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Volkswagen (literally "the people's car") is a German multinational automobile manufacturer founded in 1937, known for their iconic Type 1, better known under its nickname "Beetle".

Contents

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

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The correct "Volkswagen" versus the incorrect "Volkswagon" spelling ratio in this story is pretty much an even 50:50.

While he was enjoying A Kiss for Us (and a kiss with Jesse, much to "O"'s annoyance) at the Community Drive-In, Buster's car was rear-ended by a fender-bending Beetle. As Buster got out to investigate, the drive-in was attacked by three fighter jets and he urged his friends to get away, though he stayed with the Volkswagon[sic] because he heard it cry out in pain. While the battle at the drive-in continued to rage, Buster took the "bug" back to his father's garage. The Transformers

A year later, Shockwave was gathering data on Bumblebee with the intention of capturing and enslaving him with an electro-calcinator module, turning him into a weapon he can use against the Autobots. Among the gathered data was information about his alternate mode, which was summarized as "Human vehicle/cross reference: Volkswagen". At the same time, Bumblebee himself came to the conclusion that due to his physical weakness, he was little more than a burden for his fellow Autobots, and thus decided to leave them. While overlooking a human town from a nearby hill, he was attacked by the Decepticons, and injured in the process, rendering him unable to communicate. Using his Volkswagen Beetle alternate mode as a disguise, Bumblebee hid at a car dealership, but later that night, a couple of joyride-seeking teens, Waldo Dobbs and Ernest, decided to steal a car from the same dealership, reasoning that nobody would care if they stole a Volkswagen. After scaring some passengers and being challenged to a race by the owner of another car, they were assaulted by the Decepticons again, but since Ernest had fixed some of Bumblebee's damage, he was able to face off the Decepticons long enough before the other Autobots arrived to chase them off, having been alerted to Bumblebee's plight by the humans' news media coverage.Plight of the Bumblebee!

2005 IDW continuity

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Complete with Lindsay Lohan holomatter avatar.

For several years, Bumblebee used a Volkswagen Beetle as his disguise, much to the delight of the human Verity Carlo, who referred to his alternate mode under the less common nickname "bug". Infiltration issue 3 In this form, he was equipped with weaponry which he could deploy without the need to transform into his robot mode. Infiltration issue 4 Man and Machine, Part Two

After Bumblebee had been elected as the new Autobot leader, Things Fall Apart, Part 1: "New Arrivals, Old Encounters" The Hanging Sword he made a fateful deal with a rogue Skywatch colonel named Gordon Horiuchi, who promised the Autobots protection from Skywatch, but in return equipped them with new badges that allowed him to lock them into vehicle mode if they stepped out of line. After Bumblebee's badge had been damaged, The Impossible Knot the Autobots used a real Volkswagen Beetle as a decoy to distract Horiuchi while Bumblebee was looking for a way to disable the other Autobots' badges. He eventually tracked down a Skywatch scientist named Sanjay Bharwaney and befriended his daughter Serena, who referred to him as a "funny car". The Gift Horse After the situation with Colonel Horiuchi was resolved, Bumblebee had Ratchet upgrade his body, finally abandoning his Volkswagen Beetle alternate mode for good. Wings of Wax

Transformers (2007 film)

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German cars are for losers, apparently.

When Sam Witwicky and his father Ron were looking for a car to buy for Sam at Bolivia's Finest Quality Used Cars and Petting Zoo, Bumblebee, in the disguise of a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro, pulled up next to a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. When Ron didn't agree with the price Bobby Bolivia was asking for the Camaro, Bolivia tried to offer them the Beetle instead, but Bumblebee first slammed his door into the Beetle's and then used his radio to emit a high frequency sound that blew out the windows in all the cars in Bolivia's car dealership, upon which Bolivia agreed with Ron's price. Transformers

Bumblebee film

After initially transforming into a Willys Jeep, Bumblebee scanned a Volkswagen Beetle after limping into a nearby riverbank. Bumblebee

Toys

Toys in italics indicate an unlicensed alternate mode.

