I need me some Warlord Ratchet. Want him to kick ass more than just /twice/ a season for 5 seconds.

...You mean that scene with she-who-shall-not-be-named-for-fear-of-starting-another-argument and the Nemesis? Or the one in the base? I thought the one on the Nemesis was excellent; even though 'she' was supposed to be the star, Soundwave really did shine. (Insert 'Now you're thinking with portals' joke/reference here.) The one in the base could've been written (much) better, but again, it showed the 'Bots are extremely stressed and and missing their leader. Also DOTM reference, teehee.

 

I guess I was asking for that  

Anyway, I have no idea how they will go about returning his voice in Operation: Bumblee—that is, if they plan to do so.

The episode summary for part II list characters that I would not have expected to be involved in a Bumblebee story arc, as they have had little interaction with Bumblebee to date... it will be interesting to see how this goes down.

 

I flew out of my seat when I saw the words 'past demons' and 'Ratchet' in the same sentance. That and adorable scout action. I'm definitely 'primed' (I have to make that joke once in my life or I'm not a real Transformers fan. Truth!) for the upcoming two-parter.

 

No, the thing with Knockout and Breakdown. Like I said it wasn't really a fight, but it felt fightish. I'd wish for an episode without fighting for once. Maybe our elusive Decepticon-centric episode.

Also, she-who-shall-not-be-named-due-to-fear-of-starting-another-argument is what I'm calling Arcee until I get bored with it.

 

Relax you can still call her Arcee. I won't start a fight every time you make a bash at her.

 

I know, right? Ratchet is my favorite Autobot... no contest. My only concern is that dividing the focus of the latter episode between (at least) two characters will result in less much-needed development for Bumblebee *cough*voice*cough*

That being said, Ratchet needs some lovin' too, and I am not about to snub a Ratchet-centric... anything!

“Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing" and that is about as good an opening as you are ever going to get for a Prime pun. Truth!

 

QFT Must have MOAR RATCHET!

 

It's nice that both Ratchet and Bumblee are having thier time to shine this season since Arcee and Bulkhead have thier moments on Season 1.

 

Who-Cee? You mean she-who-must-not-be-named-from-fear-of-starting-another-argument?

That's going to take a while to memorize.


Anyway, moar Ratchet! It's the effin Scarecrow we're talking about!

 

 

Again it's great that Ratchet is having his moment soon! I wonder if it has a connection to a certain one eyed Decepticon scienctist?

 

I think it'll just be Dreadwing.

If Shockwave were to be introduced, he needs to blow Airachnid's face off.

 

What are you talking about? Movie Bumblebee had more screen time than any other Transformer in the movies. The reason that one was done so well is because the music played on the radio conveyed very well what he wanted to say. Prime just beeps and Raf has to translate everything for him which is unrealistic and reminds me of the kids from Armada with their Mini-con partners.

Heck even Soundwave is done pretty well without talking just playing back what he records other characters saying. Even weirder is that Soundwave is a much better character and he doesn't even have a face. By all means Bumblebee should at least be able to express threw his facial movements how he's feeling which should make him easier to portray than Soundwave but nope.

I don't know why both teams need a mute anyway. One of them should talk at some point and I think it should be Bumblebee because I'm tired of Raf being a walking translator for beeps.

Aside from wanting to develop Bumblebee more I'd really like to see Raf as something more than a plot device. Especially considering he's still a better character than Miko even if he is a walking plot device most of the time. Jack's the only good human character in this show. Though human character rarely are ever good but Jack is defiantly one of the more likable humans.

Basically to sum it up, I think having Bumblebee talk would allow for further character development for him and Raf than if he's left Mute. Even if he remains mute I still like Raf more than Miko. Someone please kill Miko.

 

Someone brought up the relative strength of expression Soundwave possesses relative to Bumblebee earlier in the thread. I have noticed this, and I agree with you that Bumblebee's failure to emote and express himself is likely the result of sloppy writing that relies too much on Raf's role as a walking plot device (i.e. the translator).

However, I do not think that Bayverse Bumblebee could have made it through a multiple-season show either. Sure, he got more screen time relative to the other Cybertronians, but in a Bayformers film that isn't saying much. The total time that he was on screen was fairly limited for a principal character. Out of that time on screen, how often was he actually 'speaking?' If you add it all up, it wasn't much.

Granted, there are many examples of strong silent characters; the Iron Giant is the example that immediately springs to mind. These characters utilized non-verbal modalities as their primary means of communication to great effect. But Bayverse Bumblebee was not silent. He was stuck in no-man's land, as he relied on verbal expression via the radio as his principal means of communication, but at the same time was stunted by said communication, as he was unable to express complex thought. This limitation is fine in a movie where he spends most of his time busting deceptichops (particularly in ROTF and DOTM) and where his limited dialogue focuses on the expression of simple sentiment or is used as a means of comic relief.

