History Main / TheBumblebee

## Clown. Not just any clown either, this is the Kid Clown, who hurls humor at every available point. He may be funny, he may be clumsy (he's not called The '''[[IncrediblyLamePun Bumble]]'''bee for nothing), or he may just be the joker of the team, playing pranks, making wisecracks and sometimes just whining about all the problems that are going on. Usually played for laughs but may have a serious side. ''TransformersAnimated'' Bumblebee takes this role.

The Bumblebee tends to stand out, especially in a story largely involving adult characters. Because of this any version can become TheScrappy, which is fitting since the '''original''' [[ScoobyDoo Scrappy]] was one of these. The ways this can happen is: The Clown is obnoxious as well as a KarmaHoudini, the Weak But Lovable one [[TheLoad never shows any real sign of helpfulness]], the Ankle Biter slowly takes up prominence in the story over the primary characters, and as for the TeenGenius... two words: [[TheWesley Wesley]] [[StarTrek Crusher]]. Slightly more common is for the character to acquire a PeripheryHatedom: loved by those the producers intended, hated by everyone else.

* Ironically enough, The Wasp from ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. Incidentally, she's quite popular with the older fanbase and the show's EnsembleDarkhorse.

Any version can become TheScrappy, which is fitting since the '''original''' [[ScoobyDoo Scrappy]] was one of these. The ways this can happen is: The Clown is obnoxious as well as a KarmaHoudini, the Weak But Lovable one [[TheLoad never shows any real sign of helpfulness]], the Ankle Biter slowly takes up prominence in the story over the primary characters, and as for the TeenGenius... two words: [[TheWesley Wesley]] [[StarTrek Crusher]]. Slightly more common is for the character to acquire a PeripheryHatedom: loved by those the producers intended, hated by everyone else.

* {{Naruto}} is a rare occasion where {{the Bumblebee}} is the main character. Brightly colored, often obnoxious and alternatively very weak and ridiculously strong, and to top it all off, his leader [[http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/File:Kakashi2.jpg wears a mask over]] [[http://images.wikia.com/naruto/images/e/e0/Kakashi9.jpg the lower part of his face]].

** Cheetor from ''BeastWars'' is also yellow, fast and the youngest one on the Maximal Team. Unlike Bumblebee was, however, he is actually quite a competent warrior and [[CharacterDevelopment later became]] TheLancer to Optimus Primal.

* Richie Foley in ''{{Static Shock}}''. He replaces Frieda Goren as Static's best friend because the show was geared towards a younger audience than the comics were. He's the second definition of The Bumblebee. He was also given superpowers because the writers were having a hard time keeping him in the episodes, but often his attempts at defeating the enemy don't work. He's been kidnapped at least four times and he's been turned into a mind slave twice.
* In ''AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'', android Buzzwang is the Rangers' PluckyComicRelief RobotBuddy--and a substantial portion of the fanbase will never forgive him for it.

* The Cutie Mark Crusaders in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', itself a kids' show, but the main cast are young adults([[VagueAge ish]]). The CMC are closer to the age of the target demographic, and thusly are easier for said audience to relate with.

** ''DigimonTamers'' has Terriermon, Hirokazu, Kenta, and Suzie.

* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' usually has one of these characters, though sometimes it's less bright-coloured and more fuzzy. Either that, or Wolverine's young, female spunky sidekick. Whichever one he has at the time. They're usually female, the order for the main team was Iceman, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Cannonball, Husk, and now Armor.

** The original pitch had a modified ComicBook/YoungJustice consisting of Robin, Impulse and a GenderSwapped version of Cyborg acting as sidekicks to the League. This was when the show was being pitched to KidsWB, and the writers thought the execs would pass on the show unless it had kid superheroes for the audience to identify with.[[http://jl.toonzone.net/pilot/pilot.htm]]

** Kid Flash serves as this in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice.''

## Ankle Biter. Mega-brave young character who's awfully gutsy for his (or her) puny age, puny height, or puny strength. They may be swatted aside by the more powerful enemies, but their [[TheDeterminator determination]] will not let them stay down. Sometimes they'll make them a CuteBruiser so he can match the big guys, or a FragileSpeedster in combat. [[TransformersFilmSeries Movie]] Bumblebee.

