Goldbug (SG)

Goldbug is an evil Autobot Seeker from the Shattered Glass continuity family.

Grrrr. Arg.

Goldbug was once a shiftless drifter named Bumblebee. Survival on the streets of Polyhex meant learning to become a sneak, a pickpocket, and a blackmailer, and at these things Bumblebee excelled. When Optimus Prime seized power and plunged Cybertron into war, Bumblebee found that life as one of Prime's brutal Autobots suited him well—so well, in fact, that it put him on the fast track to power, and culminated in his eventual rebirth as the more powerful Goldbug.

Although he's a ruthless warrior and a capable lieutenant, Goldbug's cold demeanor masks a bubbling cauldron of private neuroses, irrational fears, and a deep, abiding well of anger. Goldbug has done everything within his power to bury his original identity and put his past behind him, but remains extremely paranoid that he is not appreciated by his peers and will be summarily replaced. When he's given—or seizes—a position of power, he'll use that newfound authority to bluster and bully his subordinates into obedience... or, when things go south, start chopping off heads until the situation improves. Fortunately for his fellow Autobots, Goldbug generally doesn't hide his open contempt for his leaders, and his commanding officers have grown accustomed to foiling his ill-conceived coups before he can deal too much damage.

Fiction

Shattered Expectations

Goldbug led Jazz and Grimlock in a search for the ancient Pretender technology, intending to use it to give them the edge against the Decepticon insurgency. He appeared to be the leader of the trio (barely). However, their plan was foiled by the arrival of Starscream and the Mayhem Suppression Squad. Shattered Expectations

Fun Publications Shattered Glass continuity

"Sorry sir, I spaced out after 'along with'. What do I need to understand?"

When Bumblebee joined the Autobots, his bravery put him on the fast track to power, and when Seeker commander Drench was "removed" by Prime, Bumblebee was rebuilt as Goldbug and took his place. ^[1]

Goldbug was present at the execution of Rumble when Optimus Prime brought their "old friend" Cliffjumper in to view the festivities. Later on, he was discussing the launch of the Ark with Prime and Blurr in the combat training room. Goldbug mentioned that the Old One wouldn't have approved of the current plan, but Optimus quickly shot down his objections. Goldbug and the other Seekers defended the Ark's launch platform from Decepticon attack, but failed to stop Cliffjumper from scuttling the liftoff. Shattered Glass

When Wheeljack's new creations, the Dinobots, ran amok, both Autobot and Decepticon alike were forced to chase them down before the other side could modify their A.I.s. Gotta catch 'em all. Goldbug and Jazz located Swoop atop an observation tower. Unfortunately, he could fly and neither of them could. Goldbug volunteered Jazz to climb up and fetch the Dinobot, but J wasn't having none of that. Rodimus and Blurr arrived and made a consensus (with laser rifles) that Jazz would be climbing. In a move that surprised no one except Jazz, Swoop took off flying the moment Prime's bodyguard laid a hand on him. Goldbug got the creature in his sights and shot it down, bringing Swoop and Jazz crashing to Earth. When Blurr inquired why Goldbug didn't just shoot the Dinobot in the first place, Goldbug shrugged and said that now they didn't have to climb up and fetch it. Dungeons & Dinobots

The Ark was finally repaired and ready for launch when Optimus Prime ran off to deal with Megatron. Goldbug and Blurr caught Rodimus fiddling with a communications console, preventing Prime from calling in. Blurr started to bluster at the insubordination, but Goldbug was willing to hear Rodimus' explanation. Rodimus argued that Optimus' obsession with Megatron was holding them all back. Cybertron was a dead world now, and with Prime out of the picture, Earth would be ripe for their taking. Goldbug agreed, and Blurr was thrown off the ship for remaining loyal to Prime.

