing and corrupting it. Just after the launch, Megatron attacked Bumblebee in rage at losing the AllSpark and shattered the Autobot's voice capacitor beyond repair.

Bumblebee arrived on Earth and, sensing the AllSpark was near, took on local camouflage to search for the artifact. He immediately attracted the attention of Sector Seven agents and the Decepticons. Transformers: Beginnings

Transformers: Beginnings is a condensed, flash-animated retelling of the IDW Movie Prequel that is detailed above this section.

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

The following events occur in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.

In an alternate reality, it was the crappiest day ever because Sam failed and was killed, and Megatron went on to conquer much of the Earth. Bumblebee liked to believe that there was a universe out there in which Megatron lost.

Why is he apologizing, you ask? Look where his left hand is.

Bumblebee and Mikaela went on to become old comrades in guerrilla warfare, and in 2008 went on a mission to rescue Optimus Prime from a Decepticon bunker in Denver. Bumblebee, now with missile launchers in car mode and increased physical strength, took out the bunker guard, Swindle, (nearly crushing Mikaela by accident—"My bad.") and found Prime...or what was left of him. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1 Now stuck in the base, Bumblebee was being hunted by Megatron, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 2 and baited into revealing himself when the tyrant threatened to kill Mikaela. Bumblebee made a desperate attack, only to be beaten aside with ease. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3

Despite his defeat, he remained defiant to the end and refused to beg for mercy. Luckily the Autobot reinforcements arrived; unluckily, they couldn't stop Megatron; luckily again, Mikaela had revived Optimus Prime to save them Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 4 and arrived with Phase Two of their plan, a Sector Seven nanovirus that targeted AllSpark energy. Plugging it to himself, Bumblebee charged at the super-powered Megatron and forcibly uploaded the nano-virus, killing the tyrant once and for all. Not that he patted himself on the back over this, for he knew too well that this just left a power vacuum... Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5

Still partnered with Mikaela near the Savannah, Georgia refugee camp post-occupation, Bumblebee appeared frustrated with how the humans were frightened of him and, to be listened to, Mikaela had to do the talking for him. Transformers Comic issue 14 They went back into battle again to end a NATO bombardment of the Autobots in Savannah, running a gauntlet of tanks and Thundercrackers before freeing the NATO field commander from Decepticon mind control. During the course of the battle he roasted a drone with fiery exhaust. Aftermath Part 2

Following this battle, Bumblebee was involved in many clashes with Decepticons to protect human infrastructure, including leading a small group to protect an oil pipeline in Alaska. Armorhide did not follow orders well. Dark Spark

File:Bumblebeehandlesthis.jpg

Yes, you did see this happen.

Following that, he was sent with Arcee and Armorhide to Cybertron, under Ironhide's command. The mission was to retrieve Nucleon. Bumblebee was ordered to do recon and discovered a strange satellite dish, but investigating it saw the team jumped by Stockade. Then a strange energy anomaly appeared in orbit, and when Bumblebee asked what it was, Stockade babbled "BLBLBLBLBBL!". Return to Cybertron: Part 1 Bumblebee's subsequent attempt at dialogue (after first convincing Ironhide to stop throwing his face at Stockade's fists) was more successful, finding out the anomaly was a living entity the Decepticons had deliberately summoned, believing it would rejuvenate Cybertron.

Not trusting this entity and wanting to stop all the Nucleon being used up, Bumblebee organised the Autobots to create a distraction while he snuck around and turned the Nucleon transfer off. He also intended to send a message to Optimus, and considering the entity was Unicron the Anti-Life, it's a good thing he did. Return to Cybertron: Part 2 In the resulting chaos, Bumblebee had Divebomb barge past him, had to rescue Ironhide from rubble, and found out the guy wanted to stop Unicron by destroying the world. He wasn't having a good day. Return to Cybertron: Part 3

The day improved when Optimus arrived with a better plan: Cut off the Nucleon that Unicron's body was using for power. Bumblebee and Armorhide were dispatched to drain the Nucleon seam. This took too long, though, so Ratchet came up with a quicker alternative. Return to Cybertron: Part 4

OTP!