* Sakura Kusagano from [[StreetFighter Street Fighter Alpha]]. She was always out to prove herself against older, better-trained, and often bigger fighters.
* Akari Ichijou in LastBlade
* Kurara in the PowerInstinct series
* Bao in the KingOfFighters series

* Speaking of Spider-Man, when he is put into a team dynamic, such as Comicbook/{{The Avengers}}, he usually fits this {{trope}} as a combination of the Type 1 Clown and the Type 4 Smart Guy, in fact there have been team-ups where he has out and out ''stolen'' this role from Johnny Storm.

* ''Super Sentai'' has this {{trope}} recurring because of the FiveManBand layout. There's several kinds of Bumblebees, whether they are eccentric geniuses (Sion[=/=][=TimeGreen=] or Sen-chan[=/=][=DekaGreen=]), immature pranksters (Hikaru[=/=][=GingaYellow=] or Kai[=/=][=GaoBlue=]), scatterbrains (Saizou[=/=]Ninja Blue, Ken[=/=][=GekiChopper=] or Hant[=/=]Go-On Green), or reckless hotheads (Kenji[=/=][=MidoRanger=], Yuuji[=/=]Oh Blue).

* ''Super Sentai'' has this {{trope}} recurring because of the FiveManBand layout. There's several kinds of Bumblebees, whether they are eccentric geniuses (Sion[=/=][=TimeGreen=] or Sen-chan[=/=][=DekaGreen=]), immature pranksters (Hikaru[=/=][=GingaYellow=] or Kai[=/=][=GaoBlue=]), scatterbrains (Saizou[=/=]Ninja Blue, Hant[=/=]Go-On Green, Ken[=/=][=GekiChopper=]), or reckless hotheads (Kenji[=/=][=MidoRanger=], Yuuji[=/=]Oh Blue).

* The twins in ''{{Revenge of the Fallen}}'', as MichaelBay [[WordOfGod states]], were meant to be this (hell, they're even stuck with Bumblebee for much of the movie)... in spite of being violent {{Jive Turkey}}s who keep beating up each other.
** Their toy bios essentially say that being among the few Autobots who made it to Earth made them living their dream of working directly alongside Optimus Prime, which is certainly a common trait for this type of character. Their immature wrestling and talking about being "quiet like a ninja" also highlights their relative youth.

*** In TransformersPrime this is sort of true, with Bumblebee based on his film counterpart.

** A Volkswagen Beetle was modeled after him. Hmmm...

* Ironically enough, The Wasp from ''AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. Incidentally, she's quite popular with the older fanbase and the show's EnsembleDarkhorse.

* The Cutie Mark Crusaders in ''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', itself a kids' show, but the main cast are young adults([[VagueAge ish]]). The CMC are closer to the age of the target demographic, and thusly are easier for said audience to relate with.

** Kid Flash serves as this in ''[[YoungJustice Young Justice]].''

*** And amusingly, it was ''Beast''-era Megatron who called ''Animated'' Bumblebee "Cheetor," given that he never actually referred to Cheetor by his name during ''BeastWars'' or ''BeastMachines''.

** Ziggy from ''PowerRangersRPM'', a LovableCoward and something of a viewpoint character as a MetaGuy. However, he was the same age as the other Rangers and didn't come off as all that "childlike", being in trouble with [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily orgainized crime]] and showing hints of being a ChivalrousPervert. {{Sixth Ranger}}s Gem and Gemma, on the other hand, ''were'' extremely childlike (even seeming to be developmentally a year or two ''behind'' the target audience), but they too fail to be full Bumblebees as rather than being audience surrogates for kids, their immaturity came off as them being [[CreepyTwins very]] [[StepfordSmiler very]] [[{{Yangire}} screwed]] [[PsychopathicManchild up]].

## Clown. Not just any clown either, this is the Kid Clown, who hurls humor at every available point. He may be funny, he may be clumsy (he's not called The [[IncrediblyLamePun '''Bumble'''bee]] for nothing), or he may just be the joker of the team, playing pranks, making wisecracks and sometimes just whining about all the problems that are going on. Usually played for laughs but may have a serious side. ''TransformersAnimated'' Bumblebee takes this role.

* Rey Mysterio isn't the youngest in WWE and isn't (too) obnoxious, but he fulfills every other requirement as the Ankle Biter subset. He's tiny, wildly popular with kids, frequently wears ridiculously bright clothes, and gets picked on by the bad guys a lot. He's even had several of the bigger faces in WWE (Dave Batista most noticeably) in a big brother role at one point or another.

* Rusty the Boy Robot in ''BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot''