We were familiar with the universe of Autobots and Decepticons thanks to the Transformers franchise. Some of the most amazing mechanical robots that we have encountered have moved our hearts. One such beloved Autobot can be found among them. Over the years, Bumblebee’s persona has undergone numerous changes, and in each one, he has been able to endear himself to us.
We will go over every aspect of Bumblebee in this video, including his appearances in the Transformers Cinematic Universe, his fantastic automobile forms, and his adorably cute animated version. Without further ado, let us watch the video and discover what makes Bumblebee so special.
A brief history of Bumblebee and his role as the titular character in the movie
As the sixth entry in the Transformers film series, the Bumblebee movie was released in 2018. It was written by American animator and producer Travis Andrew Knight and directed by British author Christina Hodson, who also penned Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. Additionally, it is his first live-action movie. This film was initially planned as a sort of precursor to the Transformers franchise, but it was eventually called a reboot.
There are a few differences between the flashbacks in the previous movie and this one, even if we consider it a precursor. In any case, the events of Bumblebee’s tale occur roughly 20 years before the 2007 setting of the first film. On the planet Cybertron, where a Civil War is raging, it starts. The Autobots are battling the Decepticons as members of the Autobot resistance.
They are directed by Optimus Prime, who they obey in all matters. They do, however, seem to be being relentlessly exterminated. Soon after, Optimus summons B-127, an Autobot scout, and we see the metamorphosis of a stunning yellow automobile into Bumblebee, an Autobot. Because he has not yet been given the name “Bumblebee” in the movie, Optimus still refers to him as B-127.
As soon as more Decepticons show up there, Optimus believes it is better to retreat. They must leave Cybertron because it is no longer a place they can call home. Optimus sends B-127 to Earth in an escape pod to set up a base of operations for the Autobots as a last-ditch effort to save them. In 1987, a Colonel by the name of Jack Burns led a military training exercise for his comrades in the Californian forests.
They are immediately interrupted as B-127 collides with a nearby training facility and lands. Colonel Burns presumes it to be a botched army exercise, but then B-127 starts moving and starts evading them. Colonel Burns issues the order for all of his men to pursue and engage B-127 because he perceives him as a threat. In order to turn into a neighboring Willys MB jeep and flee to the mines, B-127 scans it.
However, he is stopped by Colonel Burns’ forces. He tries to tell them that he means no harm, but immediately the Decepticon known as Blitzwing arrives in the form of an Air Force jet and attacks them by bombing all the soldiers. Blitzwing then battles with him, severely damaging his memory to the core. When B – 127 refuses to tell Blitzwing where the other Autobots are hiding, he destroys and tears out his voice box leaving him unable to speak.
Blitzwing then labels B – 127 as a traitor of Cybertron and is about to kill him when he turns the table on the Decepticon and destroys Blitzwing into pieces with his own missile. B – 127 tries to regain his strength but his memory cells are failing. Before his systems shut down, he scans a nearby 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle and then falls unconscious. After a while, he is found in a garage by a girl named Charlie Watson.
She tries to turn on the radio in the car, which accidentally activates a homing signal to other Autobots. In the meantime, on one of Saturn’s moons, two Decepticons known as Shatter and Dropkick have captured the Autobot Cliffjumper and are trying to find out where Optimus Prime is. They end up hearing the signal of B – 127 and decide to head to Earth. After the crash landing, they transform into Earth vehicle modes and head west in search of B – 127.
On the other hand, Charlie takes him home thinking it is just an ordinary Volkswagen Beetle car. When she checks its parts, he suddenly transforms into his robot mode, and Charlie is left speechless. However, B – 127 is visibly scared of the human he has encountered, which gives Charlie some confidence to talk to him. Now since his voice box was destroyed, he tries to communicate with her through gestures.
She then tells him that he sounds and looks like a little bumblebee. So, she decides to call him Bumblebee since he does not have a name. After some time, she takes Bumblebee to a beach and tries to teach him that if he sees anyone other than her, he should immediately transform into his vehicle mode. Now, while the two Decepticons are on their way, they are encountered by Dr. Powell and Colonel Burns’ forces who are known as Sector 7.
Their team deals with extraterrestrial threats and technologies. Shatter tries to deceive them by informing them that they are Deception peacekeepers who are patrolling the galaxy. She shows them a hologram of Bumblebee and tells them that he is a threat hiding in their world. As a result, Sector 7 agrees to help the two Decepticons locate Bumblebee even though Colonel Burns advises not to.
