Bumblebee (TFP)

Body color Black, yellow Color of eyepieces Blue Alt form Cybertronian car (formerly) Earth passenger car Weapon Dual laser blasters

Bumblebee is fiercely brave, yet kind and selfless, willing to give his life for his comrades. Despite his disability, he is very sociable, and more easily than any other Autobot interacts with people, especially children. Still very young by Transformers standards, Bumblebee bravely battles the Decepticons, honing his combat skills and gaining strength; he ultimately manages to defeat Megatron himself.

Bumblebee isn't the most powerful Autobot in Prime's team, but he's exceptionally agile and resourceful, a master of all manner of military stratagems. He's also incredibly fast. In his alt form, Bumblebee boasts some of the fastest speeds of any Autobot, reaching 400 mph (640 km/h) in just six seconds. In robot mode, he's armed with twin laser pistols mounted on his wrists. When Ultra Magnus arrived on Earth, he also acquired a medium-caliber blaster and a shield generator from his ship's storage. Bumblebee lost his voice module back on Cybertron and was forced to communicate with others for a long time through a series of clicks and creaks, but his voice was later restored thanks to cybermatter.

According to the official rating, Bumblebee's combat qualities are rated as follows: courage - 10, speed and intelligence - 8, endurance - 7, strength, firepower and combat skill - 6[46

Alt-form: initially a Cybertronian passenger car, later a yellow and black Urbana 500 pony car, then a Griffin Motors 1995 Windblazer passenger car[45]; Weapons: Twin laser pistols mounted on the wrists; Traits: Back on Cybertron, he lost his voice module due to an injury; since then, for a long time, he could only communicate with others using electronic sound signals.

On Cybertron, Bumblebee transformed into a small passenger car. Upon arriving on Earth, he scanned a human Urbana 500 sports car, equipped with a hood scoop and oversized rear wheels. After the war ended, he changed his transformation mode again, becoming a Griffin Motors 1995 Windblazer with a longer front end.

Having failed to find any Autobot corpses under the rubble (the only one remaining at the base during its destruction was Optimus, who had been covering his comrades' retreat[34], and he, gravely wounded, was rescued before he could be discovered and dragged to safety by Smokescreen, who had disobeyed orders), the Decepticons correctly concluded that they had managed to escape in time. Vehicon squadrons were issued alerts for Prime's team members, and they began searching for them, combing various corners of the Earth. One of them spotted a car of the same model as Bumblebee's alt-form driving down the road, but, noticing the discrepancy in color, ignored it. As it flew away, Bumblebee pulled over and assumed his robot form: it turned out he had managed to change his paint job in advance. After another unsuccessful attempt to contact any of the Autobots, Bumblebee and Raph decided to head towards Jasper[35

They didn't have enough Insecticons and the armada led by Starscream launched an attack. The team tried to defend itself, but quickly realized that it would be impossible to hold back the enemy onslaught and went down inside the base to begin the evacuation. Fortunately, air support arrived in the form of Wheeljack on the Jackhammer ship, which allowed them to buy some extra time. Optimus ordered his subordinates to go through the ground bridge to different points on the planet so that the Decepticons could not seize everyone at once. Bumblebee, along with Raf, was among the first to leave the base, which was soon completely destroyed.