Upon returning to Earth, the Autobots found the Decepticons had pinched their base and all 600 square miles around it. They retreated, leaving Mikaela in Decepticon hands; Bumblebee was distraught over this. Hard Target He would be part of the raid to get her back, knowing and ignoring that it was an obvious trap due to how much they owed Mikaela. The raid was successful and the two were reunited, awwww! The Decepticon Who Haunted Himself

It didn't last long, with the Decepticon-blackmailed American government ordering the Autobots out; Bumblebee got dispatched with Ironhide on a mission related to this. The next day, Bumblebee got one last hour with Mikaela (and to beat up Dropkick as an "up yours" gesture) before joining the Autobots in departing... and then they got nuked! Revolution Part 1

Optimus had anticipated this though, and the Autobots faked their deaths with a decoy ship. Bumblebee, however, couldn't tell Mikaela this due to a decision to minimise any possible exposure. He was part of the spearhead team on return to Earth, intended to raise the Decepticon Heartland and teleport all the enemy there to the dead Cybertron. Mikaela was not happy to see him back, feeling they'd kept the plan from her because they didn't fully trust her to not be captured; Bumblebee tried to deny this.

In the final battle, Bumblebee 'tagged' Megatron and so is responsible for the tyrant being exiled forever—third time lucky!

In the aftermath, after it became clear the Autobots had just exiled themselves to Earth forever—"Hey, there are worse fates," said Bumblebee—Mikaela forgave Bumblebee. Both had a lot of clean-up work to do, but also a brave new world to explore together...! Revolution Part 3

Real World

At some point, Bumblebee let his guard down and the Decepticons took advantage by taking out an Autobot communications hub. He apologized for his lapse. Transformers: Rise of the Chevy Autobots

Toy bios

Bumblebee and Hardtop, as two opposing elite spies, have crossed paths many times across the galaxy in a grueling test of endurance. Lately Hardtop has been taking this rivalry very personally, turning it into a vendetta. It was a crack shot by Hardtop that damaged Bumblebee's vocal processors, causing the Autobot pain when he tries to speak. Hardtop

During the Mission City battle, Bumblebee required assistance and had to be towed to safety by Longarm. Towed to Safety

With the initial threat over, Bumblebee decided to kick back and relax. Transcanning a rally car, he began hanging around at race tracks, pitting himself against the human racers. Rally Rocket Bumblebee

He would later be sent on a mop-up duty, hunting Scorponok across the Middle East. Bumblebee vs. Scorponok

Eventually, with pictures of him all over the internet, Bumblebee found to his discomfort that everyone recognised him... including newly arriving Decepticons, which put Sam and others in danger! With Mikaela's help, Bumblebee recoloured himself to help restore his disguise and make it easier to sneak up on the enemy. Stealth Bumblebee

Transformers Mix & Match book

Due to the malleable storytelling format of the Mix & Match book, listed here is Bumblebee's story role if all the segments visually featuring him are lined-up. For all the possible iterations of his role in the story, see the Transformers Mix & Match page.

Bumblebee defended Sam and Mikaela from an encroaching Barricade, who sought to capture the humans. Transformers Mix & Match

IDW Revenge of the Fallen comics

"Why do they always aim for the throat!?"

Shortly after the battle in Mission City, Bumblebee's injuries were tended to by Ratchet while Ironhide and Captain Lennox's men searched for the creatures inadvertently created by the AllSpark's energy. After his legs were attached, he rolled out with the Autobots to escape Sector Seven's inquiries. A month later, when asked by Lennox, Optimus Prime informed the human that Bumblebee had resumed his role as Sam Witwicky's protector. Alliance #1

"I see dead people, I mean it, look there's one right over there."

