History YMMV / Bumblebee

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: The Transformers film series has been a critical whipping boy since the beginning, with no entry ever achieving a "Fresh" rating. {{Sequelitis}} only exacerbated the problem, culminating in the abysmally received ''The Last Knight''. You might think the franchise was finally circling the drain at this point, but then ''Bumblebee'' comes out and receives nearly universal approval. Who would have expected that? In short, on Website/RottenTomatoes, it went from 16% (The Last Knight) to '''92%'''.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBadDuumvirate Shatter and Dropkick]] are a pair of Decepticons out to hunt down and kill Optimus Prime. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] torturing and murdering the Autobot Cliffjumper, the two arrive on Earth where Dropkick kills a human simply [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. Directed to the human authorities, the two claim to be peacekeepers hunting down a criminal to give them access to humanity's satellites. After capturing and torturing Bumblebee, the two murder a doctor who was helping them, revealing their intent to bring their forces down on Earth and [[KillAllHumans kill every human being]], not stopping until the planet is a cinder. A vicious pair of BrainsAndBrawn, Shatter and Dropkick embody the worst of the Decepticons.

** It didn't take long for everyone, including Wiki/TFWikiDotNet, to get in on making joking comparisons to ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie''. Some fans even humorously hoped it would open with Optimus Prime narrating "According to all known laws of aviation..."

** [[spoiler: Shatter and Dropkick finding the message that Optimus Prime's message, they state their intentions to call an army to Earth. Dropkick gleefully comments that they "Burn this whole planet to a cinder" while the normally comedic Dr. Powell is scared out of his wits and tries to warn Burns that the Decepticons plan wipe all life on Earth.]]

** Shatter and Dropkick are two of the most ''evil'' Decepticons we've seen, being utter sadists who'll stop at nothing to find Prime, and willing to kill entire planets to do so. However, they're also a villainous Buddy-Cop duo who, while both sadistic, have completely different styles to their sadism (Shatter being a talker who enjoys playing mind games and twisting the knife by adding insult to injury, while Dropkick is a brute who likes to cause as much physical damage and pain as he can), and have some entertaining scenes together that its hard to not find them engaging. Adding to things is how, instead of just attacking the Earth, they come up with the brilliant scheme of convincing Sector 7 that they're the ''good guys'' in the war, making them stand out considerably as surprisingly tactful and resourceful.

* {{Moe}}: Both Charlie and Bumblebee result in this reaction. Bumblebee is this ''always'' but the film plays it up due to his memory loss making him scared and vulnerable, but as ever upbeat and curious. Charlie meanwhile at first downplays it because she's still grieving for her father, but its quickly apparent she can match Bumblebee's upbeated nature and behind the angst is a quirky and Adorkable young woman, which makes the bad things she deals with all the more upsetting.

* NoYay: For some, the implications that the film is a RoboShip ''romance''. Largely because 1) Bee spends much of the film partially brain-damaged (not to mention just very alien to human customs) and thus makes the idea of him being romanced uncomfortable; 2) Charlie is only ''just'' 18 so its kind of creepy for a robot that's thousands of years old to romance; 3) in the film itself, their relationship is such a strong case of PlatonicLifePartners, some just don't want to see it 'corrupted' by becoming a romance. And that's ''before'' you get into how some feel Squick towards the idea of Transformer/human romances in general.

** As noted at the top of the page, prior to the movie, Bumblebee was beginning to be seen as a CreatorsPet by Transformers fans due to the heavy presence he's given in prior movies and Transformers media that's drawing inspiration from such. However, as the film avoided ''too'' much merchandise, and focused on Bumblebee's genuinely endearing qualities and his role as the human protector, not to mention portrayed him as TheWoobie as he goes through an extremely vulnerable point in his life, its safe to say Bumblebee regained fan adoration.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Shatter and Dropkick are willing to murder innocents and take over the world, but their EvilIsCool nature keeps them very enjoyable watch. Meanwhile, while not exactly a villain, Tina is a cruel AlphaBitch who constantly ridicules Charlie and has a sick KickTheDog moment of mocking her ''dead father''. Though she gets a fitting comeuppance when Bumblebee thrashes her car as payback, some would actually ''want'' Shatter and Dropkick to just kill her already.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBadDuumvirate Shatter and Dropkick]] are a pair of Decepticons out to hunt down and kill Optimus Prime. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] torturing and murdering the Autobot Cliffjumper, the two arrive on Earth where Dropkick kills a human simply [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. Directed to the human authorities, the two claim to be peacekeepers hunting down a criminal to give them access to humanity's satellites. After capturing and torturing Bumblebee, the two murder a doctor who was helping them, revealing their intent to bring their forces down on Earth and [[KillAllHumans kill every human being]], not stopping until the planet is a cinder. A vicious pair of BrainsAndBrawn, Shatter and Dropick embody the worst of the Decepticons.