The Autobots were in disarray, and although Optimus was initially hesitant[33], and Jack and Miko openly expressed their willingness to sacrifice themselves, he ultimately laid down his arms; the rest of the team followed suit. Then, in accordance with Megatron's terms, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Smokescreen gave the Omega Keys to Knockout, Soundwave, and Starscream in exchange for the pods containing the children. As soon as they were in Decepticon hands, a squad of Vehicons arrived via the Space Bridge and surrounded the Autobots. The Omega Lock was fully armed, and Megatron wasted no time in activating its power, unleashing a blast of energy into a nearby dilapidated building. Within moments, it returned to its original form, shocking everyone watching. However, it turned out that the Decepticon Lord's plans included not only restoring his home planet, but also cyberforming Earth so that he could rule both worlds. Another beam was fired, but this time into the vortex of the Space Bridge, whose exit point was directly opposite Earth. Then Optimus broke through the enemy cordon and, taking the Star Sword, destroyed the Omega Lock. An explosion occurred, and the Autobots, taking advantage of the resulting clouds of smoke and dust, quickly requested a bridge back to base and fled Cybertron along with the humans. Returning dejected, they reported what had happened to Ratchet, who was shocked and outraged by Prime's actions. However, the argument that had barely begun was cut short by a call from Agent Fowler informing them that military command had declared a state of emergency due to the attack on Jasper. Having ascended to the top of the cliff where Omega-1 was located via an elevator, the Autobots saw that next to it stood a huge structure—a complete replica of the Cybertronian fortress Darkmount. They realized that Megatron had completed the first stage of Earth's cyberformation and that the Decepticons had learned of their headquarters' location. Further reflection

The Autobots' vision revealed a massive, round tank filled with cybermatter, standing on three supports. However, the moment of triumph was interrupted by the arrival of Megatron, who demanded the return of the Omega Keys. As proof of his imperative, Starscream, Soundwave, and Knockout emerged from the vortex of the immediately opened space bridge, carrying Jack, Raf, and Miko, whom they had captured, in capsules.[33]

Having acquired Solus Prime's hammer, Optimus told the other Autobots about the Omega Lock—an ancient mechanism powered by the Omega Keys and capable of restoring Cybertron. Since it was located on Cybertron itself, Prime began converting the ground bridge into a space bridge. Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead were surprised he hadn't informed them of the lock earlier, but Smokescreen convinced them that this was the right move, as the Decepticons might otherwise have learned of it during the mental probing procedure they'd subjected the newcomer to on the ship. Just as Optimus was finishing his work, the base's computers detected the activation of the Decepticon space bridge, and the Autobots, taking with them the artifacts they'd recovered so far (Bumblebee obtained the Polarity Gauntlet), immediately departed for Cybertron. Finding a horde of Vehicons there, led by Megatron himself, they attacked. Bumblebee seized a large pile of scrap metal and unleashed it on the enemy, then dodged their fire and escaped, only to rally with the rest of the team a few seconds later and reassert their attack on the Decepticons. After destroying most of the army in a firefight and hand-to-hand combat, they reached the four Vehicons holding the keys. Bulkhead immobilized them with an immobilizer, and Bumblebee used his gauntlet to extract the coveted artifacts from their hands, taking possession of one of them and distributing the other three to the Autobots. Having achieved their goal, they hastened to flee the battlefield. The remaining Vehicons gave chase, but were destroyed by Smokescreen, who activated the Spark Extractor. When the team members arrived at the location where the Omega Lock was supposed to be located, according to the coordinates in Alpha Trion's message embedded in the Star Saber, they saw its control panel. As soon as they approached it, the keys began to glow and vibrate, and the machine itself immediately started.

Bumblebee and the other team members were at the base, discussing the future of Cybertron after its restoration with their human friends, when a message arrived from Dreadwing, requesting a meeting. The Autobots didn't ignore him, but knowing the treacherous nature of their enemy, upon arriving at the designated location via the ground bridge, they immediately activated their weapons and prepared to attack. However, Dreadwing made it clear that he intended not to fight them, but to hand over Solus Prime's hammer (which he had indeed brought with him). He also revealed that the Omega Keys were on the Nemesis (which, among other things, meant that Starscream had returned to Megatron's command). Explaining his reasons, Dreadwing said he no longer wished to deal with the Decepticons, having encountered their dishonor, but declined Optimus's offer to join the Autobots and then flew away. Having collected their new acquisition, Prime's team moved back to base.[33]