Later, when the Ark and the Nemesis were locked in battle above Earth, Goldbug manned the Ark's sensor station. Astrotrain succeeded in severely damaging the Ark. Goldbug had time to curse the coward Rodimus, who fled in an escape pod, before calling for all hands to brace for impact. Do Over

After the crash, Goldbug initially hooked up with Big Daddy, Brawn and Beachcomber as they went searching for their "valiant leader". It was fortuitous, wonderful, outstanding when they finally crossed paths with the opportunist, and had the opportunity for revenge. Rodimus did some fast talking, though, and his stories of human allies and the Decepticons getting vaped led Goldbug to hold his fire long enough to hear the Seeker leader out. They returned to the Ark in order to make a proper assessment of the state of the planet. Goldbug and the Autobots had quite a bit of difficulty understanding the concept of "renewable resources" their human allies the Witwickys tried to explain.

Strategy wasn't the only thing on Goldbug's mind, however — using Rodimus's bail-out during the crash as an excuse, he challenged Rodimus for leadership of the Autobots. The two Seekers battled on the bridge of the Ark, with the fully-reenergized Goldbug soon gaining the upper hand. Rodimus was far more crafty, though — he voice-activated Teletraan-X and deleted the ID-recognition file for Goldbug, causing the ship to identify him as an enemy combatant. Goldbug was quickly restrained by the internal security systems, and held helpless before Rodimus Prime. Despite his precarious position, Goldbug agreed to yield only if Rodimus left him as second-in-command. Showing the sort of logic and reasoning positive-matter Decepticon leaders have displayed for eons, Rodimus laughingly agreed to keep the ambitious Goldbug as his right-hand bot. After all, no way Goldbug would let anyone else in the Autobots kill Rodimus before him.

As the Autobots prepared for their strike on the control base for America's GODS space weapon, Goldbug and Wheeljack joined Rodimus for the infiltration mission. Like the Trojan horse, they got captured and taken inside the base along with their "drivers", the Witwickys, just before the rest of the Autobots launched an assault from outside. Striking from both in and outside the base, the Autobots soon controlled the satellite station and its deadly particle beam weapon. Their assault soon drew the attention of the surviving Decepticons, however, and the Cybertronian Civil War officially took up residence on Earth. Goldbug was attacked by the diminutive Frenzy and his two human friends, who used a fire extinguisher to temporarily blind the Seeker and steal his weapon. To add injury to insult, the weaponless Goldbug was then forced to deal with the Incredible fury of Frenzy unleashed. The Decepticons were able to reclaim the military base, and the Autobots were driven off. Eye in the Sky

Still working for his own advancement, Goldbug commissioned Side Burn and Wheeljack to create a stellar spanner out in the desert without Rodimus Prime's knowledge. They were nearly finished when the Decepticons Blitzwing and Heatwave stumbled upon their location. Seizing the opportunity, Goldbug planned to launch Heatwave through the untested machine to make sure it worked. Blitzwing attempted to stop them by hooking directly into the spanner's digital landscape, but failed due to Wheeljack's electro-shells. The feedback had a side-effect, however, of sending out a cacophony of fleshling music on the Autobots' communications frequency. Unable to even think straight, Goldbug blasted the Spanner to keep the Decepticons from using it and ordered a retreat.

Back at the Ark, Goldbug was forced to answer to Rodimus Prime for his antics. Fearing another clash with Teletraan-X's servo, Goldbug babbled off whatever he could think of to stay Rodimus's fury. Luckily, his only punishment ended up being salvage duty with Seaspray, as the Agonizing Rehabilitation Chambers were conveniently broken. Blitzwing Bop

Goldbug took part in the raid on Blackrock's Mega-Rig, warning everyone to stick to hand-to-hand combat to avoid damaging their prize. He, Side Burn and Beachcomber later joined Rodimus when their leader met with Blackrock to listen to an offer he had for them. Despite Goldbug's strenuous objections, Rodimus accepted the offer. Soon after, the Autobots captured two of the Decepticons' human friends, Sephie Beller and Rick Ottman. Goldbug held Rick at gunpoint when the Decepticons turned up, and the Decepticons were soon bound prisoners. When Soundwave revealed that he wasn't the one who'd put up the jamming field, Goldbug wondered aloud who was doing the jamming. His answer came moments later when the Autobots were attacked by Blackrock in his Centurion mech. Goldbug and Swoop initially managed to restrain the robot, but the Centurion's defenses were too formidable, and the Autobots were eventually forced to retreat. Transhuman

