Yahoo Autos Video: Bumblebee Set to Return to His Roots as a Volkswagen Beetle
For those who have grown up on the live-action, Michael Bay era of Transformers, the character Bumblebee is synonymous with a yellow Chevrolet Camaro with black stripes and accents. But with the launch of a stand-alone Bumblebee spinoff movie, a new era begins, one that returns to an earlier timeline in the franchise. The first trailer for the Travis Knight–directed film shows Bumblebee not as a muscle car, but as an old-school Volkswagen Beetle.
Bumblebee is a prequel to the most recent Transformers movies, set in an ’80s beach town. As in the LaBeouf flick, a hero (this time named Charlie Watson and played by Hailee Steinfeld) comes across a beaten and battered car, only to discover it is no ordinary ride. *cue the music* It’s a Transformer!
Fans who know their lore will not see the switch to a Bug as confusing or strange, but as a return to roots. In the first-generation animated series and in the G1 toy line, Bumblebee transformed into a Beetle. Here are two clips:
Word was Bay made the switch to the Camaro because of concerns there would be too many comparisons to Herbie the Love Bug-marketing dollars couldn’t have hurt, either. Also seen in the latest trailer is Bumblebee’s secondary look, where he adopts a new mask and what appears to be the grille from a Willys Jeepster or a Mitsubishi Jeep as his chest plate. Interestingly, there is another Transformer named Hound whose old-school alt mode was indeed a Mitsubishi Jeep before turning into an Oshkosh military vehicle and a Unimog ambulance in the more recent movies.
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The only other Transformer seen in the new trailer is a fighter jet that could be the Decepticon Starscream, another character who frequented the old animated series. From the flash on the screen, he appears to arrive in the form of a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. There will surely be more trailers to come before the movie comes to theaters on December 21, and we’ll call out more cars as they come. For now, watch the trailer below:
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