Now, Charlie is trying to fix Bumblebee’s parts when she accidentally triggers a warning message from Optimus Prime and finds out about the war. Eventually, Charlie and Bumblebee grow closer and develop a beautiful friendship by listening to songs together. Charlie’s neighbour, Memo, soon sees Bumblebee and becomes a part of their team. Charlie then fixes Bumblebee’s radio, and he soon figures out how to communicate with them by playing song lyrics.
Now, after a while, when Charlie leaves Bumblebee alone at her house, he accidentally trashes the entire place. When he sticks his finger inside an electric socket, it causes an energy spike, and Sector 7 finds out his location. Charlie and Memo head out with Bumblebee but are soon intercepted by Sector 7. They try to capture them, but Bumblebee runs away with Charlie but then Shatter and Dropkick shows up and engage in a battle with him.
Eventually, Sector 7 captures Bumblebee and drops Charlie and Memo home. However, to rescue Bumblebee, Charlie and Memo devise a plan to follow Sector 7 to their outpost, where he is being held captive. Under the supervision of Dr. Powell, Shatter and Dropkick are interrogating Bumblebee to find out the location of Optimus Prime.
They soon find out that Optimus will be coming to Earth with the other Autobots. So, they decide to use the satellites of Sector 7 to send word to the other Decepticons in order to prepare to wipe out Earth. When Dr. Powell tries to warn Burns about the impending doom, Dropkick kills him. Now, before leaving, they also shoot Bumblebee. Charlie then tries to bring him back to life by electrocuting him.
He soon wakes up with his memories restored. However, Agent Burns soon arrives and still considers Bumblebee to be a threat. They attack him, but when he sees Charlie getting hurt, he finally fights back and destroys them. Soon, the military arrives, but they manage to escape with the help of Charlie’s family and Memo. Bumblebee and Charlie then head to the tower through which the Decepticons are trying to send their message.
Upon arriving, Bumblebee engages in a fierce battle with Dropkick, and Charlie tries to stop Shatter from using the satellite. Soon, Bumblebee rips Dropkick into tiny pieces and kills him. Jack Burns arrives in his helicopter and tries to attack Shatter but she shoots him down and Bumblebee saves him from crashing. On the other hand, Charlie is able to deactivate their Decepticon beacon. Just when Shatter is about to shoot Charlie, Bumblebee tackles her down and attacks her. He then destroys a dam wall and with a gush of water, a cargo ship crushes Shatter and kills her.
Agent Burns then helps Charlie and Bumblebee escape from the army. They go to a cliff near the Golden Gate Bridge to say their goodbyes to each other since Bumblebee has to save his people. He then scans a car passing through the bridge, transforms himself into a brand new 1977 Chevrolet Camaro, and drives away. The film comes to an end with Bumblebee reuniting with Optimus Prime as they watch the escape pods of other Autobots reach Earth’s atmosphere. The entire essence of Bumblebee’s character has been portrayed beautifully in this film because, despite being a giant mechanical robot, Bumblebee is kinder and more understanding than most humans.
Bumblebee in the Transformers cinematic universe
In the Transformers film series, the character of Bumblebee is voiced by Mark Ryan. However, for the major part of all the films, Bumblebee only speaks through his radio by using different radio channels and television signals since his voice box was destroyed.
In the first Transformers film that released in 2007, we see that Bumblebee has become friends with a human known as Sam Witwicky. He is the great-grandson of Archibald Witwicky, who was an explorer. Bumblebee has been tasked with the protection of Sam because he has a pair of sunglasses that belonged to Archibald. It contains the coordinates of the location where the AllSpark is hidden. Initially, Bumblebee appears as a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro but later on, his alternative vehicle mode changes into a different car.
A Decepticon known as Barricade transforms from a police car into his robot form in front of Sam as he tries to run away. Soon, Bumblebee arrives and saves him and his love interest, Mikaela Banes. This leads to a battle between Bumblebee, Barricade, and another Decepticon known as Frenzy. We see Bumblebee’s transformation into a 2006 Camaro Concept during this fight.
Later on in the film, Sam meets the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee’s other friends. It is also revealed that Bumblebee’s voice box was destroyed. Now, after some time, Bumblebee and the other Autobots get their hands on the sunglasses that have the location of the AllSpark. But unfortunately, things get worse. Sector 7, which is a secret government organization that deals with extraterrestrial activity, soon finds and captures the Autobots. They release Bumblebee after taking him to the secret sector 7 base at Hoover Dam.
He then becomes part of the battle against Megatron and the other Decepticons. Bumblebee is shown as a powerful and commanding Autobot. After the battle, he decides to stay with his friends, Sam and Mikaela, in order to continue protecting them. Even though Bumblebee’s voice box was partially restored, he continues to use the radio for communication in the subsequent movies.