At some unspecified point in time, Goldbug and a team of Autobots somehow under the command of both Rodimus Prime and Optimus Prime fought Thundercracker and Ravage in the Transformers' greatest battle on Earth, "Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction." According to Ravage, anyway. Recordicons #3

Goldbug was among the evil Autobots captured after Optimus Prime became Nova Prime and overthrew Rodimus. The Future Buried...

SD SG

Goldbug was forced to listen to Optimus Prime complain about new body designs and upgrades. SD SG #1

IDW Shattered Glass comic

Bumblebee was a originally a drifter on the streets of Polyhex before joining Orion Pax's Autobots. Desperate for the approval of his leader, the ambitious Bumblebee clawed his way up the ranks until he'd attained a position of power as a member of Orion's inner cadre. Goldbug bio During one early meeting with Jetfire, who'd turned to the Autobots as a means of securing more funding for his research on Titans, Bumblebee and Prowl caught Starscream spying on them and dragged him before Orion. Shattered Glass #3

As Orion worked to consolidate his growing power over the Senate, Bumblebee became a member of the "Wreckers", a private security force under the leadership of Ultra Magnus that effectively operated outside Cybertronian law. While stationed at the Senate building, Bumblebee intimidated Flashbox and Laserbeak into abandoning an interview with Shockwave, and Bumblebee watched in shock as Ultra Magnus laid into Kup and Impactor for stepping out of line. To prove their loyalty to Optimus Prime, Magnus and the other members of the Wreckers led an attack on the Senate and massacred everyone inside except Shockwave, whom Magnus left alive so he could be subjected to empurata. Shattered Glass II #1 At some point afterwards, Bumblebee was kicked out of the Wreckers for unknown reasons; years later, Slicer privately thought of him as a "failed Wrecker". Shattered Glass II #3

After Orion rose to become Optimus Prime, Bumblebee stayed by his leader's side after the Decepticon-Autobot conflict brought both sides to Earth. Bumblebee took part in the final battle against the Decepticons, and nearly killed Thundercracker before a point-blank blast from Megatron's fusion cannon left him mortally wounded. On the way back to Cybertron, Ratchet came up with the idea of using a spare protoform to revive their comrade, and Bumblebee was reborn as the more powerful Goldbug. However, Goldbug soon realized that Optimus and the other Autobots had only repaired him out of necessity, rather than out of any kind of affection for their comrade, and that they hadn't forgotten his recent failure on the battlefield.

After returning to Cybertron, Goldbug caught wind that that Prowl was planning a coup against the Autobot leader. When he brought the issue to Prime's attention, however, Optimus dismissed his concerns, and when Goldbug snapped and criticized Prime's inability to see the obvious plot, he received a painful beating for his troubles. As Goldbug picked himself up, he discovered that Prowl had witnessed the entire altercation, and had come to him with an offer to join his nascent coup. Some time later, when Prowl's breakaway faction made its move, Goldbug attempted assassinate Prime, but the Autobot leader easily fended off his assault. Frustrated and humiliated by his string of defeats, Goldbug swore that from that day onward no one would ever think him a joke again. Shattered Glass #4

Approximately a kilocycle later, Goldbug had risen to become the unquestioned ruler of Kaon, which he'd renamed "Gold City". Under unclear circumstances, a subsequent falling-out with Prowl had turned the planet into a three-way battleground between the warring Autobot factions. Shattered Glass #1 Goldbug took on Slicer as one of his chief lieutenants—unaware that Slicer was still actively working for Ultra Magnus and funnelling a constant stream of information to his leader. Shattered Glass #5 Upon learning that Starscream had resurfaced and successfully interfaced with the Titan Metroplex, Goldbug put out a bounty on his head with the intent of bringing him alive for interrogation, and farmed the contract out to Ratchet and the various bodyscrappers in his employ. Shattered Glass #1 After a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse in and around Gold City and the Static Zone, Jetfire finally captured Starscream and brought him before Goldbug for an interrogation session. Shattered Glass #3