Bumblebee accompanied the other Autobots to escort the convoy transporting the dead Decepticons to a navy base in San Diego, California, where they would be taken out to sea and dumped. Optimus Prime gave the surviving AllSpark sliver to Professor Vine of Sector Seven, but after deciding this was a bad idea later on, he sent Ironhide and Bumblebee back to the Nevada facility to retrieve it. Bumblebee raced ahead and arrived to inadvertently save Starscream's life by disarming the revived Wreckage. A grateful Starscream shot Bumblebee as he was protecting the humans, Alliance #2 leaving his vocal processor damaged. Though Ironhide praised him for his bravery and selflessness, Bumblebee regretted not being able to save everybody. By the time the Navy and the Autobots were out at sea to bury Jazz and dump the Decepticon corpses, Ratchet had repaired Bumblebee's body (giving him a modified vehicle mode in the process), but was evidently unable to fully restore his vocal processor. In an effort to prevent mistakes of the past occurring again and to protect Earth, the Autobots and the United States Military formed a special unit under Major Lennox and Optimus Prime's command. When the Decepticon Swindle was detected in San Francisco, Bumblebee and the others rolled out from Diego Garcia. Alliance #3

After Optimus Prime destroyed a surprised Dead End, Bumblebee chased Swindle onto the deserted Golden Gate Bridge. Though cornered, the Decepticon was amused that they had sent his old nemesis Bumblebee against him, and quickly set to clobbering the Autobot. Major Lennox distracted the Decepticon, allowing Bumblebee to pay Swindle back for his inept attempt to torture him thousands of years ago. On the plane trip back to Diego Garcia, Lennox and Optimus agreed that Sam Witwicky would become the target of the Decepticons again, and that he must be protected. Bumblebee was chosen to act as Sam's guardian again, and before he left, Prime pressed upon him that the protection of the boy was his first priority. Alliance #4

Bumblebee's attempts to integrate himself into Sam's life were not as smooth as he had hoped. Without the team structure of the Autobots, Bumblebee tended to act upon instinct, taking revenge on Mikaela's ex-boyfriend Trent DeMarco for his previous humiliations of Sam by wrecking his truck, smashing a would-be car thief with the door he was attempting to unlock, and inadvertently giving Sam traffic tickets by not observing the rules of the road. When Bumblebee was alone, he attempted to learn as much as he could about human culture, feeling that he owed it to his friend. Soon, Sam came to the question of what Bumblebee would do when Sam went to college after the summer. 'Bee intended to follow Sam wherever he went, but Sam feared that he might not be able to bring his car along with him. Unfortunately, Sam's parents were less than thrilled with the idea of having an alien robot live with them while Sam was away, especially after what the Autobots had done to their beloved yard. Sam's father decreed that while Bumblebee could stay for the rest of the summer, once Sam has gone to school, the Autobot was out the door. However, unexpectedly, Ron Witwicky came to Bumblebee seeking aid when Mikaela reported that Sam had never made a rendezvous with her. Speeding out of the garage without Ron (and without waiting for the garage door to open), Bumblebee searched for clues to Sam's whereabouts and eventually found a message from his old foe Barricade, who demanded the AllSpark in exchange for the boy. Finding the pair at an car wrecking yard, Bumblebee attacked Barricade, but was considerably outmatched, with the Decepticon gloating that Earth had made the Autobot soft, and their last encounter was down to pure luck. Eventually, with a distraction from Sam, Bumblebee was able to force Barricade into a pool of gasoline. With the Decepticon hardly down for the count, Bumblebee told Sam to run and ignited the gasoline, causing a tremendous explosion that sent both Transformers flying. In the aftermath, Bumblebee told Sam he had a feeling they hadn't seen the last of Barricade. Tales of the Fallen #1

Bumblebee came on-scene to assist his fellow Autobots after Demolishor had... demolished a sizeable amount of human property. Tales of the Fallen #2

Toy bios

After the discovery of new Decepticons on Earth, Bumblebee decided to upgrade his arsenal and modified his vehicle mode so he could use weaponry in it, deciding he'd been caught off guard too many times before. Cannon Bumblebee

Following this, he volunteered to be Sam's guardian, It was a pretty swank deal: he got to hang with Sam and Mikaela all the time, got lots of oil, and could join Ironhide in killing Decepticons whenever he wanted. Bumblebee But when the battle shifted to the deserts, he threw himself into the fray, upgrading himself for desert combat and wielding the mighty sand blast! Sand Attack Bumblebee

Titan Comics Revenge of the Fallen comics

Robo-Vision!

