In 2007, Michael Bay took on the stars of the Hasbro catalog. Nearly three decades after their arrival in American stores, and while numerous cartoons had been devoted to these steel colossi, the director of Armageddon and Pearl Harbor aimed to make them the heroes of a live-action film. He took hold of the mythology and reinvented it. Autobots and Decepticons are at the epicenter of the story, and legendary figurines come to life. This is the case for Optimus Prime, commander of the Autobots. Bumblebee, the endearing yellow robot, is also in the game. But his appearance has been modified.
Indeed, in the cartoons, Bumblebee is able to transform into a yellow Volkswagen Beetle to stay under the radar. Younger than the other Autobots and smaller in size, he is referred to as a "little brother" by his peers. For Hasbro, it's a way to make him endearing and immortalize his more rebellious spirit. However, during his appearance on the big screen, the hero underwent a major change. Gone was the round and compact appearance of the Beetle, and Bumblebee became a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro. Michael Bay didn't have a grudge against Volkswagen; several factors motivated this decision.
Michael Bay wanted his robots to have a less cutesy appearance than in the cartoons. With this film, he hopes to target teenagers and is aware that big, retro engines will be more successful than a compact and rounded vehicle. He added that the Beetle reminded him too much of a 1960s saga, which also features a vehicle with intelligence. He explains this in the film's bonus features. “She reminded me so much of Choupette,” the heroine of Robert Stevenson’s films. Add to that the fact that a film in the saga had been released two years earlier, and you can understand why the director took a different direction.
Chevrolet launched a charm offensive
To finance his film, to the tune of $150 million, Michael Bay had to form partnerships. The transport coordinator suggested approaching car manufacturers. Chevrolet and its parent company General Motors made the most tempting offer by presenting a Camaro concept that fit Bay's idea of a cool car for teenagers. This change did, however, deprive Michael Bay of a ready-made pun, using the name of the car model and that of the character. In English, “Bumblebee” means bumblebee. You have to know how to make concessions.
She's still in the cast
To thwart audience expectations, Michael Bay will still include a yellow Beetle in the first film. When Sam chooses his car at a dealership, he has two options. While he is immediately attracted to a somewhat dilapidated Camaro, his budget forces him to settle for a yellow Beetle in an equally lamentable state. But Bumblebee doesn't see it that way and destroys the Beetle with a blow from the door. He has found his driver and has every intention of not letting him get away. What Sam doesn't know is that this choice will define his future.
The reboot rectifies this
Bumblebee's appearance would change throughout Michael Bay's films, with Chevrolet using the release of each installment to promote its most recent models. It wasn't until the saga's "soft reboot" in 2018 that the animated film adaptation would focus on the character's original appearance. Directed by Travis Knight, the film, which takes viewers several years before the events of Transformers 1, presents Bumblebee in the form of a yellow Beetle entrusted to a young Charlie Watson.
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