In the 2009 film titled Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky have a minor disagreement. Bumblebee continues to act as the protector of Sam, but he confesses that he does not want protection. This hurts Bumblebee because he wants to stay with Sam. Bumblebee’s alternate car mode goes through a few modifications in this movie. He now has a custom front bumper with a unique red outlined Chevrolet logo as well as some new foglights. Now, a Decepticon known as The Fallen soon appears.
Apparently, The Fallen was known as Megatronus Prime and was the actual leader of the Decepticons. He now leads an army of Decepticons and attacks. Bumblebee realises that Sam is in danger, so he rushes to save him, despite the previous argument. The Autobots face immense danger as Megatron, and the Decepticons succeed in killing Optimus Prime. So, Bumblebee rounds up the other Autobots and, along with his human allies, tries to figure out a plan to defeat The Fallen. Soon after, they find out about the existence of a former Decepticon known as Jetfire who could help them.
He informs the Autobots about the Matrix of Leadership which can assist them in reviving Optimus Prime. However, it is hidden in Egypt, so the Autobots must hurry. The American NEST army helps the Autobots find the Matrix of Leadership and restore Optimus. In the meantime, as the battle continues, Bumblebee fights the Decepticons with all his power. He succeeds in killing the Decepticon known as Ravage by tearing out his spine. Towards the end, Optimus Prime comes back to life and manages to kill The Fallen.
In the 2011 film titled Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Bumblebee travels around the world with the Autobots to look for other Decepticons that might cause trouble. He stopped living with Sam, but the two met again when Sam visited the army base. Soon, Sentinel Prime abandons the Autobots and joins the Decepticons. A battle takes place between the two factions, and Bumblebee knocks down several of the Decepticons.
However, as a part of Megatron’s plans, Sentinel Prime tells the American government that if they banish the Autobots from Earth, the Decepticons will leave them alone. So, the Autobots are now forced to leave Earth, but as their ship takes flight, a Decepticon known as Starscream destroys it. They believe that all the Autobots have died, so they head to Chicago in order to attack the humans and take over Earth’s resources to rebuild Cybertron. The Autobots arrive and fight back. It is then revealed that they actually survived and hid. A fierce battle takes place between the Autobots and the Decepticons, and many Transformers get destroyed.
Bumblebee fights against Soundwave and succeeds in killing him. He also helps Ratchet in destroying the Control Pillar set up by the Decepticons. Eventually, Optimus Prime kills Megatron, and the Autobots stay on Earth. In this film, we get to see Bumblebee as a Camaro SS with thicker black lines, dark-colored rims, and side mirrors. He also takes the form of a stealth battle mode through which he partially transforms and gets to deploy his weapons while still being in the car mode with the seats intact.
Now, in the 2014 film titled Transformers: Age of Extinction, the Autobots are being hunted by a special black ops CIA unit known as Cemetery Wind, whose mission is to destroy all Autobots and Decepticons that are still inhabiting Earth. They have also teamed up with a former Decepticon turned bounty hunter known as Lockdown. So, in order to hide from them, Bumblebee transforms into a reformed version of a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. This car looks quite similar to the Dodge Hellcat.
Eventually, when the Autobots visit the headquarters of KSI, Bumblebee scans a 2014 Camaro Concept and transforms into it with multiple upgrades over his previous car mode. He now has long black side skirts, a dove black front bumper, as well as new black rims. This time, he sports only one black stripe on his hood. For most of the film, Bumblebee does not speak and continues to use his radio for communication. After the intense battle in Hong Kong, Optimus Prime decides to go to space to look for the mysterious Creators who sent Lockdown. As a result, Bumblebee becomes in charge of the Autobots on Earth.
In the 2017 film titled Transformers: The Last Knight, Bumblebee commands the Autobots and fights the TRF soldiers to save Cade Yeager. He shows some excellent new moves as he detaches and reassembles himself in the middle of the fight. Later on, when Bumblebee goes to London, England, he finds out a few things about his past that he does not seem to recall. Sir Edmund Burton reveals that during World War two, Bumblebee provided his services to the United States Army Air Force in their war against the Nazis and also transformed into a Mercedes Benz 770.
Now, eventually, Optimus Prime loses his memories for a while due to Quintessa and ends up fighting Bumblebee. It is then revealed that Bumblebee’s voice box has completely healed. So, when he talks to Optimus, he can make him recall the Autobots. During the final battle against Quintessa at Stonehenge, Bumblebee lends a helping hand to Optimus. When she tries to immobilize Optimus, Bumblebee attacks her from behind and shoots her to death.
