I have to confess I’m not a Transformers fan.
I’ve had far too many trips around the sun to be drawn in by a movie franchise based on marketing toys.
Eleven-year-old me is a different story because any thing that flipped from being a cool toy car into a rage-filled giant robot would have worked on many levels for my yet-to-be- developed, unsophisticated mind.
Jerry Sutherland
I haven’t grown up entirely–that’s why the 2018 ‘BumbleBee’ Transformers movie drew me in. I’m not going to dive too deeply into the world of Transformers–that’s a losing hand in a world where every sci-fi nerd knows more about Transformers than an NFL head coach knows about his football team.
I just want to focus on the Autobot side of the equation. An Autobot is basically a living robot from the planet Cybertron that can transform in seconds from a vehicle into a lean, mean fighting machine. Their mortal enemies are the Decepticons.
There are a million more moving parts to the Transformers concept, but I want to stay in my comfort zone and just talk about the classic iron I saw in ‘BumbleBee’.
The hero of the story is a humble little yellow 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. It’s a rescue from a junkyard and the young female owner breathed life back into it and put it on the road.
This goes well until the Beetle shows its true colors as a living, breathing Autobot. She becomes fast friends with the yellow Beetle—even though it looks like a super-sized metal version of the Incredible Hulk.
The VW takes her on some serious adventures, including a high-speed chase from the police to a city-smashing battle with the Decepticons. BumbleBee was like Herbie the Love Bug on mega-steroids.
My favorite line comes up at the end of the movie when the girl watches BumbleBee transform into a nasty ’77 Camaro Z-28. She said, “Are you kidding me? You could have been a Camaro the whole time?”. I’m sure every guy in the movie theater thought the same thing back in 2018.
BumbleBee’s Decepticon enemies aren’t typical car stars.
There’s a 1973 Javelin called Dropkick in the ‘BumbleBee’ movie.
That’s an unusual choice because AMC products rarely get starring roles in any movie. Dropkick was perfect because it’s the toughest looking ’73 Javelin you’ll ever see–it’s a cross between a muscle car and a military grade Humvee. This car is so cool if the Javelin ever made a comeback, it would be on the back of the Dropkick version.
The other Decepticon is a 1971 GTX called Shatter.
Mopar guys are generally less enthusiastic about the ’71 version of the legendary muscle car. That’s when the smog cops were in the earliest stages of choking the life out of big block engines…with the exception of the 426 Hemi.
That doesn’t matter because Shatter is a female Autobot with all the crushing power of a full-bore Decepticon. Any guy with a ’71 Plymouth B-body should seriously consider a Shatter remake.
Did ‘BumbleBee’ turn me into a hardcore Transformers’ fan?
No—but I can’t speak for 11-year-old Jerry. He’s still around somewhere.
Jerry Sutherland