Volkswagen Type 1 ("Beetle")

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The legally questionable original.
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The alleged "upgrade".
Micro Change
  • MC-04 Mini Car Robo 03 Volkswagen Beetle (available in yellow, red or blue)
The Transformers ("Generation 1")
Generation 2
Transformers: Expanded Universe
Smallest Transforming Transformers
The Transformers Collection
  • 12 Minibot Team: Bumble (2004)
The Transformers: Collector's Edition
Heroes of Cybertron
Transformers Encore
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Aw fooey.
Transformers Disney Label
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The watershed moment.
Masterpiece
Generations
Masterpiece Movie Series
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The "anything goes" era.
Studio Series
Vintage G1
Bumblebee (movie toyline)
Buzzworthy Bumblebee


Volkswagen New Beetle

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A drop of red, in a sea of yellow.

Volkswagen Type 2 (Transporter)

Buzzworthy Bumblebee
Rise of the Beasts
Collaborative
  • Stranger Things × Transformers Code Red (2023, T3/Vanagon)
Studio Series

108 Wheeljack (2024, T1/Minibus)

Volkswagen and "war toys"

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In your dreams only.

Volkswagen, not unlike Porsche, has had a rather complicated relationship with the Transformers franchise: Back when the toy that would ultimately become the original Bumblebee was created for Takara's Micro Change line, car manufacturers weren't particularly concerned with their designs being used by toy companies. The same applied when Hasbro obtained the rights for releasing Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change figures under the original Transformers line.

That attitude changed after the turn of the millennium. In 2002, when Hasbro and Takara were planning their Alternators/Binaltech line of Transformers figures that turned into officially licensed cars, one of their earliest designs was for Bumblebee as a Volkswagen New Beetle (the 1997-onwards successor of the classic "Beetle"), with Cliffjumper as the intended retool, but like Porsche, Volkswagen outright refused any sort of cooperation, not wanting anything to do with what they considered "war toys", not least because of the company's troubled origins during World War II. As a result, multiple toys of Bumblebee over the years have been forced to use a more generic hatchback car alternate mode as opposed to the original Beetle design. Bumblebee's appearance in comics was not affected, as he was still drawn as a classic Beetle in Dreamwave and IDW's comics.

It wasn't until the live-action film series made the Transformers brand a multi-media franchise that was more well-known far beyond its toy and cartoon roots that Volkswagen had a change of mind, first licensing the Beetle for Takara's Japanese Masterpiece line in 2014, and subsequently also for Hasbro's release of the same figure in 2016. The Bumblebee film then saw a fully-fledged partnership between Hasbro, Paramount Pictures and Volkswagen, with the latter officially participating in the film's marketing, particularly in their home country of Germany.

In 2018, the same year the Bumblebee film came out, Hasbro released a Walmart exclusive "Vintage G1" reissue of the original 1984 Generation 1 Bumblebee figure. No doubt taking advantage of the existing licensing deal with Volkswagen thanks to the film's associated toyline, the packaging declares this reissue a "Volkswagen Official Licensed Product", thus making this the first release of the original G1 figure that was officially approved by the car manufacturer.

Notes

  • The correct spelling is "Volkswagen", not "Volkswagon", the occasional misspelling in official Transformers media nonwithstanding.
  • Contrary to common misconceptions, the relationship between Porsche and Volkswagen is a lot more complicated than one being the parent company of the other one (which hasn't been true until a few years ago). Here's the cliff notes version: Company founder Ferdinand Porsche designed the original "Volkswagen" ("people's car"), later also called the "KdF" car ("Kraft durch Freude", "power through joy"), which later became known as the "Volkswagen Type 1", or "Volkswagen Beetle", or "Bug". However, Volkswagen and Porsche officially remained two separate companies, even though they collaborated on several projects, each company held stock of the other one, and members of the Porsche family as well as the Piëch family, which is related to the Porsche family, have been on the boards of directors and the supervisory boards of the two companies for decades. It's all very complicated, really. In 2005, the much smaller Porsche AG tried to take over the larger Volkswagen AG but eventually failed. Instead, Volkswagen then began taking over Porsche in 2009. The takeover was completed in 2012.

References

External links

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