Immediately, Starscream's torture session did not go as planned: Starscream proved more resistant than he'd hoped, and Jetfire warned his leader that if they killed their prisoner they'd have no way to extract the knowledge encoded in his spark. When Skywarp teleported in to free his comrade Goldbug intercepted him, beat him to death, and ripped his head off, part of a ploy to break Starscream's spirit by showing him the remains of his fallen comrade. When Starscream still refused to cooperate, Goldbug ordered Slicer to round up and execute every suspected Decepticon sympathizer in Gold City, but the Autobot warlord was again called away to deal with the Insecticons. After slaughtering them to a man, a furious Goldbug barged in and pointed his gun in Starscream's face, ready to execute him regardless of the consequences. Shattered Glass #4

Before Goldbug could make good on this threat to kill both Starscream and the reluctant Jetfire, Megatron gathered his remaining followers and launched a full-scale assault on Gold City. At that moment, Jetfire finally rejected the Autobots by punching Goldbug in the face and freeing his old friend amidst the confusion. However, Goldbug had enough strength left to blast Starscream in the chest; although the Decepticon flier survived this first shot, Goldbug easily reached into the wound, ripped his spark from his body; as he fled, Goldbug coldly reminded Jetfire that Starscream was never going to leave Gold City alive.

The Decepticons successfully liberated Gold City, but Goldbug escaped amidst the confusion and retreated to Metroplex's resting ground, deep within the Static Zone, where he used the information encoded on Starscream's spark to reactivate the Titan. Shattered Glass #5

Although he'd successfully implanted Starscream's spark into Metroplex's systems, Goldbug struggled to bring the giant Transformer online: Metroplex would stop and start and random, and the rogue Autobot had made very little progress when Slicer, still posing as Goldbug's loyal underling, finally tracked him down. Slicer was able to stall Goldbug long enough for him to send a coded signal to Rodimus and the other Wreckers, but when a passing Decepticon patrol attacked the Titan, Slicer and Goldbug easily took down the lightly-armored fliers. Before Slicer could turn on Goldbug, however, Goldbug turned on Slicer, wrestled him to the ground, and prepared to execute his former lieutenant: he'd been aware that Slicer had been double-crossing him the entire time. As Goldbug prepared to squeeze the trigger, Slicer spied Jetfire approaching from behind and got out of the way just in time—when the vengeful Jetfire landed, he caught Goldbug unawares and avenged Starscream by fatally flattening the little Autobot. Shattered Glass II #3

Games

Transformers Legends

During an Autobot attempt to launch from Cybertron in a battleship, Grimlock, Ricochet, and Goldbug were distracted from reaching the launch site and ended up chasing Ravage instead. Shattered Glass

Transformers: Earth Wars

The Game Full of Death and Suffering...! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their video game appearances. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Transformers: Earth Wars

Toys

Timelines

Started a "Bad Bugs" club with Bug Bite.

• Shattered Glass (BotCon box set, 2008)

• Accessories: Launcher, missile, key

Part of BotCon 2008's exclusive box set of five figures, Timelines Goldbug is a retool of Cybertron Hot Shot with a new head sculpt based on "Generation 1" Goldbug and a new black, yellow, and blue color scheme, bearing a little resemblance to Stealth Bumblebee. He transforms into a modified Chrysler ME Four-Twelve concept car. Plugging a Cyber Key into his trunk (his is a clear-orange Velocitron-style key with a black border) deploys transparent blue wings from his spoiler. The toy also comes with a spring-loaded missile-launching gun that can be carried in robot mode or pegged into the roof of the car mode.

The original version of this mold was also used to make Cybertron Excellion and the 2007 Transformers Breakaway.

Goldbug is only available as part of a set of six toys, along with Optimus Prime, Autobot Jazz, Grimlock, Razorclaw, and Starscream.

