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SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Which might be partly the reason Soundwave is also mute in the Prime series, seeing as they're producers of the show.

They also said he can speak, but chooses not to.

PrymeStriker wrote:Yep. Bulkhead was originally named Ironhide until they found that the character they were writing suited Bulk more. Then they gave the excuse that Ironhide died in DOTM and didn't want to confuse the kiddies. They can't make up their minds.

The first reason was an attempt to avoid spoilering DOTM, which hadn't yet come out when it was said. Afterward, they admitted that the second reason what the actual reason.

kwanzaabot wrote:The latest offender being Fall of Cybertron.

The reason Bumblebee doesn't speak in FOC is because it, and WFC, are prequels to Prime. And given that he doesn't speak there, they had to make the two things marry by having him lose his voice at some point.

Shadowman wrote:Orci and Kurtzman, the first two to write Bumblebee as mute, wrote him that way because they liked the idea of a character speaking through the radio. Hasbro did it again in Prime, because, as I explained, people who aren't long-time TF fans can be easily confused regarding sudden and massive change in character design and personality.

And yet, in the middle of all this, came Animated, where they had a talking Bumblebee.

Darth Bombshell wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Which might be partly the reason Soundwave is also mute in the Prime series, seeing as they're producers of the show.

They also said he can speak, but chooses not to.

I vaguely remember it being written somewhere that he deleted his vocal software to make room for data processing and storage.

Can't confirm if it's canon or just fanboy musings.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I vaguely remember it being written somewhere that he deleted his vocal software to make room for data processing and storage.

Can't confirm if it's canon or just fanboy musings.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Soundwave_%28Prime%29

Duane Capizzi said Soundwave can speak, but just chooses not to. The decision was to contrast Soundwave with the overly talkative Starscream, and at BotCon 2011, the staff compared Soundwave to Boba Fett. Instead, he records what he overhears and replays it with a mechanical echo that is very similar to the echo of his G1 counterpart.

Guess it must have been some thread on a TF discussion site, where that vocal-software deletion idea came from.

Personally, I actually prefer the fan-made idea better. Soundwave seems just like the kind of bot obsesses over data and processing speed to the point of willingly deleting his vocal program.

The canon concept is fine, but it's just a matter of personal preference.

They wanted to Bumblebee to move from a supporting role (G1) to a more central role (Movies and TF Prime).
Another question bother me.
Why is he named "Bumblebee"?
Are there bumblebees on Cybertron?

Questworld12 wrote:Another question bother me.
Why is he named "Bumblebee"?
Are there bumblebees on Cybertron?

You can say the same about Jazz as well.

The most probable answer to that, is that it was a 1980's kid's show created for the sole purpose of advertising and promoting a line of toys; the details didn't really matter back in those days.

I've read several fan rationalizations in the past years, and this is by far the most popular; some surmise it was a designation aka codename given AFTER they landed on Earth, and their real Cybertronian names are unpronounceable by humans.