** Memo calls ''himself'' a "nerd". He reads comics, collects action figures, and is fairly not-athletic and socially awkward, and dresses in an 80s nerd chic. However, he clearly fills his shirts well and he's visibly attractive, it's really just down to his social awkwardness.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Blitzwing's final moments reeks of this trope. After a brief skirmish with Bumblebee, he successfully incapacitates him and moves in to execute the Autobot. Rather than simply execute him from a distance, he lifts him up in order to deliver a short death sentence speech, giving Bumblebee enough time to recover and fight back, killing Blitzwing.
** [[spoiler:Sector 7 makes a plan to help the Decepticons track down B-127, and then destroy all of them afterwards. However, after they have caught the Autobot, they let the two Cons interrogate him, while only having Dr. Powell to accompany them, with absolutely no surveillance or armed forces anywhere near to watch over the alien robots they’ve deemed greatly dangerous. As result, Shatter and Dropkick find out about Optimus’ plan to bring Autobots to Earth, prompting them to call an armada to wipe the planet out, Powell getting killed shortly after, and the 'Cons almost going through with their plan to contact Cybertron and dooming Earth.]]
** Sally comes home to find her house destroyed thanks to Bumblebee's shenanigans while Charlie was at work. Understandably, Charlie can't just tell her that her car is an alien robot, so you'd think that she'd lie and claim that a burglar might have done it, right? Nope. Instead, she doesn't even try to deny that she had anything to do with the wrecked house, tells her mother that she'll "explain later," and causes more unnecessary friction between them.

** Charlie's a pretty big dork behind the initial scowling; she's a big music fan who rocks out in the morning, is ''very'' easily excited about things she likes (music, movies, cars), wears GoofyPrintUnderwear, she's very clearly a klutz, and repeatedly finds herself in awkward and embarrassing situations. Also, she's played by Hailee Steinfeld, which more than guarantees the 'adorable' part.

* GirlShowGhetto: PlayedWith. Some negative viewers have complained about the film being too 'girly' or 'feminist', because the human companion is a young woman and the much of the story is from her perspective, along with being a less-actiony, more character-focused story. This seems to be a major VocalMinority, however, as the film is otherwise unanimously well-liked and Charlie herself is fairly popular with all genders of viewers. However, financially-speaking, the movie ''did'' perform less than the past entries, but this likely had more to do with following after the BoxOfficeBomb ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' effectively killing interest in the movie; a number of viewers who watched the movie once it was out on home release have commented on being surprised at how enjoyable it was, having not bothered to watch it because of the past films. Essentially, its 'girly' focus isn't the reason why it made less money, but rather it was people ''not being aware'' of this.

* InferredHolocaust: For the first time averted in a Transformers film. While there's plenty of deaths during the action, the only ones actually killed are trained combatants, and the only civilian deaths are an AssholeVictim Dropkick kills for fun and [[spoiler:Dr Powell]]. No cities or populated areas are blown up callously and the heroes manage to limit the scope the Decepticons' rampage stretches.

* {{Adorkable}}: Charlie's a pretty big dork behind the initial scowling; she's a big music fan who rocks out in the morning, is ''very'' easily excited about things she likes (music, movies, cars), wears GoofyPrintUnderwear, she's very clearly a klutz, and repeatedly finds herself in awkward and embarrassing situations. Also, she's played by Hailee Steinfeld, which more than guarantees the 'adorable' part.

** Shatter and Dropkick, the two main Decepticons, are oftenly jokingly compared to Team Rocket's Jessie and James from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''.

* PanderingToTheBase: With the more G1-esque designs and general 80's feel, the film seems determined to cater to the geewunners who complained about the previous films [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks diverging from G1]] (which is [[OlderThanTheyThink relatively common in the franchise]]). This is generally seen as a ''[[TropesAreTools good]]'' example of pandering, as even many non-G1 ''Transformers'' fans had felt that the previous movies lacked several iconic aspects people expected from the characters and their particular reinvention of the franchise had fallen out of favor with the general public, so this new approach breathed some much needed life into the series.

* AwardSnub: The film got several nominations for Teen Choice Awards and Saturn Awards, with Creator/HaileeSteinfeld specifically nominated for Choice Action Movie Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectfully, both of which she lost out on to MCU nominees.

* PeripheryHatedom: Everyone agrees that by targeting old fans and general audiences, it's a much better than its previous ''Transformers''... except for newer fans who didn't appreciate a character-driven fun family picture replacing the dumb, loud RatedMForManly movies that they liked so much.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBadDuumvirate Shatter and Dropkick]] are a pair of Decepticons out to hunt down and kill Optimus Prime. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] torturing and murdering the Autobot Cliffjumper, the two arrive on earth where Dropkick kills a human simply [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. Directed to the human authorities, the two claim to be peacekeepers hunting down a criminal to give them access to humanity's satellites. After capturing and torturing Bumblebee, the two murder a doctor who was helping them, revealing their intent to bring their forces down on Earth and [[KillAllHumans kill every human being]], not stopping until the planet is a cinder. A vicious pair of BrainsAndBrawn, Shatter and Dropick embody the worst of the Decepticons.