His voice gone again, Prelude: Megatron Bumblebee communicated by playing snippets of Earth songs.

Bumblebee was driven by the Witwickys to Sam's college, where he quietly endured their bickering while scanning everything around him for potential threats. When he picked up radio transmissions from two new Autobots, he drove off into battle, and saved Skids and Mudflap from being slaughtered by the Decepticon Ransack. But with the villain threatening a long game, Bumblebee knew that here came trouble... Dogfight!

Speaking of trouble, poor Bumblebee ended up as the twins' minder. You can guess how well that went... Learning Curve

There's only room for one kid-appeal character...

Some time later, Bumblebee was hanging out in Sam's garage when he received an emergency call from Diego Garcia: the twins, now dangerous Decepticon turncoats, had abducted Sam! He tore out of the garage, tracked down the twins, and demanded they stop immediately. When they didn't, he launched suppressive fire and began ramming Skids, yelling "let my people go-go!". He soon had Sam free and the twins at gunpoint, ready to eliminate if necessary. However, partway into Mudflap's claims that they'd been framed and there was a bigger threat coming, Soundwave got the drop on Bumblebee and gunned him down... Outlaw Blues

Clearly he got better, because he was around for...

Titan Comics post-Fallen comics

Post-Fallen, he was sent back into the field. His first new mission was to capture Reverb. When Jolt messed the mission up, Bumblebee saved the day by ramming the bike head-on. Culture Shock

Later, with Lennox and his crew searching for Seekers, Bumblebee was left with only Robert Epps to investigate an attack on Malmstrom Air Force Base and the disappearance of Optimus Prime. Epps worked out that Optimus had been victim of an electromagnetic bomb, and Bumblebee tracked his leader to where he was being held. (Poor Epps had to ride in Bumblebee jumping a ravine, and almost spewed up his breakfast) After locating Prime, they found he was a captive of the Free Men militia. At Epps command, Bumblebee hit the Free Men compound with his full firepower, swiftly defeating the militia. Bring Me the Head of Optimus Prime

He dispatched three raw cadets (Jolt, Rollbar, and Dune Runner) to Death Valley for a survival exercise. Spare Parts! Later, he was summoned as back-up by NEST South Africa due to a Decepticon jailbreak, but Optimus ordered him to let the Decepticons leave to prevent civilian casualties. Inside Out!

It's true!

With the Autobot's reputation in the toilet because of the South Africa failure, and with concerns that public fights risked alienating humans, Bumblebee was tasked to head a covert unit with Slap Dash and Hubcap. They'd operate under NEST's radar, monitoring Decepticons and waiting for windows of opportunity out of the public eye, before hitting hard and fast. In practice, this meant allowing Decepticons like Crankstart, Brimstone, and Trenchmouth to run amok in cities, with Bumblebee restraining his desire to stop them and keeping his men from taking action. After an uncomfortable period of hoping nobody would be killed, the Decepticons went to an isolated stretch of road: now free to act, Bumblebee led his men in a vicious ambush and personally drove through Crankshaft. Shadow War

Cyber Missions

BUUU!

