History Headscratchers / Bumblebee

* This movie was first announced as a prequel, and was even developed as such (Bumblebee's license plate, the Camaro scene at the end, Megatron being frozen in ice, etc.). Sure, there's enough confusion to warrant the "Timeline" entry above, but then again, these movies have always retconned each other in order to tell their own story. But now they're saying it's a reboot. Um...what? Yes, The Last Knight was less successful than they wanted, and yes, they want to take the franchise in a new direction. But what made them think it was okay to start making a spin-off about Bumblebee, promising it to be a reboot and developing it as such, and then later say that it was a reboot instead?

** Optimus Prime and Cliffjumper were the only ones with their names confirmed on-screen. The viewers recognized the names of the rest of the Autobots simply from old-school ''Transformers'' lore such as the Generation One cartoon or the comic books based off that. For all we know, Ratchet could be R-293 or Arcee could be A-139. Maybe the Autobots didn't have time (or creativity) to earn proper names at the time the film started.

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[[folder:Uh...no. You can't do that.]]
* So they announce a Transformers prequel about Bumblebee, and develop it as such, with subtle references to the previous movies. True, the characters look completely different, but the very first entry on this page dealt with that issue. But then, after the movie does decently at the box-office, they say, "Actually, no. This is a reboot, and all that prequel talk was BS." Well, "NO," I say. That's like Abe Lincoln writing the Gettysburg Address, promising that it'll address the growing problems with slavery, giving the speech, reveling in the success, and then saying, "You know what? That had nothing to do with slavery. It was all about the declining economy."

** Frozen solid and kept in storage beneath the Hoover Dam. This started life as a prequel to the 2007 movie, remember. Even when it became a reboot, this is one story element that remained. Heck, the deleted post credits scene flat out shows him still on ice.

* Where was Megatron during the events of this film? His absence at a time when the Decepticons were winning a crucial battle against the Autobots is very off-putting. And why would he (want to) miss seeing the Autobots running for their lives and abandoning Cybertron to his command?

* Where was Megatron during the events of this film? I know the reasons for him being absent from the film, but I just want to know where Megatron could've been during the war on Cybertron. His absence at a time when the Decepticons were winning a crucial battle against the Autobots is very off-putting.

** That or maybe the landlord didn't bother kicking them out yet.

** That or maybe the landlord didn't bother kicking them out yet. Lots of people who are late on rent/mortgage choose to squat at the property before the police eventually show up.

** That's explicitly shown to be non-canon from a shitty timeline. Bumblebee clearly first arrives on Earth in the movie.

*** Kinda how in Transformers: Animated, Optimus was given his name due to his optimistic persona, and Hot Rod because... well... that just goes without saying.

*** Perhaps both? Maybe it's more common to be given your name based on your actions and personality, but choosing it yourself is also accepted? For example, in the Aligned Continuity, Megatron took his name from Megatronus Prime, and saw it fit to shorten it later on.

** Its both. Its a prequel unless its a success, then its a reboot. As for the contradictions, thats a tricky thing. As you said, the only part that can be handwaved is the Autobots arriving in 1987, then leaving at some point so they can come back 20 years later. As for the Moon landing (and the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII stuff), theres really no logical explanation. We just have to accept that they never happened now. Retcons, if you will.

** Before the events of the film, we don't know what Sector Seven ''did'' exactly, besides be special and secret operations. Given that car-mounted harpoon guns are a fairly common thing in spy fiction, its possible that it was designed for the same purpose as that, quickly snaring vehicles to keep them from escaping during a CarChase or pulling aircrafts down from the sky. Sector Seven probably had them for human targets in mind but when presented with the alien robots, figured they'd be useful.

** The 'bots all demonstrate they have radio transmitters built in, and one of the first things that happens to Bumblebee is he hears Burns yelling on the radio. Its likely that while on the run, Bumblebee tuned himself into earth radio stations and pieced together English that way, and Shatter and Dropkick did something similar.
** Most incarnations never bother explaining, or just handwave it with built in universal translators. Since the canon of the old movies won't work this time, thats probably the best answer we can go with.

* After working on the Boardwalk (nicely done to match the 80's) it shows Charlie riding her bike down the wharf to the boat shop. Ok, there's no boat shops that far down (in fact it's not wide enough for such a yard) but we can pretend. But then when Charlie turns on the radio it does the big zoom-out from the yard - and it shows the yard is CLEARLY LANDLOCKED. (Just east of the 101-580 merge in San Rafael in fact - 90 miles from the Boardwalk and 4000ft from the bay, though the nearest boat ramp is a 2 mile drive)

* How does Charlie's family where the only breadwinners are a nurse and a Hot Dog on a Stick server maintain such a nice house near the beach? Especially when they live in California?

* A relatively minor quibble, but when Shatter presented herself and Dropkick as peacekeepers, why did she call herself a Decepticon Peacekeeper? Someone as intelligent as her should have at least considered that humans might peg onto the negatively associated "deception" part of Decepticon, and instead called herself a "Cybertronian" Peacekeeper instead.

** Did you hear that Hasbro announced ''Bumblebee'' will be a reboot breaking off from Michael Bay's 2007-2017 movies?

** Most incarnations never bother explaining, or just handwave it with built in universal translators. Since the canon of the old movies won't work this time, thats probably the best answer we can go with.

* Most Transformers in this film look a lot like their G1 selves, which is pretty great if intended as a reboot, but as a prequel, how exactly did they end up looking...very different 20 years later? Somehow, somewhere along the way Ravage turned from a robotic canine to a cyclops-feline-shark-thing.

** Its both. Its a prequel unless its a success, then its a reboot. As for the contradictions, thats a tricky thing. As you said, the only part that can be handwaved is the Autobots arriving in 1987, then leaving at some point so they can come back 20 years later. As for the Moon landing (and the WW2 stuff), theres really no logical explanation. We just have to accept that they never happened now. Retcons, if you will.

** Left over from when it was an explicit prequel, and Cybertronians had been on Earth since WW2.

** The 'bots all demonstrate they have radio transmitters built in, and one of the first things that happens to Bumblebee is he hears Burns yelling on the radio. Its likely that while on the run, Bumblebee tuned himself into earth radio stations and pieced together English that way, and Shatter and Dropkick did something similar.

** Before the events of the film, we don't know what Sector Seven ''did'' exactly, besides be special and secret. Given that car-mounted harpoon guns are a fairly common thing in spy fiction, its possible that it was designed for the same purpose as that, quickly snaring vehicles to keep them from escaping during a CarChase or pulling aircrafts down from the sky. Sector Seven probably had them for human targets in mind but when presented with the alien robots, figured they'd be useful.