« Transformers: Bumblebee - Win If You Dare
"Win If You Dare"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 12, 2018
Writer	James Asmus
Art	Marcelo Ferreira, Áthilla Fabbio
Color	Valentina Pinto
Letters	Tom B. Long
Cover	Nicoletta Baldari
Continuity	Generation 1 continuity family
Page count	67

Feeling overlooked, Bumblebee learns that strength isn't everything when he and an unusual new friend are caught up in a Combaticon plot.

Synopsis

Bumblebee has never been the fastest or strongest Autobot, a fact that he's all too aware of as he races towards the Ark after recovering from his latest run-in with the Decepticons. Despite Bumblebee's bravado, Optimus Prime and Ratchet are concerned for the yellow Autobot, and Prime warns him to pick his battles more wisely in future as the other Autobots roll out, leaving him behind to finish his road tests.

That evening, Bumblebee drives through California's Yosemite National Park, quietly mulling over his inability to measure up to the other Autobots; if he was the best at something, the way the others were, would they still leave him behind? He's interrupted from his self-pity by the sound of engines; transforming to disguise himself, he discovers a pair of jeeps racing along the highway. When one of them clips his bumper, however, Bumblebee is nearly sent careening over a cliff... and then that same jeep attempts to run the competition off the road. Bumblebee gives chase, but his efforts are rendered moot when the mystery jeep attempts to finish off his competitor, who is only saved when Bumblebee transforms to robot mode and, much to its driver's surprise, drags the car back onto solid ground.

Towing the jeep home, Bumblebee makes fast friends with the human he's rescued; introducing himself as Mateo Cruz, he explains the nature of his prosthetic limbs to a confused Bumblebee and shows him around his garage, offering to repair the damage Bumblebee sustained rescuing him. His mother, Cruz explains, works for the military's aerospace program and refurbishes old planes with her son for a hobby; showing the Autobot a pair of new prosthetic limbs that they built together, however, Cruz explains that her new job has kept her away from home...

... and, in a military base not far away, director Angela Cruz reveals the results of her latest job to her superiors: the B-2 stealth bomber, the world's first "invisible" large-scale aircraft. In a few days' time, the plane will be unveiled in a demonstration, but, until then, its existence must be concealed to keep it out of the wrong hands. The humans are unaware, however, that those "wrong hands" have been spying on them all along - the mystery jeep, revealed as the Decepticon Swindle!

The next morning, Mateo reunites with a repaired Bumblebee, who's stayed the night in the family's garage, and the two head out into town to find the mysterious jeep driver, who's been terrorizing Mateo's friendly races outside of town. Their first port of call is the local garage, where Mateo's friend Nicole works. Despite Bumblebee's best attempts to play matchmaker, and Nicole inviting Mateo to the school dance, his self-consciousness winds up getting the better of him. The two head off to investigate what Nicole claims is the jeep's usual hangout, a run-down military surplus and museum on the edge of town.

Bumblebee is apprehensive about directly confronting the driver, but Mateo isn't: he strides into the hangar and comes face-to-face with the proprietor, who warns him to leave. Mateo stalls for time, however, and realizes that something is afoot when he spies snapshots of his mother's latest, top-secret project. Just as Bumblebee comes to realize that something's fishy, Mateo bolts towards him... and Swindle bursts through the hangar walls, smashing Mateo's prosthetic leg as he zooms away. Herman grumbles that the cops are probably on their way, but as he prepares to leave, he finds his way blocked by Vortex, who warns him to keep his mouth shut.

Out in the desert, the chase is on as Bumblebee pursues their jeep, who leads them on a dangerous pursuit as he swerves across the train tracks, right in front of an oncoming train. Both Mateo and Bumblebee struggle for control, but Bumblebee wins out at the last second and swerves away. The pair bicker about whether or not they should have pursued their target, as Swindle transforms to taunt Bumblebee before driving away.

The pair regroup at Mateo's house, where Bumblebee tells his human friend what Swindle has been up to: since he was kicked out of the Decepticons, Swindle has been getting by, trading human military secrets for personal gain. Bumblebee speculates that Swindle will be trying to film footage of Ms. Cruz's test flight tomorrow... but, until then, why not stop by the school dance? Mateo is apprehensive; he's uncoordinated at the best of times, and now that he's missing a leg, he has even less confidence in himself than before. Bumblebee points out that Mateo has another option - the prototype leg he and his mother have worked on - and if he wants to join Bumblebee when he next tangles with Swindle, then they're going to the dance.

That same evening, Angela is on her way home when her car suffers a mysterious breakdown. Her calls for help on her satellite phone are received by Swindle, masquerading as a military jeep, who drives out to intercept her. The moment Angela accepts the Decepticon's phony explanation and climbs aboard, however, the doors slam shut...

At the school dance, Bumblebee drops off Mateo, who's still unsure about the plan, and the wireless transmitter Bumblebee's installed in his prosthetics. Bumblebee pulls into an alley to give him a quick pep talk — it's not about being perfect, it's about doing your best, and showing who you really are — before sending him off.

Out in the desert, Angela attempts to escape from Swindle's interior, to no avail. Angela quickly catches onto the situation: her captor is a Decepticon, the reason why the US military commissioned the B-2 in the first place. As Swindle drives into Herman's museum, the other Combaticons reveal themselves, and tell her that if she wants to see her son again, then she'll have to outfit his group with the same stealth upgrades!

Indeed, the Combaticons' plan to kidnap Mateo starts well: with so many military personnel being flown in for the impending test of the B-2, nobody notices chopper-mode Vortex hovering over the school... not even Mateo, who waves off Bumblebee's concerns. When Nicole appears, Mateo finds enough confidence to dance and quickly discovers that his limbs are being controlled by Bumblebee, using the two-way radio transmitter to help Mateo pull off a flawless dance routine. The warm moment is cut short when Bumblebee realizes the identity of the helicopter circling overhead, and, with his requests for backup jammed by Vortex's counter-frequency, he roars off, leaving Mateo... but doesn't expect Mateo to bolt outside and see him being chased by Vortex. When Nicole follows, and sees "Mateo's car" speed off, she mistakes it for a hijacking and the two pursue Bumblebee in her car.

Meanwhile, the Combaticons have imprisoned Angela in Herman's main hangar, and attempt to interrogate her regarding her stealth engineering techniques. The interrogation session is cut short when Brawl reveals that Vortex strayed from the mission, and is after Bumblebee instead of Mateo — and this distraction provides Angela with the perfect opportunity to escape, blinding Brawl long enough to make for the door.

Mateo discovers he's able to use his limbs as a makeshift communicator to Bumblebee, who's already racing to the military base in the hopes that the army will be able to stop the Decepticons. After all, Bumblebee rationalizes, he's not strong enough to take down the Combaticons on his own... In the meantime, Angela has quickly gotten the better of her captors, having commandeered a plane, she takes off and nearly runs down Brawl, as Onslaught orders his unit to recapture their hostage. Angela is able to make it within visual range of Sierra Station, but learns that the base personnel aren't in any shape to take the fight to the Decepticons, a problem made worse when Vortex shoots down her plane. Bumblebee witnesses the incident from the ground, and orders Mateo and Nicole to turn around, only for Swindle and the other Combaticons to show up. Bumblebee is only just able to prevent Brawl from blowing them to bits, but when an unharmed Angela parachutes into the base, the Decepticons realize that there's only one way they can win now - Bruticus!

As the Combaticons combine and begin laying waste to the base, Bumblebee is paralyzed by indecision, before Mateo encourages him, using the same advice Bumblebee gave him at the dance and galvanizing him into action. Bumblebee finally realizes that it's not about strength, speed, or being the best: it's about finding what you're best at, and doing what your opponent can't. And, for Bumblebee, that unique talent is teamwork. Bumblebee swings into action and does what he does best, zooming around Bruticus's legs to rescue Angela and ferrying his human friends to safety as the military police open fire on the Decepticon and topple the combiner.

Reduced to his components once more, Onslaught suggests that they simply steal the plane, much to Swindle's displeasure: he needed a big win to get back into Megatron's good books. Using Vortex's jamming frequency, however, Bumblebee sends Swindle a message of encouragement... a message, it turns out, designed to keep the Decepticons confused long enough for Angela and the teens to start up the B-2 bomber and fly over their position, pummeling them with an aerial bombardment. Bumblebee - riding on the plane's fuselage - finishes the job by dropping an EMP bomb on the disoriented Decepticons.

As dawn breaks, Optimus Prime and the other Autobots lead the captured Decepticons away, and Bumblebee takes a moment to reconnect with Prime, apologizing for going AWOL. Bumblebee shares what he's learned with Prime, who acknowledges that sometimes, it's hard to recognize all that someone is capable of - especially someone like Bumblebee.

The two teenagers share stories of their adventures with Angela as Mateo gears up for one last race with Bumblebee, and as Optimus proudly watches, our heroes ride off into the dawn!

Quotes

"Fighting is overrated."
"Seriously?"
"Well, most of my fights involve listening to Starscream. And that guy's voice is a nightmare."

—Bumblebee and Mateo

"Are you getting a weird vibe here? Or is it just that usually when I see vehicles like this — they turn into Decepticons who try to tear me apart?"

—Bumblebee investigates Herman's Military Surplus

"Imbeciles! Who left the door open?!"
"Hey! You try to use little human locks with these hands!"

—Swindle and Onslaught

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• IDW's first graphic novel, Win If You Dare is set in a new continuity, one that's loosely based on the original Sunbow cartoon. It can't actually be this continuity, however; Windblade is shown as a member of the Autobot crew operating on Earth (though it's not like the cartoon was particularly dedicated to showing where new cast members came from). More importantly, however, the Transformers do not appear to be common knowledge amongst humanity, with only the government and select members of the US military aware of their existence (but see "Errors" for more on that).
• In real life, the B-2 Spirit was first developed in 1989, and introduced into the military in 1997; the level of technology on display suggests that this story takes place sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Transformers references

• Naturally, the title is named after the lyrics from the Stan Bush song "Dare".
• As per the Generation 1 cartoon, the Autobots are shown operating out of their crashed starship, wedged in the side of what is presumably Mount St. Hilary.
• The conceit of Bumblebee being insecure and wanting to prove his worth as an Autobot draws on his original Bob Budiansky character bio, that aspect of which went mostly unused in the cartoon.
• Mateo shares a first name and a very similar surname with Mateo Chavez, a human who was connected to the aerospace industry in the pages of Optimus Prime #12. His prosthetic limbs — which are rather absurdly science-fictional in design — bear a resemblance to those of Mike Power, the Atomic Man, who put in an appearance in the 2005 IDW continuity.
• While disguised as an ordinary car, Bumblebee plays romantic music to try and force Mateo and Nicole together, akin to his live-action film counterpart.
• In his alternate mode, Bumblebee is shown communicating through a screen on his dashboard, using an image of his head — similar to how the Autobots of Rescue Bots and the 2001 Robots in Disguise series communicated with their human friends while disguised.
• Bumblebee notes that Swindle has been kicked out of the Decepticons, and now gets by through selling military secrets; Swindle did something similar in the cartoon episodes "Aerial Assault" and "B.O.T.", where he parleyed with human dictators and other unsavory sorts for his own personal gain.
• Megatron, Grimlock, Mirage, Trailcutter, and Starscream are mentioned but do not appear.

Real-world references

• Mateo encourages his mom to "blind them with science", during her presentation, referencing the Thomas Dolby song of the same name.
• Bumblebee is shown playing a Nintendo Game Boy while in Mateo's garage.
• Herman's Military Surplus and Museum might be a reference to minor character Herman from The Simpsons, a paranoid veteran who also ran a military surplus.

Errors

• The Transformers don't appear to be common knowledge in this story, with Mateo expressing shock at Bumblebee's existence, and Bumblebee himself desiring to stay hidden from humanity, though video feeds from inside the Ark show the Autobots performing goodwill deeds around the world, assisting humanity in full view. (Perhaps Mateo just doesn't read the news very often.)
• When fleeing after seeing the stealth bomber photos, Mateo is seen in Bumblebee's mirror, and his prosthetic arm is drawn on the left—normally correct, but since this is a reflection his arms should be reversed.

Other trivia

• The inner cover features a photo of Bumblebee's Masterpiece toy.
• The graphic novel comes with a four-page "The Process" featurette, detailing how a scene from the novel went from script to thumbnails to inks to colour.
• Originally solicited as being written by famed Batmanologist Chris Sims and his writing partner Chad Bowers (who previously worked together on the X-Men '92 comic), early details for the book suggested an entirely different plot, involving Bumblebee's brother being injured and Bumblebee having to "prove his worth" to the Autobots.^[1]

References