Voice actor: Tom Anderson, David Kledzik, Tony Gialluca II, Bronco D. Jackson (English), José Antonio Macías (Latin American-Spanish), Alexandre Moreno (Brazilian Portuguese)

Bumblebee and Ironhide were reviewing some data tracks that Optimus Prime had made for preservation in Vector Sigma when they detected an explosion outside their base. Bumblebee remained to lock down the most important data tracks while Ironhide went to investigate the cause of the explosion. However, that is what the Decepticons wanted, as moments later, Soundwave burst into the base, overwhelming Bumblebee with a sonic attack, and mocking Bumblebee for being the smallest Autobot. Bumblebee countered that he wasn't as small as Soundwave thought, but in the battle that followed, Soundwave was able to physically overpower Bumblebee. Bumblebee fired a shot from his shoulder cannon, but Soundwave absorbed the sonic boom and sent the acoustic energy back at him. Bumblebee decided to use a more ingenious method: fire automatic weaponry at Soundwave, giving too many sonic booms for Soundwave to absorb, defeating the Decepticon. Bumblebee then tried to inform Ironhide of what had happened, but he had unfinished business with Bludgeon.Cyber Missions 1 Following this, Bumblebee placed Soundwave in an electromagnetically sealed bubble, leaving him unable to absorb any sonic booms to escape. Cyber Missions 2

After Ironhide went missing in the jungle, Bumblebee reported the problem to Optimus, who was luckily in the area. Prime asked him to conduct a scan of the area in which Ironhide went missing, and Bumblebee discovered that the rocks in the area had an unusually high concentration of energon deposits. Cyber Missions 5 Bumblebee took part in a training exercise with Ironhide in the Arctic when his comrade decided that the smaller 'bot was too often a target for the Decepticons. During their sparring, they discovered what appeared to be a sentient plant growing in the snow. Cyber Missions 8

Bumblebee and Ratchet were dispatched to a building in Scramble City by Optimus, who briefed them that Smolder and Chopster were causing trouble. On reaching the building, they encountered Chopster, who screamed and ran away when Bumblebee looked menacing. Bumblebee called after him to bring his friend out, replying to a bemused Ratchet that not every encounter had to be a battle. The pair were almost run down a short time later by Smolder, and Bumblebee was forced to grapple at length with the Decepticon while Ratchet worked on repowering his EMP blaster. Afterward, the two Autobots stood over the disabled Decepticon and cracked jokes. Cyber Missions 9

Optimus reported finding Megatron and Starscream in the Arctic regions of Earth, and Bumblebee was summoned to aid his leader in battle with Ironhide, Ratchet and Sideswipe. Starscream broke off from the two on one duel, and attacked all the Autobots at once, only to be defeated in due time. However, Optimus let Megatron go, and Starscream apparently followed suit. Cyber Missions 12

Optimus later laid a trap to lure the Decepticons to a final confrontation with a hologram of Soundwave, and Megatron indeed walked right into it. Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Ratchet arrived to join the battle, and in the ensuing fight, Bumblebee took on Mindwipe. The Decepticon tried to hypnotize Bumblebee into not fighting, but he nonchalantly ingnored him, and continued fighting. An army of humans arrived and surrounded the combatants, and the day went to the Autobots. Optimus once again let Megatron and the Decepticons go at their choice. After Megatron fled, Bumblebee decided to give the Decepticons a reminder of who protected this planet, and stamped out an Autobot symbol in the dirt. Decepticons Attack

IDW Post Revenge of the Fallen comics

Bumblebee was in charge of a team made up of Jolt, Knock Out, Dune Runner and Breakaway. When NEST's satellite images detected Decepticon activity in Florida, Bumblebee's team was sent to investigate. Though Bumblebee instructed Breakaway not to engage the enemy, Breakaway attacked Soundwave and was destroyed. Bumblebee and the rest of his team engaged the Decepticons at Kingdom Petrochemicals, but after a group of humans left and the Decepticons fled, Bumblebee was left mystified as to what was going on. Nefarious #1 He and his team returned to Edwards Air Force Base, where Galloway was annoyed that he hadn't been notified about the arrival on Earth of some of the members of Bumblebee's team. Nefarious #2