The character of Bumblebee is the only Transformer who received his own film because, in all his versions in the entire Transformers franchise, the creators have established him as the Autobot who seems to bring the human and the Transformers worlds together.
His lovely presence was equally delightful in the animated universe
In the Transformers Animated tv series continuity, the character of Bumblebee is voiced by Larry “Bumper” Robinson. The show premiered on Cartoon Network in December 2007 and concluded in May 2009. In this continuity, Bumblebee is the youngest and most talkative of all the Autobots. He cannot even shut up for 10 minutes.
From the beginning of his career, Bumblebee has always wanted to become a part of the Cybertron Elite Guard. They are the elite combat unit of the Autobots and the primary defence force of Cybertron. Due to his usual carefree behaviour, it has been quite tricky for Bumblebee to get noticed by the elites. He soon joins the Autobot boot camp, which is an Autobot training facility where they learn the necessary skills.
If they successfully pass the training facility, they get a chance to go to the Autobot Academy, which eventually leads to a position in the Cybertron Elite Guard. Bumblebee has been dead set on his goals, but the Autobot boot camp is not so easy. His drill sergeant, who is known as Sentinel Prime, is kind of a jerk. Even his classmates tend to ridicule and bully him due to his small stature.
One of his classmates, who is known as Wasp has the same body type as Bumblebee and constantly tries to create trouble for him. Now, one day, when he is walking by a classroom, he eavesdrops on a conversation and realizes that someone is conversing with a Decepticon. So, he hides in order to find out who it is and sees Wasp walking away. Bumblebee then immediately gets suspicious of him and has the urge to do something about it.
He takes advice from another classmate known as Longarm and decides to prove that Wasp is probably a Decepticon under disguise. However, in his attempts, he is reprimanded twice by Sentinel Prime, and it leads to several transform-ups for his entire squad. A Transform up is a minor punishment at the boot camp which is similar to push-ups. As a result of suffering from Bumblebee’s mistakes, his classmates Ironhide and Wasp take apart his legs and stuff him inside a closet so that no one can find him.
Soon after, Longarm comes to his aid and frees him. Longarm also tells him to continue pursuing the spy. Later on, during their first training exercise of combat in a simulated battle zone, someone messed with the turret settings and changed them to active ammunition of fire lasers instead. The cannons soon open fire on Bumblebee, and he is immediately saved by his classmate and friend Bulkhead, who pushes a building on top of the cannons to stop them.
However, Bulkhead did not realize that the building also accidentally squashed Sentinel Prime. Bumblebee then tells him to run away so that he does not get into trouble. Now, after a while, Sentinel Prime decides to conduct a sudden inspection of the lockers of the Autobots. When bumblebee finds out about it, he sneaks the key to Wasp’s locker and unlocks it.
Sentinel Prime arrives and questions him for this act, but Bumblebee presents him with a Decepticon communicator from Wasp’s locker. He then realizes that Bumblebee’s suspicions were correct all along. As a result, he decides to give Bumblebee a position in the fast-track program of the Cybertron Elite guard. It looks like his dreams are finally coming true.
However, Sentinel Prime then asks the group about the collapse of the building on him. When no one reveals who did it, he decides to kick out anyone he wants, and it just so happens that he thinks it should be Bulkhead. So, before he can kick out Bulkhead to save his friend, Bumblebee reveals that he is the one who is responsible for the incident.
So he obviously loses his position at the Cybertron Elite guard. As a result, both Bumblebee and Bulkhead end up working on the space bridges, which are a type of interplanetary transportation that allows Transformers to go from one planet to the other without the use of a spacecraft. They soon get assigned to work on the space bridge repair crew of Optimus Prime.
While they are on a mission, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead cross paths with a cyber ninja Autobot known as Prowl. He is meditating in front of a deserted space bridge and does not want to be disturbed. However, Ratchet, another Autobot on Optimus’ crew, accidentally sets off an Energon cube which results in the complete destruction of Prowl’s spaceship. So, Optimus Prime asks him to join his crew while they tour the sector.
Prowl is not a fan of the idea, but he does not have any other choice. So, he gets onboard their starship which is known as the Orion. Its systems are handled by an artificial intelligence known as Teletran 1. Now, Bumblebee continues to work as directed by Optimus Prime and listens to almost everything he says. He truly is a brave and honest Autobot because he is not afraid to stand up to Optimus Prime when he feels that the leader is wrong.
