I'm not a G1 fanboy or was suicidal cause Bay was making a movie on my childhood.. but i will say that

1. Bumblebee shouldn't be the main character of the movie series
2. Prime IS more main than BB
3. Transformers!! Not Transformer!!
4. Please do NOT do the exact same thing they did with TF1 and give all the bot screen time to focus on BB, I have no problem with BB, just the fact that for TF1 he was the MAIN Transformer



I AM NOT A BB HATER!!! I JUST THINK HIS ROLE WAS A LITTLE TOOO BIG FOR TF1, MY OPINION WILL CHANGE IF HES NOT GIVEN AS MUCH TIME EFFORT IN TF2


any thoughts fellow transfans about his role in TF2 and how he could be handled and as i said.....ANY thoughts??

I think, for the introductory role of this movie, Bumblebee was the perfect choice for the Transformer with the most screentime.

Agreed.

likewise. Bumblebee was awesome. And like the original show he played a big and prominent role

A Car and His Boy'd

Bumblebee had a lot of screen time in G1, too. He's always been the link between the humans and the Autobots.

(well okay, Hound was in MTMTE, but he was lame)

"I can project holograms! Whee!"

"Sigh...we know, Hound."

Alright, I'll give you this:

1. Bumblebee wasn't annoying
2. Bumblebee wasn't as lame as Hot Shot
3. Bumblebee wasn't as cool as Exillion

That's as far into it as I am going to go.

Why?

BB didn't even appear in the same movie as Optimus Prime. The only movies Optimus Prime has appeared in have been Transformers The Movie and Transformers. The only movie BB appeared in was Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy's Crisis, and technically in his Cyber Beast incarnation of Max B.

And there were other Transformers in the movie too. Yes, Bumblebee was a featured main character, but this is necessary because:

a/ The basic formula with writing any story is to create a complication which needs to be worked towards a resolution. Stories can involve a hero or heroes - writers may choose to focus it on a small cast of heroes or an individual primary hero in order to build the plot around that hero's journey as the character is developed - for example, Bilbo Baggins is the core hero in The Hobbit despite the fact that there were several supporting heroes as well (e.g.: Bard, Thorin Oakenshield etc) - but the tale of The Hobbit is centralised around the journey of Bilbo Baggins.

b/ It's easier to write greater complications for heroes who are not so powerful. Furthermore, audiences can often relate better to the "underdog" hero rather than the all mighty uber-god hero. As many writers like Stan Lee have said, all heroes need to be flawed and weak for it is their flaws and weaknesses which drive them as characters and allow audiences to empathise with them. And this is an important element of story writing - the audience must emotionally invest in the character and actually care about him or her. It's much harder to do this with an extremely powerful character like Optimus Prime because you're going to be relatively much less worried about him. For example, although Bumblebee dished out major pwnage in the movie, he also copped a fair beating. When I watched the movie for the first time at the Sydney premiere with Michael Bay in the audience I remember the whole theatre was cheering and rooting for Bumblebee when he tried to take Sam and Mikaela away from Barricade and then fought the Decepticon. Likewise when Bumblebee fought Devastator in his crippled condition (w/ the assistance of Mikaela). Sure, we were cheering hard for Optimus Prime too when he got in fights - but aside from his fight with Megatron there was little fear for Prime's safety. When he first transformed and fought Bonecrusher, we all cheered because we knew that Bonecrusher was in for a major ARSE STOMPAGE! With Bumblebee - I literally yelled out "GO BUMBLEBEE!" because you wanted him to win but the outcome of the battle wasn't as surely guaranteed as it was with Optimus Prime. For this reason it's more challenging to write a weaker "underdog" hero character but when written well it's more rewarding. This is the same reason why in The Lord of the Rings, after thousands of years the source of the greatest evil in Middle Earth was finally destroyed not by any Orc, Man, Dwarf or Elf... but by a mere Hobbit. Likewise in the Star Wars saga, both Skywalkers rose to become major characters from very humble beginnings - Anakin began as a slave boy and Luke as a farmhand - both from some backwater hole of a planet that barely anyone knew about and fewer people cared about. Even a God like Superman assumes the very plain and mild-mannered guise of Clark Kent who had very humble beginnings as a farmer's son in a town that has the humblest of names - Smallville.