After Optimus managed to capture Soundwave in Utah, Bumblebee's team guarded the Decepticon. They loaded him onto a plane for transport to a NEST base in Texas, however en route the plane was shot down by Buzzsaw. Resolving to deliver Soundwave, Bumblebee took his team on the road. It wasn't long before they ran into Soundwave's "mini-militia". Bumblebee quickly realized that his team was outmatched. Rather than a repeat of the loss of Breakaway, Bumblebee opted to release Soundwave. Nefarious #3

Soundwave eventually located the Initiative base and led the Autobots to Inyokern... only to find the base was gone. He traced it to Crater Lake, and the Autobots went on a road trip up to Oregon. Bumblebee's team was sent to assault the base from the north, however as he broke through the base's outer wall, he was confronted by an Initiative-controlled Transformer. Nefarious #5 Bumblebee was taken down, and his team required reinforcements to break through the resistance to help him. Presumably his damage wasn't spark-threatening, as he was seen safe and well in the aftermath of the battle. Nefarious #6

Transformers Annual 2011

Bumblebee charged to Sam's defense when Starscream tried to abduct the boy, but proved no match for the Decepticon, and was flung around the yard. As Starscream started making off with Sam, Bumblebee made another attempt to stop him, and was brushed aside. Luckily Optimus arrived to help, and Starscream soon fled, but the Witwicky's yard was in ruins. Sam in Danger

IDW Dark of the Moon movie comics

Brains was in a parking lot in Philadelphia, trying to find some help, so he tried asking a car for help. When no response came, Brains kicked the car, angrily, but was shocked when it transformed into Bumblebee. Rising Storm #1 Sam and Bumblebee brought Brains back to his college. Suddenly, the college was under attack from Starscream and other Decepticons. Sonar attempted to attack Bumblebee, but was promptly killed by the newly arrived Mirage and Wheeljack. Rising Storm #2 Barricade reappeared and placed Bumblebee in a headlock, who retaliated by punching Barricade in the jaw when the Decepticon attempted to attack Sam. Rising Storm #3 Bumblebee slammed Barricade into a sidewalk, defeating him. Afterwards, Bumblebee bade goodbye to Sam and Carly Spencer as NEST decided they required him on the field rather than to guard Sam. Rising Storm #4

How to Ride your Dinobot cartoon

I'VE CHANGED INTO WILE E. COYOTE.

Bumblebee had never ridden a Dinobot before, and decided to start by trying to mount Strafe. Guided by a kind but astonishingly unhelpful narrator, Bumblebee's attempts to mount Strafe left something to be desired. After many failed efforts, Bumblebee simply destroyed the instruction manual to riding Dinobots before storming off in annoyance, much to the narrator's surprise. Getting on a Dinobot

Titan Comics Age of Extinction comics

Bumblebee, along with Optimus Prime and Crosshairs, tracked three Decepticon survivors of Chicago to Jakarta, Indonesia. When the Decepticons retreated and Crosshairs tracked them to Pulau Bidadari, Bumblebee monitored the ranger and relayed the events to Optimus. Thousand Island Fight

How to Ride a Dinobot comic

How to Ride a Dinobot!

Cheetos comics

Cheetos/Transformers: Age of Extinction

Q-Transformers

Voice actor: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese)

Second Life

In the online virtual world simulation/game Second Life, there was a full replica of the Sector Seven base which contained a giant discussion room where Michael Bay held a question board. This room contained a giant frozen Megatron replica and free avatars of both Bumblebee and Barricade. Both freebies were non-transforming. Also, the Bumblebee avatar had his battle mask down and it could not be raised.

Notes

Classic Camaro

• According to an article on Edmunds.com, the film makers wanted Bumblebee's original Earth form to be the 1976 iteration of the Camaro because it was the worst Camaro possible that also had chrome bumpers.
• The same article indicates that the 1976 Camaros used in the film were all purchased via online auction for under $6000 each, one for less than $2000. That one didn't run.
• One of the 1976 Camaros was sold on eBay. The bidding ended on July 18, 2007; the final price was $40,100.01.