Soon the crew finds the long-lost AllSpark on an asteroid. But the moment of joy soon turns into terror because Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, ends up locating the Orion. Bumblebee has always been scared of even the thought of Megatron, but now he engages in a battle with the Decepticons with the other Autobots. When Bumblebee comes face to face with Megatron, he stands bravely in front of the Decepticon leader and fights him.
However, this battle stands heavy on the Orion, and it starts to descend towards Earth’s orbit. The crew manages to throw Megatron off their ship, after which Bumblebee along with the other Autobots, enters their stasis pods. The starship soon crash lands on Earth. After lying dormant for around fifty years, the control system of the starship, Teletran 1, got reactivated due to the intruder alert function.
As a result, it woke up all the Autobots on board. Optimus Prime then sent out a probe to gather more information about their surroundings. This is when Bumblebee gets his Earth vehicle alternate mode, which is a rusty yellow coloured sports car. Soon, Bumblebee befriended a girl named Sari, and the two helped each other several times. This version of Bumblebee has been seen as a fast Autobot amongst Optimus’ crew, and he is always eager to help.
Some of the coolest car forms taken up by Bumblebee
Throughout the Transformers franchise, the character of Bumblebee has taken several different car forms. Although, as you might recall, the Transformers have the ability to change their modes into not just cars but fighter jets as well. However, Bumblebee usually likes to stick to his typical car style, which gives a rather vintage look.
Takara Toys, a Japanese toy company, designed the classic design for Bumblebee in 1982 for the Micro Man toy line. This design is seen in Generation 1 of “Transformers” media, and after many years, we see it again in the Bumblebee film, where for most of the movie, he appears as a 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle car.
However, at the end of the Bumblebee movie, we saw that his character transformed into his first Camaro version. Well, that might have been a hint towards Bumblebee’s long-standing love for Camaros. In fact, for all his versions, he has adopted the form of a fair share of different Camaros. When we take a look at his first appearance in the Transformers franchise, which was in the 2007 Transformers movie, he appeared as a 2nd generation 1977 Chevrolet Camaro with black and yellow paint schemes.
Apart from that, he also appears as a 5th generation 2006 Camaro Concept in the same film. Eventually, as the world of Transformers’ live-action films continued, Bumblebee transformed into a lot more Camaro forms. This includes two different versions of the 5th Generation Camaro Concept, a 1st Generation 1967 SS, and two versions of the 6th Generation, which are a 2014 Camaro Concept and a 2017 ZL1.
Bumblebee’s different car forms perfectly match his personality every single time and establish him as an ally of the humans as well as a respected and powerful leader of the Autobots. After the popularity of the yellow Volkswagen Beetle, the next car form that turned into a fan favourite was the black and yellow Camaros.
Now, in the modern Transformers series, Bumblebee’s car version takes on a more modern and compact approach than his Camaro versions. They styled him similar to the efficient Beetle car but with some new adjustments. The version of Bumblebee in the Animated Continuity takes on the appearance of a smart car. It features a short body and two doors. In this version, Bumblebee is shown to be smaller compared to his fellow Autobots. Despite this new and improved smart car version, Bumblebee’s appearances in the franchise are still dominated by the muscle car version of the Camaro.
Even though Bumblebee usually only transforms himself into a car version, we have seen over the years that as long as he is determined to achieve his goals, he is ready to transform into any mode. In fact, in the Bumblebee film, in the part where he was being chased by Sector 7, we saw him transform into a yellow military jeep. Bumblebee has also taken the form of a Mercedes Benz 770, a vintage car that he replicated during World War two.
What are some of his unique powers?
Bumblebee has a habit of shocking the audience with his different fighting skills and countless weapon systems. In Transformers: The Last Knight, we get to see him reshape his entire structure and use stealth force. In this mode, he is able to remain in the car form while also using weapons from his robot mode.
Bumblebee has plasma cannons that he uses to fire bursts of plasma at his opponents. He also has shoulder-mounted missiles, multi-missile launchers, as well as machine guns that can be used during his stealth mode. Apart from that, he also has laser cannons, a crab claw, a battle hammer, an anchor, a mouth grapple, and a toe gun. Watching Bumblebee use all of these weapons in a fight is truly breathtaking. In the Bumblebee film, he has been seen using blades, machine guns in stealth mode, and left arm-mounted shotgun. He also has a different battle mask, and his eyes turn red when he is in complete fighting form as opposed to the usual blue.
The character of Bumblebee is certainly the Transformer who is most loved by the fans. He truly deserves this admiration because he has given us some excellent battle sequences, along with his charming and caring personality towards humans. In all his versions, Bumblebee has stayed loyal to his leader, Optimus Prime, and considers it his responsibility to serve the Autobots as well as the humans.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!