Humbled "underdog" heroes...


c/ Bumblebee wasn't always a wuss in G1. He did do some pretty cool Blot as Goldbug (he once thwarted Galvatron!) and as a Pretender (where he became one of the leading heroes of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron and was also one of the Autobot Crusaders during the Matrix Quest).


Max B didn't have that much screen time. I felt the movie focused more on Tasmania Kid... Hellscream had a prominent role anyway since BB/Max B was always a subservient lackey to Starscream/Hellscream.

Sorry Goki...

I must add, that I have never seen BB in a movie...

BB = Movie Bumblebee for the purpose of this thread. Can we stop trolling now?

BB's theatrical appearance was in his Cyber Beast form as Max B.

BB as he appeared in Beast Wars II

Max B's appearance in the Beast Wars movie

Ah, but you're wrong. BB appeared in Lio Convoy's crisis, did he not? And, presumably so did Lio Convoy. Now, Lio Convoy's American name is Leo Prime, is it not? Therefore BB did appear alongside Prime.

Leo Prime is a repaint of Legends Leobreaker repainted in colours similar to Lio Convoy. afaik they're not the same character. In the IDW comics Lio Convoy is still called Lio Convoy.

And even if we were to assume that Leo Prime is the Anglophone name for Lio Convoy, it just means that BB appeared alongside Leo Prime in a movie - not Optimus Prime. So nyaaaaah!

P.S.: yes, Lio Convoy did appear in the Beast Wars movie (would be rather embarrassing for him not to appear in a movie entitled "Lio Convoy's Crisis" - although that would be a crisis of sorts... a really stupid crisis) - he teamed up with Optimus Primal. Canonically the movie established that the Japanese BW series existed in the same continuity as the Canadian series - they were written as an expansion of the Canadian series much like how the UK G1 comics were written as expansions of the G1 US comics (a lot of US issues make much more sense if you've read the UK comics - e.g.: Matrix Quest).

No, that's incorrect. BB didn't even appear in the same movie as Optimus Prime because Movie BB is actually Armada Hot Shot. Hell, Prime was the only G1 character in the movie, everyone else was a new character with a recycled name.

No.

Goki, I haven't watched BWIITM in so long I forgot! I should watch it again!

The statement that you argued against was just that BB appeared in a movie with Prime. There was no mention of Optimus or Leo. Leo Prime is, obviously, intended to be a Legends version of Lio Convoy. Claiming that they're not the same character is like claiming Rodimus and Hot Rod are not the same character. Leo Prime is just another name for Lio Convoy.

Thus, BB did appear in a movie with Prime, defeating your initial argument.

Nyaaaaaaaaaa.

Wow!
Question:
Whats sadder and more pathetic than a retarded fanboy whining that his favorite character didnt get enough screen time in the new (kickass) Live Action Transformers Movie???

Answer:
A bunch of retarded fanboys arguing over INTERNET grammar and how to abbreviate a character's name...

Seriously Goki - you need to get a life and stuff.

And I'm sorry DinoJazz but if you signed up on this forum just to whine about Movie BB then you fail at life....

(o_O) Seriously... stop doing drugs.

...huh? I can't think of ANY of the movie Transformers whose movie personas conflicted with their G1 personas.

Optimus Prime: Heroic leader who valued life and freedom.

Jazz: Optimus Prime's right hand man who enjoyed elements of Earth pop culture.

Bumblebee: An Autobot spy/scout who liaised with the Autobots' human allies.

Ratchet: Autobot medic and fearless warrior

Ironhide: Gung-ho but well-meaning Autobot man-at-arms.

Megatron: "Everything is food for my hunger... my hunger for power!"

Starscream: Decepticon Air Commander and air superiority fighter

Bonecrusher: (from his G1 tech specs) "Hit it till it stands no taller than dust." Rubble-strewn wasteland is his idea of beautiful landscape. His wild ways create fear and terror.

Devastator (yeah yeah, the toy is Brawl but in the movie he's called Devastator - deal with it): (from his G1 tech specs) "He is pure brutality as his sole purpose is to crush all in his path.....Devastator is slow, awkward, and not too bright." And for those who want to insist that he's Brawl, an excerpt from Brawl's G1 tech specs which also aptly describes movie Brawlstator: "blusteringly belligerent...a terrifyingly effective warrior. Enormously strong, resistant to most conventional artillery."