That being said, if we were to hypothetically place Bayverse Bumblebee in the Prime universe, would he work? Maybe. However, Prime Bumblebee is paired with Raf who—if he ever gets any meaningful development—will be an intellectual character very unlike Sam. If he were to have any meaningful discussions with Movie Bee, we as the audience would still need Raf as a translator... just as Movie Bee relied on Sam as a translator for all but his most basic one-liners. For example, their very first interaction:

Sam Witwicky: [looking up at Bumblebee] Can you talk?
Bumblebee: [through his radio] "XM Satellite One"..."Digital Cable brings you"..."Columbia Broadcasting System"...
Sam Witwicky: So, you... so you talk through the radio?
Bumblebee: [clapping his hands] "Thank you, you're beautiful! You're wonderful, you're wonderful."
Sam Witwicky: So what was that last night? What was that?
Bumblebee: [pointing skywards] "Message from Starfleet, Captain"..."Throughout the inanimate vastness of space"..."And angels will rain down like visitors from Heaven! Hallelujah!"
Mikaela: Visitors from heaven... so you're, like, an alien?

Bee 'talks,' Sam translates. Same as always. There is clearly something lost when you move from a completely silent character with a narrow, defined role—Soundwave, the Iron Giant—to a semi-mute character, such as Bumblebee.

That is not to say that silent or near-silent characters can not be powerful, as the previous examples illustrate, but they can only thrive in certain roles and must therefore be used selectively. Prime Bumblebee, in my opinion, is not an ideal candidate for muteness.

Wow, long comment is long...  

And yes, someone please kill Miko. It is like the writers hit a reset button on her after each episode. Has she learned anything this week? Nope   It is going to take something quite major—perhaps the character death—to get her to start changing her ways. Well, here's hoping anyway.

 

Charade, I do believe they are going to give Miko character development. I read that in one of the articles somewhere. It probably is a death, and it's probably Bulk's death. At least that's what it's thought to be.

 

Right. So Bulkhead's death may be the ticket for giving Miko some much needed development.

 

Agreed.

Disproportionate emphasis on Bulk's character in season one + Miko's exaggerated stupidity = inevitable Bulkhead death.

 

I'm guessing you really don't like Airachnid since almost every comment you make is based around wanting her dead.

From Jeff Kline's words himself. What better way for Miko to get extreme character development than Bulkhead's death (which I don't want to happen). But, sadly, that's what most people speculate.

 

Yeah he REALLY dislikes her. He does the same thing to Prime Arcee too in almost every thing he says about her.

I don't like to see Bulkhead gone too but yeah it seems to be that way and it also makes sense storywise.

 

In sure I speak for both Sideways and I on this matter.






Problem?

 

Well given the time Prime Bumblebee has had on screen movie Bumblebee still got more "lines" than Prime got Beeps.

Well he was silent in the sense that he relied on something other than his own voice to communicate. But in comparison with Prime Bumblebee who only beeps then yes I agree he wasn't silent. Plus he did actually have one real line of dialog at the end of the first movie voiced by Mark Ryan.

The movie actually didn't rely on Sam to be a translator. In the case of the movie Sam was realistically understanding what Bee was "saying" right along with the audience. If you put Movie Bee in with Raf then there wouldn't be any question about how Raf can understand him.

It would be better to try the reverse of that. If you put Prime Bee in the movies with Sam how would Sam ever be able to figure out what he was trying to say when he can barely understand fairly clear "radio talk".

The radio talk is by no means perfect but it's certainly easier to understand than a bunch of beeping noises.

Sam Witwicky: [looking up at Bumblebee] Can you talk?
Bumblebee: "beep beep beep"..."beep beep beep beep"..."beep beep beep"...
Sam Witwicky: So, you... so you just beep?
Bumblebee: [clapping his hands] "beep beep, beep beep! beep beep, beep beep."
Sam Witwicky: Is there someone else I can talk to? Someone who can actually talk?
Bumblebee: [pointing skywards] "beep beep beep, beep"..."beep beep beep beep beep beep"..."beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep! beep!"
Mikaela: I wander who built him... you don't really think he's Japanese do you, Sam?

Yeah I really don't see that working for that one scene let alone 3 movies. But I can totally see the radio gimmick being used more.

Sam really isn't needed to Translate though. Look at the lines again.

Can you talk?

"XM Satellite One"..."Digital Cable brings you"..."Columbia Broadcasting System"...

So he talks threw the radio. All three references there have to do with radio broadcasting so that pretty clearly means he's using the radio to talk. Plus even if you didn't know what that stuff meant you can figure it out by what he's doing rather than what the radio is saying.

"Thank you, you're beautiful! You're wonderful, you're wonderful."

That is kind of an odd way of telling you that you're right.

"Message from Starfleet, Captain"..."Throughout the inanimate vastness of space"..."And angels will rain down like visitors from Heaven! Hallelujah!"

Here we have two references to space travel and one rather odd mention of visitors from Heaven. I'd actually take that to mean he's an alien and possibly that he's what humans believe to be God. That was never brought up but that's how I interpret the visitors from Heaven segment to mean sense he's not from Heaven he's from Cybertron.

Again the radio is not perfect everyone will have their own way to interpret what he's saying but the fact is we can interpret it without needing Sam as a translator. Beeps are just beeps, they'll never be anything more than beeps so there's nothing there to even try to interpret.

I think the real life reasoning for Prime Bumblebee is that a cartoon series is not going to have the budget of a live action movie franchise so they can't buy the rights to enough sound clips to work with but that being said, that's why he needs to talk.