Modern Camaro

• The 2008 Concept Camaro used for Bumblebee in the first movie was built by Saleen in 30 days, using a heavily modified 2006 Holden Monaro chassis as the basis. The '08 Camaro was not in production at the time that the first film was being made, hence an identical mock-up was needed to fill the role.
• In Transformers, Bumblebee scans a working, driveable new generation Camaro — conveniently with the same paint job as his classic Camaro disguise at that time — that wouldn't be released until some time in the year 2009. However, it is possible that the Camaro in question was being road-tested by GM engineers, like they were doing in the real world.
• Although unexplained in the films, Bumblebee's vehicle mode changes appearance subtly between Transformers and Revenge of the Fallen. This is probably because of product placement: Bumblebee's old alternate mode was an unavailable concept Camaro, while in Revenge he uses what seems to be the new Z/28 Camaro... whose mass production has since been canceled. Oops. However, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that it is the Camaro ZL1 that uses the same design.
• He changes models again between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon and becomes a production Camaro SS (rather than the previous two movies GTO-Based mock-ups); the movie prop car changes include the addition of a rear spoiler, the black racing stripes now being further apart while at the same time losing the outer pinstripes, the racing stripes now also covering the roof and Autobot badges in the front fenders.

Robot mode and CG model(s)

He uses it once, then dies.

• The Bumblebee computer-generated model consisted of 7608 individual parts, 1,511,727 polygons, 19,722 rig nodes, and 8094 texture maps. The volume of all the pieces came to 1069.01 cubic feet.
• Bumblebee's character animation is based on the performance of Michael J. Fox in the Back to the Future movies.

But will we ever get an orange Bumblebee? No, we'll just keep getting slightly different yellow ones.

• Bumblebee is equipped with a pair of arm-mounted electrical "stingers." While designed, the stingers were ultimately not featured in the movies, though they may have influenced other media.
• Speaking of weapons, for someone whose main job is being subtle, Bumblebee is quite well armed, with a cannon powerful enough to rattle Brawl and a ring-shaped light missile launcher in each shoulder. He is also a capable close-combat fighter, as seen in his fights against Barricade, Rampage, Soundwave, and Stinger.
• Despite this, he has a Fireblast rating of three.
• According to designer Paul Ozzimo on his website, at one point there were plans to make Bumblebee into a Z/28 convertible for Revenge of the Fallen, and the possibility of changing his color to orange or black with yellow was also discussed. While none of these alterations happened, concept art for both appeared on the "25 Years of Transformers" feature on the Revenge DVD... though the black version is only seen from behind.
• Bumblebee stands approximately 16 feet tall, according to the official game strategy guide.
• In 2011, Bumblebee appeared in a Super Bowl XLV-related commercial, parodying car dealers by tossing a squirrel mascot knocking his hood to literally hammer the point of low prices. The TV spot also revealed ILM's modifications to his design for Dark of the Moon, namely more pronounced shoulders and ribs ala his Prime counterpart.
• Despite his Camaro alternate mode used for Dark of the Moon no longer sporting the outer pinstripes bordering his black racing stripes, the CG robot model still has them. Whoops.
• Similarly, in the first movie, after he gains the modern Camaro alt mode, Bumblebee's robot mode still features the scratches and dirt on his paint job of his original 1976 Camaro alt mode.