Frenzy: Punk warrior who loves destruction - although his movie role as spy/saboteur is more like Ravage.

Barricade: Decepticon mobile assault who specialises in high speed destruction

Blackout: Specialised in air to surface assault - was a bomber jet in G1 and a chopper in the movie

There is however one Transformer which I must concede has two entirely different G1 and movie personas who have nothing alike aside from sharing a common name and allegiance, and that would have to be Scorponok.





Try again mate...

You misinterpreted me. My statement meant that your initial argument, that Optimus Prime and BB had never been in the same movie, was completely irrelevent. Topic creator never mentioned Optimus Prime. You're the one that attached Optimus to that statement. Meaning your post was simply arguing with yourself.

Fair enough. But technically BB didn't appear in a theatrical movie because he'd already been upgraded to Max B. Yeah I know, I'm clutching at semantic straws here. BAH!

How can you tell? Most of the bots barely have any personality at all.

in G1 or the movie

Why do people even bother reading what Hornet/Aquarion has to say anymore? I'm convinced he just posts to see himself on the internet.

Goktimus Prime, please calm down. The actual character BB was a sidekick from a Japan-only show that non-Japanese fans tend to forget about or ignore.

Bumblebee is a well-known and loved character who also served as a focal point in the live action movie. Just as other well known characters like Starscream and Optimus Prime are abbreviated (SS and OP respectively), so is Bumblebee (BB). It's just shorthand, a quick way to write the character's name if one's rushed or tired of writing the name over and over again.
If you still want to throw a fit over it, however, think of it this way. SW could stand for either Skywarp or Soundwave. Yet there's almost no confusion when this abbreviation is used because of the context surrounding it.
If I'm talking about seekers, then SW obviously means Skywarp. If I'm talking about loyal right-hand 'Cons of Megatron or 'Con communications officers, then SW obviously means Soundwave.

So if BB is used regarding G1 or the movie, obviously Bumblebee is implied, and you can save us the uber-nerd lectures.
If we're talking about Beast Wars II for some reason, then BB is obviously meant to mean the sidekick of BW II's Starscream.

Sorry, but I'm honestly tired of seeing posts of this manner from Goktimus Prime. Yes, we're all TF nerds here, and that's cool. You, however, take it to a level that frankly isn't healthy.
Why do I say that? Because you seem to feel the need to correct anyone who uses BB for Bumblebee, referencing a side character from some Japan only show.
Fact is that most new TFans to this site are either brand new fans thanks to the movie, or old fans reconnecting to the franchise because of the movie. In either case I doubt many, if any at all, are even aware of Beast Wars II's existence.

So basically, get over it. Very few people care enough about BW II to even put that show's BB on the same level as Bumblebee.
Bumblebee has always been a very popular character in the TF franchise, and thus it's not unreasonable for a fan on a message board to abbriveiate his name "BB."

Ok, got that unpleasantness out of the way.
As for the original topic of this thread....
I don't think Bumblebee was made out to be more important then Optimus Prime. You didn't see Bumblebee battling Megatron, nor did you see him ordering other 'Bots around.
The first movie was told largely from the point of view of the humans, and BB took up his regular role as the link between the humans and Autobots. As such it isn't surprising that BB got as much attention as he did.

In the cartoon, yes. In the comics, no.


I would agree with you on that. That and I'm also convinced that he's on drugs.

i clicked QUICK REPLY, this is my quick reply.

-BB had to be in the movie, chicks and kids find him cute.

of course we Big boys would prefer some really cool transformers other thank him (ie Hot Rod, Dai Atlas ..Kup..lol) but a mute friendly 7feet robot is CUTE.

and the toys sell well.

nuff said

It's funny how Dai Atlas seems to have more fans outside Japan. Most Japanese fans vocally dislike him.

The problem is that I don't know how to make my point without coming off as flamebaiting

I take you with a pinch of salt & you're cool IMO. A little... quirky! But cool nonetheless.

Would that be :furgree ?

I nominate you the new X-Bob

Henceforth I shall be known as Darth X-Gok

Better.

HAHA HAHA

This thread is done, and I think you all know why.