In fact, they can become other Transformers. But some of the characters themselves tend to be more than meets the eye. One of the taglines of the Transformers universe is “more than meets the eye.” It’s meant to suggest, of course, that these robots are not just robots they can turn into vehicles and boomboxes and dinosaurs. Bumblebee is so relatively small that he remains in robot form and hops inside Wheeljack for a ride, rather than transform himself. Wheeljack transforms into a Cybertronian vehicle, then Bumblebee loads the sticks inside him. We’re told, “The Autobots, on the verge of extinction, battled valiantly to survive.” Then, two Autobots in robot form climb out from under a grate, armed with a bunch of energy conductor sticks: Wheeljack and Bumblebee. When the narrative begins, we’re taken to Cybertron, where a narrator tells us of the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, a war fueled by the Decepticons’ desire for total domination. There, you first get a quick glimpse of a group of five Autobots in vehicle mode, including Bumblebee alongside Optimus Prime.
In the first episode, “More Than Meets the Eye,” you would’ve started off by watching the memorable opening sequence. If you’re a child of the ‘80s and grew up with the original The Transformers cartoon, Bumblebee may have been the second Transformer you ever saw- in the narrative of the show, anyway.