• More information on Goldbug at TFU.info

Shattered Glass Collection

Ah yes, Bumblebee rebuilt into a bigger, badder body, that's definitely what this is.

• Autobot Goldbug (Deluxe Class, 2021)

• Accessories: Three-piece bazooka, 2 skis, car trunk
• Known designers: Lenny Panzica and Mark Maher (Hasbro)^[2], AJ Piejko-Brown (packaging)

Released as part of the Shattered Glass Collection subline, "Autobot Goldbug" is a new-head retool of Earthrise Cliffjumper. Unusually small for a Deluxe Class figure, Goldbug transforms into a custom 1980s sports coupe; hybridizing the Porsche 924 Turbo and Mitsubishi Starion models. Goldbug's vehicle mode possesses molded high-performance brake discs, carried over from a mainline Transformers figure. As can be expected of a figure based on a War for Cybertron Trilogy release, Goldbug includes numerous 3 mm posts and 5 mm ports for attaching weapons, Fire Blast effects, and other accessories as part of the C.O.M.B.A.T. System/F.O.S.S.I.L. Technology. However, attaching a Weaponizer/Modulator/Fossilizer figure can be challenging due to Goldbug's small size.

Goldbug features a redeco of Cliffjumper's bazooka. It can split into two smaller blasters and a pair of skis that can attach under his wheels. The backend of the cannon can fold out to fit in his car mode's underside to help balance when skis are deployed, while also being used as a melee weapon. It can also be mounted on either his thigh or on the side or top of his shoulder meaning you can put the entire cannon in these spots. Similarly, his detaching car trunk can either be put into the robot mode's back or be used as a shield with the help of a flip-out peg. This peg and the backend of the cannon use a unique post and port to connect to each other. Initial photos appeared to show Goldbug using the updated taller "collar" assembly introduced on Bumblebee, although the final figure sticks with the original, shorter assembly from Cliffjumper.

Goldbug also includes the fourth issue of IDW Publishing's Shattered Glass "Shards" mini-series, with an exclusive cover featuring spot UV.

Much like the rest of the subline, Goldbug is a Hasbro Pulse exclusive in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His existence was spilled by Hasbro Pulse prematurely when Shattered Glass Collection Starscream's front page advertisement named Goldbug instead of Starscream,^[3] much like the accidental reveal of Siege Red Wing and Earthrise Thrust.

This mold was also used for War for Cybertron Trilogy Selects Hubcap and Bug Bite, and was extensively retooled into War for Cybertron Trilogy Bumblebee.

Merchandise

Magic: The Gathering

The Napoleon of crime.

• Goldbug, Humanity's Ally / Goldbug, Scrappy Scout (2022)
  • ID number: 025
  • Set code: BOT
  • Color identity: White/Blue
  • Casting cost: {1}{W}{U} (front), {W}{U} (back)
  • Artist: Josh Perez

"Goldbug, Humanity's Ally" is part of the 2022 Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Transformers card set, found in Collector Booster packs of Magic's The Brothers' War set. It can be reversed to become "Goldbug, Scrappy Scout", representing Goldbug in vehicle mode.

A variant of this card was available in both Set Booster and Collector Booster packs, depicting "Generation 1" Goldbug.

Notes

• Goldbug's original "Bumblebee" body never appeared in any Fun Publications stories. IDW's Shattered Glass series, on the other hand, gives him a body based on War for Cybertron Trilogy Bumblebee. His white and purple color scheme comes from Bumblebee's Shattered Glass Animated counterpart, who was in turn conceived as a homage to BotCon 2007's Timelines Bug Bite.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Goldbug (ゴールドバグ Gōrudobagu)

See also

You look familiar...

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Versions of Shattered Glass Bumblebee have appeared in other continuity families, including:

• Bumblebee, the evil counterpart to Animated Bumblebee.
• Bumblebee, the evil counterpart to "Movie series" Bumblebee.

For more information, see Bumblebee (disambiguation).

References