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So, is there any particular reason why they keep making Bumblebee unable to speak? In the first Bay movie, it kind of made sense (and then he speaks at the end of the movie... only to be mute again in the second one. WTF), but since then, they just keep doing it. Over and over and over again.

The latest offender being Fall of Cybertron. Hell, they could've just not used him at all (since he's in the game for all of two seconds) and saved themselves a bunch of time.

Is Bumblebee's voice actor just that expensive?

Probably just laziness. Bumblebee's voice actor then---> Bumblebee's voice actor now--->

Cartoons that follow a major blockbuster of the same series tend to ape the movie, even if they aren't meant to be direct sequels. Since Movie BB doesn't talk, Prime BB doesn't either.

Hasbro's also trying to make a new unified TF continuity (Prime, FoC, Rescue Bots, etc. are all in the same general continuity family). Due to the whole "aping the major blockbuster" thing, ALL Bumblebees are going to be mute, just as ALL Megatrons are going to fiddle with Dark Energon and have been former friends with their respective Optimuses.

It's for a sense of familiarity with new viewers, the majority of which would have come in through the movies. Same reason Optimus and Bumblebee keep their movie designs in Prime. Still, not only does Bumblebee speak in both WfC and Animated, he never shuts up.

i really hated how they kept him mute in the 2nd and 3rd movies and now that they are seeming keeping that way on purpose seems silly. what if kids who love bumblebee decide to follow in his footsteps and become mute as well? that may seem a bit far-fetched but i have read of it happening.

Maybe it was just to make him different somehow? like being more of an underdog than he already was because he cant speak?

romeostarkiller wrote:i really hated how they kept him mute in the 2nd and 3rd movies and now that they are seeming keeping that way on purpose seems silly. what if kids who love bumblebee decide to follow in his footsteps and become mute as well? that may seem a bit far-fetched but i have read of it happening.

Becoming mute (As if that's something you can just do) to imitate a robot from a movie? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

romeostarkiller wrote:Maybe it was just to make him different somehow? like being more of an underdog than he already was because he cant speak?

They never portrayed him as an underdog in the movies, in fact, they portrayed him as a much better fighter than in G1 when he could talk. It's the same in Prime, when he took out Skyquake, and managed to hold Starscream off despite not being able to access his weapons.

kwanzaabot wrote:So, is there any particular reason why they keep making Bumblebee unable to speak? In the first Bay movie, it kind of made sense (and then he speaks at the end of the movie... only to be mute again in the second one. WTF), but since then, they just keep doing it. Over and over and over again.

The latest offender being Fall of Cybertron. Hell, they could've just not used him at all (since he's in the game for all of two seconds) and saved themselves a bunch of time.

Is Bumblebee's voice actor just that expensive?

I believe they do that so kids who only have seen the movies know that that's Bumblebee, I believe that they were going to add Ironhide, but they didn't want to include him so the children wouldn't get confused.

Justanormalguy wrote:I believe they do that so kids who only have seen the movies know that that's Bumblebee, I believe that they were going to add Ironhide, but they didn't want to include him so the children wouldn't get confused.

I think that's probably right, but the sad thing is, kids aren't anywhere near as stupid as these TV executives think they are.
I mean, the cartoon is called Transformers, the character is named Bumblebee, and he looks like the movie Bumblebee. Most kids can put two and two together.

kwanzaabot wrote:

Justanormalguy wrote:I believe they do that so kids who only have seen the movies know that that's Bumblebee, I believe that they were going to add Ironhide, but they didn't want to include him so the children wouldn't get confused.

I think that's probably right, but the sad thing is, kids aren't anywhere near as stupid as these TV executives think they are.
I mean, the cartoon is called Transformers, the character is named Bumblebee, and he looks like the movie Bumblebee. Most kids can put two and two together.

Exactly, that's why they always cater stuff to kids, I mean they will get a new toy but it sucks, so the parents wasted their money and now they can't get it back because they opened the box.

My dad has seen all three Transformers movies, but nothing else of the series. When he saw me playing War for Cybertron, it took him a moment to to realize that that was Ratchet and Bumblebee on the screen. It's not about executives thinking kids are stupid, it's about no one immediately recognizing a character when that character has had a sudden change between appearances. Especially not newcomers to a franchise like Transformers, where everything changes.

...everything changes? Whoa, I just blew my own mind...