** Many felt the Bay films had become fairly formulaic and cookie cutter in their plots, with there always being some macguffin or another important thing on Earth specifically the Decepticons or villain want. In this movie, there's nothing particularly special about Earth other than Optimus wanting the Autobots to hide out there, so the drama comes from the heroes trying to stop them from signaling the Decepticons, who would undoubtedly curbstomp humanity in short order.

** The film only has three Decepticons in major roles and the bad guys actually get some characterization and personality beyond the [[FlatCharacter blandly evil genericons]] and CannonFodder of every previous film. The Deceptions in general are depicted in a threatening manner, with even Optimus Prime having an OhCrap moment when Soundwave, Shockwave, and Starscream show up on the battlefield in the prologue, whereas the previous films seemed to gradually lower how threatening the Decepticons are perceived over time.

** When it comes to [[spoiler:human characters; a young Seymour Simmons made an appearance, much to the shock of the fandom who believes that the movie is going to be a full-blown reboot. [[HillariousInHindsight Considering the fact that they eventually turned out to be right.]]]]

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The "Bee Vision: The Transformers Robots of Cybertron" Special Feature on the Blu-Ray reveals the other Cybertronians' affiliations and alternate modes... which appear to have been directly lifted from their Wikipedia pages.

** Soundwave and Shockwave, two iconic Decepticons, were criticized for their portrayals in the Bay films because of [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks their uninspired designs]], their lack of screentime, and their [[AdaptationalWimp lack of badassness]] in contrast to their previous portrayals. In this film, they appear briefly in the Cybertron scenes, but long enough to show G1-fans their new looks based on their classic designs, establish themselves as such serious threats that the Autobots had to retreat, and their few lines are spoken in their classic vocoded and monotone voices.

** Bumblebee's original voice being that of Dylan O'Brien. While losing his voice ''is'' a part of his story, it leaves you wondering how the story would pan out if he never lost it in the first place, especially since the film is no longer a prequel to the Bay series and thus isn't beholden to details like that.

* BrokenBase: The change from being an action-focused franchise to a character-driven story. The film overall has very little action, with the first ten minutes being the only real action sequence until the climax unfolds, outside of a brief flashback to Cybertron and a CarChase with a single patrol car. For some, it made the film too boring and lacked the non-stop action that the franchise was known for, but for others, it allowed the movie to flesh out the characters of Charlie and Bumblebee as well as their friendship, so that we actually ''care'' when they're in danger. To the films' credit, it never ''advertized'' itself as being action-heavy compared to the previous entries, with the trailers and most advertisements focusing on the funny, charming, character building side instead of the dark, apocalyptic vibe of the previous films' trailers.

** The first trailer quickly got stuck with the jokingly affectionate moniker "[[Film/TheShapeOfWater The Shape of Metal/Gasoline/Energon]]", thanks to sharing the theme of a (platonic, in this case) love story between a human female and a male non-human, not to mention a shot of Charlie embracing Bee underwater that looks very similar to a scene to Del Toro's film. Comparisons to ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' are also popular, even having a scenes in their climaxes that are almost identical. It also helps that all three films' take place in the same Cold War setting.

** In general, the film seems to work equally well as a love letter to both classic Transformers media (both G1 and later incarnations), and to classic ABoyAndHisX movies like the aforementioned ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Herbie'', but also ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', ''Film/ShortCircuit'', and newer films like ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' or ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6''.

** A good number of fans are disappointed with Blitzwing's [[spoiler:immediate demise]], given that he was the one who inflicted a permanent handicap onto Bumblebee. Some have pointed out that it would have been interesting to have had him become a long-term antagonist and perhaps even work with Shatter and Dropkick, while becoming Bumblebee's nemesis with a personal grudge. Interestingly, the prequel comic book actually did set up this sort of story with Bumblebee and Blitzwing having been enemies for a decade, battling each other around the globe. This plotline apparently meant to connect to an earlier draft of the film.
** Charlie’s younger brother Otis seems quite nonchalant about losing his father at a considerably young age, even though we don’t know the exact time frame between their father’s death and the film’s plot. Though this could be justified them being DaddysGirl and MommasBoy respectively, it could’ve been another interesting thing to explore in the film. While they get AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther moments at the end of the film, Otis was pretty much a rather one-note AnnoyingYoungerSibling to that point. One of the trailers did include a bit somber looking shot of Charlie driving Bee with Otis, so the siblings probably had some screen-time cut from the film, since the finished film was already nearly two hours long.

** Cliffjumper, who earned fans for standing up to Shatter and Dropkick, is [[spoiler:killed off almost as quickly as he is introduced. [[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime Again]]]]. To add more insult to injury, the "Bee Vision: The Transformers robots of Cybertron" Special Feature reveals that he could have scanned a Porsche 924 or a Suzuki Swift.
** Bumblebee's original voice being that of Dylan O'Brien. While losing his voice ''is'' a part of his story, it leaves you wondering how the story would pan out if he never lost it in the first place.