Bumblebee and his young partner returned to base from a dangerous patrol, both overjoyed that everything had gone smoothly. But a new disaster awaited them at the base: a Terrorcon, infiltrated due to Ratchet's oversight, had approached Raf and was about to kill him. Fortunately, Bumblebee was not fooled: hearing the medic's warning cry, he quickly rushed to Raf, grabbed him in his arms, and shielded the boy from the blow with his body. Ratchet soon managed to use a Dark Energon crystal to lure the Terrorcon into the ground bridge and remove it from the base, after which he provided Bumblebee with medical aid.[32]

Bumblebee and Raf explored the cave in search of Energon. The young Autobot was uneasy about his surroundings, though Raf reassured him that it was just a routine reconnaissance mission and there would be no surprises. Unfortunately, Bumblebee's misgivings were soon confirmed: Megatron's soldiers were waiting for them in the cave. Bumblebee engaged them while Raf tried to call for help. Meanwhile, Knockout was sneaking up behind the Autobot. Raf yelled, warning his friend of the danger, and Bumblebee managed to dodge the blow, though the Decepticon was protected by a cloaking device that made him invisible to other Transformers. Raf's reinforcements, Ratchet and Bulkhead, soon arrived. Ratchet brought a device that could neutralize Knockout's device, allowing Bumblebee to finally see the enemy and punch him. After this, Knockout quickly ran away[31].

Bumblebee was at the Autobot base when a loud noise was suddenly heard. He rushed there with Bulkhead, Jack, and Miko and saw a strange sight: Arcee was fighting Ratchet, calling him Megatron. Seeing the Autobots running in, she opened fire on them. Ratchet warned his comrades to be careful, as Arcee mistook them all for Decepticons, and advised them to disarm her. Bumblebee and Bulkhead disabled Arcee's pistols with their shots, but even then she didn't calm down and engaged the Autobots in hand-to-hand combat. Bumblebee finally managed to grab her, but Ratchet ordered the Autobots to retreat, and the scout obeyed. After they retreated, Ratchet zapped the bot girl, which brought her to her senses. Jack and Miko rejoiced at Arcee's coming to her senses; Bumblebee and Bulkhead were also happy, but not as much, because they had been badly beaten in the fight[30].

Bumblebee was searching for Energon on Honshu Island, near Jigokudani Park. At the same time, M.E.X. agents, sent by Silas for the same purpose, arrived by helicopter. Before drilling, one of the mechs began chasing away monkeys basking in a hot spring. He aimed his pistol at a mother and her cub, but Bumblebee intervened, breaking the pistol and tossing the M.E.X.O.C.H. away. At that moment, Ratchet came on the radio and warned his comrade that the local Energon was highly unstable. However, the medic was too late—the unstable Energon had already affected Bumblebee, sapping his powers. The mechs took advantage of this and cast an electromagnetic pulse net on the Autobot. The helpless scout found himself at the complete mercy of the mechs, who decided to deliver him to Silas along with the Energon samples. However, the monkey he'd rescued quietly crept up to the generator feeding the grid and pulled the cable. The grid immediately disappeared. The freed Bumblebee tore the drilling rig apart, and the mechanoids, seeing this, quickly boarded the helicopter and flew away. Ratchet, watching the events on the monitor, couldn't figure out who had disconnected the grid from its power source or how, but Bumblebee knew perfectly well what was going on and winked cheerfully at the monkey who had climbed onto his shoulder.[29]

Bumblebee helped Raf hide spy cameras throughout the Autobot base and shared amusement with him, watching the other base inhabitants squabble among themselves. However, everyone soon figured out who the culprit was, and if Optimus hadn't called a general meeting, Bumblebee and his young friend would have been in serious trouble. Straight from headquarters, Bumblebee, along with Prime, Arcee, and Bulkhead, headed to Kansas, where suspicious Decepticon activity had been detected. It turned out that Knockout had built a time machine there to travel to Cybertron's past and alter it. On the commander's orders, Bumblebee rushed to the machine to disable it, but he was too late—Knockout had already activated the time portal. However, instead of Cybertron, everyone near the portal was transported to a parallel world and would likely have remained there forever, had it not been for a lucky break. It turned out that Raf (unbeknownst to Bumblebee) had attached a spy camera to him, and this camera had recorded the code that Knockout used to activate his invention. Using this code, Ratchet managed to bring everyone back. As a memento of the incident, Bumblebee took a selfie with Bulkhead, Raf, Jack, and Miko.[28]

Bumblebee, along with the other Autobots, traveled via the Earth Bridge to the COMSAT-1 communications satellite and fought the Vehicons who were protecting Soundwave, who had connected to the satellite to transmit a threatening message from Starscream addressed to all inhabitants of Earth.[27]

Due to a malfunction in the Groundbridge, Bumblebee ended up in a pond near an abandoned paint factory, where Knockout and Breakdown discovered him. Breakdown pulled Bumblebee out of the pond, beat him up, and was about to finish him off with his sledgehammer, but Knockout stopped him. He challenged Bumblebee to a speed contest, with the young Autobot's life as the prize, and Bumblebee accepted. However, Bumblebee's energy was running low, and he feared he wouldn't win the race. So he decided to cheat: breaking away from his rival, he returned to the starting line and knocked out Breakdown, who was on duty there, with a powerful blow. While the giant was unconscious, Bumblebee knocked over several barrels of yellow paint onto Knockout. Upon regaining consciousness, Breakdown attacked his friend, mistaking him for an Autobot. While they were sorting things out among themselves, Bumblebee received a message from Raf that the ground bridge had been restored and safely disappeared[26].

Along with other Autobots, Bumblebee participated in the capture of the Decepticon space bridge so that Arcee and Jack could use it to reach the Sigma vector located on Cybertron to download all the data about the Primes' collective wisdom and restore Optimus's memory. During the mission, the Autobots were attacked by Megatron. However, the task was completed and all team members, including its leader, returned to base.

When Optimus Prime, while exploring an abandoned Autobot ship, became infected with the cyborg plague, Bumblebee and Arcee went to the Nemesis to search the ship's computer files for information about an antidote. The search was unsuccessful, and then, at Ratchit's suggestion, Bumblebee entered Megatron's brain through a psychocortical connection, which created the virus. There he received information about how to cure Optimus. Arcee disconnected Bumblebee from Megatron, but Megatron's consciousness remained in Bumblebee's body. Megatron used this and resurrected himself, and then transferred his consciousness into his body.

Bumblebee participated in the attack on the Decepticon mine in an attempt to rescue the resurrected Cliffjumper, after returning he was assigned to the Rough as a guard and observer.

To distract herself from the grief of her partner's death, Arcee traveled to the nearby town of Jasper and was pursued by two Vehicons (local resident Jack Darby was also accidentally dragged into the chase). Bumblebee intervened, grazing the Decepticons but failing to steer them away. When Arcee exited the freeway and under a bridge, they pursued her; there, the Autobot attacked them but was unable to gain the upper hand. Fortunately, Bumblebee arrived again and engaged the Vehicons in hand-to-hand combat. During this, he inadvertently crushed a remote-controlled car belonging to another man—Raph Esquivel—who was playing with it there. This distracted the scout, and his adversaries, taking advantage of his distraction, dealt him a powerful blow, knocking him down. After this, one of the Vehicons attempted to capture Jack and Raph, but Bumblebee prevented him from doing so, though victory remained undefeated. However, moments later, Bulkhead arrived to the Autobots' aid, and the Vehicons were forced to retreat. Upon returning to the command post, Arcee and Bumblebee told Optimus everything that had happened, and he, explaining that anyone who learned of the existence of Transformers was in mortal danger, tasked them with finding Jack and Raph and bringing them back. The Autobots carried out this task (and even "exceeded" it—they also had to bring along Miko Nakadai, who had accidentally overheard Arcee and Jack's conversation).[22]

Bumblebee was patrolling his district when Optimus Prime called the entire team to assist Cliffjumper, who was under attack by Decepticons, making their first appearance in three years. He and the team arrived at the base, where they traveled via ground bridge to the battlefield. Unfortunately, the Autobots were too late: by then, the enemy had already won the battle and taken the wounded Cliffjumper to their spaceship, the Nemesis, where he was killed by Starscream. Returning to the base with his comrades, Optimus delivered a speech urging them to remain steadfast and true to their duty, even in the face of such losses, in the name of the Autobots and the humans they had pledged to protect.

When Cybertron was devastated, Bumblebee, along with some allies led by Optimus Prime, left and eventually arrived on Earth. There, the Autobots established contact with the US government and established the Omega-1 base inside a missile silo provided to them in the Nevada desert. Over the following years, Prime's team searched for energon, the fuel vital to the Transformers.

One day, Bumblebee was captured by the Decepticons and brought before Megatron for interrogation. He refused to give the enemy information they needed, so the Decepticon Lord ripped out his vocal cords and left him for dead. Luckily for the Autobot, his allies found him in time and took him to a doctor. Ratchet stabilized him but couldn't restore his voice, so he installed a vocoder, which generated sounds understandable to Cybertronians.[21]

Bumblebee waited for Sideswipe and Ironhide at the train station. The Autobots fought off the Insecticons together and then boarded the train.[20]

As the Autobots prepared to leave the planet and began transporting supplies to the spaceport, Bumblebee volunteered to scout a route for one of these caravans. He spotted an enemy patrol ahead and began to suspect there was more to come. Optimus soon reported strange activity behind the caravan, and the scout returned. It turned out the attack was merely a ruse to close the gates and prevent the transport from passing, but the cunning Bumblebee figured out how to open them, allowing the caravan to proceed. Ahead, he encountered another ambush and, with the help of the Aerialbots, cleared the way completely.[17]

As the Autobot ships prepared to depart but were attacked by Thundercracker and Skywarp, Bumblebee informed Air Raid of the spaceport's shortage of air forces.[18] When Trypticon was shot down, the Autobot believed this would end the war, but quickly realized his mistake.[19]

To learn more about Trypticon, Ironhide and Bumblebee traveled to Kaon. Ironhide was unable to open a passage wide enough for him to pass through, forcing the scout to act alone. After disposing of several guards, Bumblebee encountered Ironhide again, but was forced to cover his comrade. After defeating several groups of Decepticons, the Autobots arrived and learned of Trypticon's Dark Energon-infused cannon, after which the connection was lost. The Autobots attempted to escape, but were caught and captured by Soundwave and Megatron.[14][15]

Ironhide was thrown into the dungeon and Bumblebee was taken away to be tortured, despite the fact that the yellow Autobot tried to resist the scanning. He was sure that the Decepticons had pulled all the data they needed from his memory. Despite Bumblebee's panic, the Autobots managed to leave Kaon with the help of an air raid.

When the Autobots needed a messenger (the Decepticons were blocking all other forms of communication) to convey news of Zeta Prime's fall to Optimus, Bumblebee volunteered. Along the way, he encountered a group of Decepticons but was rescued by an axe-wielding Transformer, who turned out to be Optimus. Afterward, Bumblebee and his new acquaintances were tasked with reclaiming the city, which the Decepticons had already claimed as their own.

First, they activated the planetary cannons, then fought their way into the Decagon, bypassing Decepticon war machines and Soundwave. Once at the communications center, the squad encountered Starscream and forced him to retreat.[11]

Soon, Bumblebee, Optimus, and Sideswipe were deliberately captured by the Decepticons in order to rescue Zeta Prime. They were taken to Kaon and ordered to be executed, but Air Raid arrived just in time to free the Autobots. While the squad was advancing through the prison, Air Raid was captured, and Bumblebee offered to go back for him, but since the Autobots were not yet armed, this plan was abandoned. It soon turned out that Zeta's rescue was one of Megatron's traps, and the Autobots were captured again. However, they managed to escape again, and even rescued the remaining prisoners, including Air Raid. They themselves fought Soundwave and his lieutenants, after which they freed the dying Prime and delivered him to Iacon.[12]

Along with Optimus and Ironhide, Bumblebee helped defeat Trypticon.