Transformers Spotlight: Bumblebee Commentary with John Barber

It was a different frame of mind for the character. I sort of wanted to write the start of the transition from the way the character was on Earth, when Mike Costa was writing him, to where he was at the start of ROBOTS IN DISGUISE. When we first see him in RID (and actually in the DEATH OF OPTIMUS PRIME that James Roberts and I co-wrote, and Nick Roche drew) he’s already more hardened and embittered by leadership. There was a step we skipped over, where he had to really take on the responsibility, and that’s the story I wanted to tell. Artist David Daza came in and did a terrific job in capturing the humans and the Cybertronians in this one. PAGE 1

Was it difficult to begin writing this story for him from the point in time where he was over a year ago as opposed to where he is now in his leadership role on Cybertron (in ROBOTS IN DISGUISE)?

JOHN BARBER: It was a different frame of mind for the character. I sort of wanted to write the start of the transition from the way the character was on Earth, when Mike Costa was writing him, to where he was at the start of ROBOTS IN DISGUISE. When we first see him in RID (and actually in the DEATH OF OPTIMUS PRIME that James Roberts and I co-wrote, and Nick Roche drew) he’s already more hardened and embittered by leadership. There was a step we skipped over, where he had to really take on the responsibility, and that’s the story I wanted to tell. Artist David Daza came in and did a terrific job in capturing the humans and the Cybertronians in this one.

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When thinking out this story, why place it in this period of time (during the “Police Action” and “Chaos” storylines) and not into Cybertron’s past, as the first two SPOTLIGHTS (ORION PAX and THUNDERCRACKER) were?

JOHN BARBER: Well, a couple reasons. One, reminding readers Earth exists. Two—there’s something specific about Bumblebee’s Earth-mode in this story that… might come up again in the future. But the basic set-up on the SPOTLIGHTS was: two in the distant past; two on Earth during the post-ALL HAIL MEGATRON/pre-CHAOS era; two more-or-less present-day.

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Having seen Bumblebee as a soldier most of the time and not in a leadership role, did that take some getting used to when you first started writing for the character?

JOHN BARBER: Not really. I was trying to extrapolate what Mike and Zander Cannon (in the BUMBLEBEE limited series) had set up in terms of Bee’s leadership. Throughout the whole IDW run of comics, he’s been a character of contradictions. He’s the nice guy, but he’s been a soldier—a saboteur no less—for millions of years. I mean, he’s been fighting for longer than there have been humans. And he’s a nice guy, he hasn’t let it break him down. But that mantle of leadership—that might do it, I thought.

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What is it about Bumblebee as a character that makes you want to write him? What are his enduring qualities?

JOHN BARBER: Those contradictions. He’s an identifiable character. There are other TRANSFORMERS characters that are more flashy, or whatever. But there’s an essential humanity to Bumblebee, and a real, genuine connection to people—from the original 1984 issue #1 through the movies. The character really connects with people. I know some of the hard-core fans really get sick of him, but the essential reason he shows up so often is that genuine emotional connection people have with him.

So, I was like, “let’s really mess with this guy and put him in a difficult situation.”

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Put yourself in Prowl’s shoes—would you be like him and questioning Bee’s leadership skills, or would you get behind him and help out as best as you can?

JOHN BARBER: I think at this point, Prowl isn’t even considering that Bee might have leadership skills. Prowl’s looking at the big picture, and he can be pretty abrasive, but he’s got a job to do, and he thinks Bumblebee will just be in the way. It’s a real situation—if you get into a position of authority, you can’t just demand respect. It’s like Eric Cartman—“respect my authoritah!” It doesn’t work. Bumblebee has to step up and get respect.