License plates

Bumblebee sported several different license plates between the movies, the video games and the toys:

• 489 PCE, registered in California, was the 1976 Camaro's license plate in the first movie, which was kept consistent between the car prop and the CG model for the robot mode. The license plate was later auctioned off in 2008.
• 900 STRA, without a state-specific registration, was the new license plate for the Concept Camaro car prop, which was kept for the production models used for all three subsequent movies. It was also used when the modern Camaro prop cars from the movies were on display at car shows and other events. Finally achieving consistency between both modes, Bumblebee also sported this plate in robot mode in Dark of the Moon. Furthermore, Hasbro started to use this license plate number with the Leader Class Bumblebee and Deluxe Class Nitro Bumblebee toys from the Dark of the Moon toy line (both sporting sculpted license plate inscriptions in both modes), and the Activision Dark of the Moon video game also uses it for the vehicle mode. The license plate used in Revenge of the Fallen was auctioned off in October 2009. In Age of Extinction, he even uses this license plate in his 1967 Camaro disguise, and still keeps it when he upgrades to his new 2014 Camaro concept form.
• 4NZZ454, registered in California, is probably the most well-known license plate number due to being used on the CG model for the robot mode in the 2007 movie and Revenge of the Fallen. This number number was also used for a lot of Hasbro's toys from the first two movies' toy lines (in robot mode and often also in vehicle mode), including the Deluxe Class Classic Camaro.
• 4NZZZ454, with a red line indicative of a California registration, was an erroneous version of the above number with an extra "Z", used on some of Hasbro's toys, namely the Deluxe Class Concept Camaro Bumblebee toy from the first movie's toy line (including several redecos and retools) and Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Bumblebee.
• 5LKZ213 can be spotted on some photos of the life-sized robot prop from the Hoover Dam set from the first movie.
• BUMBLBE, registered in California, was used for the life-sized robot prop on various exhibits in 2007.
• FXPERTS (registered in California), a reference to the special effects company that built the life-sized robot prop, was used on various exhibits in 2008.
• KDM 0814, registered in California, was used for the life-sized robot prop on various exhibits from 2009 to at least 2011. A variant of this, "KDM 814" minus the "0", had been previously used as the license plate of The Twins' combined ice cream truck mode in Revenge of the Fallen.
• 5BBM2 (registered in California), mirrored on the other side, is used by Activision for the robot models used in the Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon video games. Due to its mirrored nature, this plate wouldn't actually be legal.

Lack of voice

• For the first movie, Paramount had originally preferred the Transformers not to talk at all throughout the movie, a notion Hasbro heavily contested. Bumblebee still ended up being mute throughout most of the movie, which, according to Orci and Kurtzman, was inspired by Steven Spielberg's E.T. and is supposed to signify that his friendship with Sam transcends words.
• According to the prequel comic by IDW Publishing, Megatron ripped out and crushed Bumblebee's voice capacitor during the battle at Tyger Pax back on Cybertron. Hardtop's toy bio claims the damage came from a shot fired by Hardtop. In the film itself, Ratchet only states to Sam that Bumblebee's "vocal processors were damaged in battle" and he was "still working on them" after firing a single plasma beam at Bumblebee's throat; by the end of all the conflict (the climax of the film proper), Bumblebee has regained his ability to speak. Although it was not confirmed on-screen, screenwriter Roberto Orci did confirm off-screen that Ratchet's (regenerative) beam was indeed the reason.
• Just as well, Roberto Orci also admitted that Bumblebee's brief contact with the AllSpark would be an equally valid (and an even more "in-continuity") explanation.
• When asked, Orci admitted there had been plans to have Bumblebee speak in Revenge of the Fallen; however, ultimately they liked his "musical ability" too much, and Michael Bay wanted to focus more on Skids and Mudflap, since he thought kids would like the two characters.
• When Bumblebee finally did speak, he had a slightly British accent.

Other

• Bumblebee is the only member of the original five Autobots to have appeared in all four Transformers films without dying.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Bumblebee (バンブルビー Banburubī)
• Cantonese: Daai Wong Fung (大黃蜂, "Bumblebee")
• Hungarian: Űrdongó ("Space Bumblebee")
• Mandarin: Dà-huáng-fēng (大黃蜂, "Bumblebee")
• Spanish: Abejorro ("Bumblebee")
• Ukrainian: Bdzhilka (Бджілка, "Bee")

External links

• Bumblebee at TFU.info
• Galleries of various different Bumblebee toys from the Movie