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#29

Movie Bumblebee

By Blackjack

"Check out the rep, yep, second to none."

Percentage of vote: 17.5%
Average ranking: 14.4

Ah, Bumblebee. Within the span of three live-action movies and a fourth coming out at the time of writing (as well as a massive amount of tie-in materials), Bumblebee has become, as Another TF Fan put it, a "highly merchandised new face of the franchise". Whatever people may say about the Michael Bay movies, all but the staunchest of G1 purists will agree that Bumblebee was handled well. Well enough, in fact, that he beat a significant amount of older characters to earn himself this spot in our little poll.

"Didn't like a lot of what Michael Bay did,
but thought he did great here. His
friendship with Sam was great."

--BeavertonBoy

And it's not just starring in movies and making all sorts of funny antics either. Michael Bay's first movie in the 2007 breathed new life into the franchise, causing an explosion in popularity never seen since its heyday during the first generation, as well as the influx of a new generation of fans, yours truly included. And no small part, I think, is due to Bumblebee. Unlike many other similar archetypes, Bumblebee was never kiddified to the extent of acting like a big, stupid child. Sure, he's got his antics, he's got all those funny scenes, but they weren't painfully childish like many kid-appeal characters are. Bumblebee proves himself to be as capable in battle as any one of his brethren, doubly so when protecting Sam Witwicky.

"Psychotic kid identification character ftw."

--inflatable dalek

Those involved in making the movie made really sure that the new face of the franchise is a likeable one to a wide range of consumers, and despite his relative newness compared to many other characters Bumblebee has endeared himself to a significant portion of the fandom. To the generation that joined the fandom thanks to the Bay Movies, Bumblebee has certainly become the character that first captured our hearts and imaginations.

I think I'll just close this little thing with the reason I voted for this him:

"Who, G1 Bumblebee? That short, useless fatty who only gets to do things because he's the designated child-appeal character? Screw him. MY Bumblebee, the Bumblebee I know, is a badass Camaro that is equal parts cute and deadly, alternating between making jokes with his radio and shooting angry Decepticons in the face. In between those, he is a great wingman and sells more toys than the rest of the bloody franchise. And he's yellow, he's cute enough for girls and cool enough for boys and he's a mascot. He's freaking Pikachu."

--Blackjack

Editor's note: TFArchive.com does not necessarily endorse Blackjack's opinions on G1 Bumblebee. Unless he didn't get enough votes to make the list himself. Then hang him!

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