Goldbug is rare among non leader characters in that his toy’s character got an upgrade with a new name. (Note I specifically said “character” for later.) Bumblebee’s original function on his tech spec was espionage. He used the least amount of fuel because he was the smallest Autobot at the time, but also the weakest. He also strived for acceptance from the larger Autobots, the spec calling out Optimus Prime and Prowl by name, though we saw little of his Prowl idolizing in media. “The least likely is the most dangerous”, his profile quote, may be accurate but my favorite comic story showed that he had the same confidence issues I had as a kid and still have today.

So when Bumblebee got a new body to keep the character alive, the name change was not expected. Optimus Prime used to be Orion Pax in the cartoon, Megatron and Hot Rod would be reborn and Galvatron and Rodimus Prime respectively (both hidden from their specs to not spoil their movie debut), but they were leaders, and it wasn’t until the “Unicron Trilogy” that characters would get a new name with a new body. Bumblebee would get a promotion to “espionage director” and as Goldbug got his own team, the Throttlebots. As you can see from the spec above he was now more confident, realizing what he thought of himself was more important than what others thought of him. He was more confident and mature, but never depicted as becoming an egotistical jerk. He still loved to swim. This was evolution for Bumblebee as a character…in the toy profiles! While specifics differ between media, the general idea is that at some point Bumblebee is blown up and rebuilt in a new body that just happens to match the Throttlebots by someone unfamiliar with his design.

I wanted to test my photo stage, and it turns out I don’t have the right lighting for a poster board green screen. Green reflected onto the toy and I had shadows so trying to chroma key didn’t go as planned. Still, I got my photos and you get a toy review because I haven’t done a lot of those lately and I want to get back into it.

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