I just got the movie Bumblebee toy yesterday and I think it totally rocks! I was expecting to find a fairly ordinary toy from what people have been saying and pics I've seen online, but I must say that I can't agree with you there ROSEDOGGYDOG... I reckon it's a really neat figure and I'm glad I didn't pass it up as I was initially intending to do.

Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee

 

Why does everyone love Bumblebee?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the guy, but he pops up in everything! Little grinning yellow smeg head. I feel there are far more interesting charecters, Wheeljack, Prowl, Springer -thank god they've got Jazz in there. I think he's too obvious a choice for writers to put into a story. BB gets far too much lime light.

Most people remember Bumblebee from the old show. Thats why hes here.

Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee

 

Why does everyone love Bumblebee?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the guy, but he pops up in everything! Little grinning yellow smeg head. I feel there are far more interesting charecters, Wheeljack, Prowl, Springer -thank god they've got Jazz in there. I think he's too obvious a choice for writers to put into a story. BB gets far too much lime light.

 

Pops up in everything? He hasn't been a member of the main line since his Action Master toy in 1990. Generation 2 toy.

 

Edit: Oops. But the point still stands.

if anything Jazz and Bumblebee are the most overlooked popular G1 autobots (well to me). Pretty much all other popular main G1 characters was given a place or homage in the newer transformers lines. And on another note I saw a few threads on different sites that suggest that Hot Shot (Armada, Energon, Cyberton) should been named Bumblebee cause he sorta resemble him in looks and with the yellow colors (personality-wise they like almost the opposite of each other)

Hobbes and TFJazzy are correct. Bumblebee and Jazz haven't been seen either as toys or in any medium since Transformers: Generation 2. There was no Bumblebee nor Jazz in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, RID Armada, Energon, or Cybertron.

I've been missing my Bumblebee. I'm still not thrilled about the head, but I've always been stoked he's in the movie.

Yeah, good points about Bumblebee not being in any toy lines, that's very true. Although G1 characters that have appeared are rarely portrayed as the same character. Energon Prowl, for example, a good toy, wasn't really done G1ick in the cartoon. I was thinking more about Bumblebee from the fact that of any G1 material I've ever read/seen, it has Bumblebee as a major character. The original mavel comics, the newer comics, the cartoon. He's always there, in many stories he takes centre stage and gets all the best action, over taking more interesting (in my opinion) characters. I don't mind he's in the film really, just I wish other characters, like Prowl and Wheeljack, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, were in there as well or instead of. I can just see, in the film, BB will get far more action that the more deserving Jazz.

It's because Bumblebee is the smallest and physically weakest of the Autobots. According to his original tech specs, he idolises the other Autobots and is desperate to prove his worth to them. This makes him a frequently used character for two main reasons:

 

1/ Writers will often use underdogs for the primary antagonist. In every story you need to present your main character(s) with some kind of complication so that the story can then work towards a resolution. Using "weak" characters magnifies the story's complication because it is the character's weakness(es) and their struggle to overcome their weakness(es) in order to get over the story's complication and arrive at the resolution which makes a story interesting. That's why every hero must have a weakness - without a weakness, they're not interesting. Spiderman may have the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, but he also lives in a Blotty apartment and has trouble maintaining relationships with people that he cares for. It is the flaws that makes them interesting because it makes them easier to relate to. Even Superman has his Kryptonite and as we saw in Superman Returns, his relationship with Lois is currently going through one hell of a ride! As Stan Lee often says in interviews, you need to make the villains more powerful than the hero so that the hero has to fight and struggle to defeat the villain (who is often an integral part of the story complication).

 

2/ He small size and relative weakness means that Bumblebee is seldomly used in combat. His primary role is intelligence and reconaissance - that's why his function is "espionage" not "warrior." As a result, he has more time to be spent with the Autobots' human allies.

 

But another integral part of story telling is character development and evolution. Bumblebee may start off as an awkward and weak Autobot, but he will evolve into becoming a full fledged Autobot warrior. We saw this in G1 where Bumblebee (along with Grimlock and Jazz) became Autobot heroes, inspiring Autobots on Cybertron to push back the Decepticons and reclaim conquered Autobot territories - something that had previously been achieved by Optimus Prime. It was during Bumblebee's fight with the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad and during the Matrix Quest that he is forced to overcome his awkward indecisiveness.

The only incarnation of Bumblebee that's actually still worth one poop is his Takara book re-release. Other then that, good old Bumblebee seems to be very happy at the short end of the stick. His movie design is not helping him. Yuck.