Goldbug's History
Bumblebee was a originally a drifter trying to survive on the streets of Polyhex before joining Orion Pax's Autobots. Ambitious and desperate for the approval of his leader, Bumblebee clawed his way up the ranks until he'd attained a position of power as a member of Orion's inner cadre. 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. As Orion worked to consolidate his growing power over the Senate, Bumblebee became a member of the "Wreckers", a private security force which, under the leadership of Ultra Magnus, effectively operated outside Cybertronian law. While stationed at the Senate building, Bumblebee intimidated Flashbox and Laserbeak into abandoning an interview with Shockwave.
After Orion overthrew the Senate and rose to become Optimus Prime, Bumblebee stayed by his leader after the Decepticon-Autobot war took both sides to Earth. Bumblebee took part in the final battle on Earth and nearly killed Thundercracker until a point-blank blast from Megatron's fusion cannon left him mortally wounded. On their way back to Cybertron, it was Ratchet who came up with the idea of using a spare protoform to bring Bumblebee back from the brink of death. Although the little Autobot was reborn as Goldbug—a faster, stronger Autobot intent on discarding his former identity—he found that Optimus and the other Autobots had only repaired him out of necessity rather than any kind of affection for their comrade, and made it clear that they hadn't forgotten his failure to kill Megatron.
After returning to Cybertron, Goldbug caught wind that Prowl was plotting against the Autobot leader. When he brought it to Prime's attention, however, Optimus's overconfidence and Goldbug's frustrations led to the smaller Autobot receiving a painful beating when he criticized Prime's inability to see the obvious plot brewing under his nose. As Goldbug picked himself up from the ground, Prowl sought out Goldbug and convinced him to join his nascent coup. When their breakaway faction finally made their move, Goldbug was sent to assassinate Prime, but was unable to finish the job. Frustrated and humiliated by his string of defeats, Goldbug swore that from that day onward no one would ever think him a joke again.
Approximately a kilocycle later, Goldbug had risen to become the unquestioned leader of his own breakaway faction and 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 three Autobot nations, each led by one of the three Autobot warlords. After 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. After a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse in and around Gold City and the Rad Zone, Jetfire finally captured Starscream and brought him before Goldbug for an interrogation session.
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. An uncooperative Starscream pushed him into ordering Slicer to begin rounding up and executing anyone who supported the Decepticon cause 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.
Before Goldbug could make good on this threat to kill both Starscream and Jetfire, Megatron gathered his remaining followers and launched a full-scale assault on Gold City, and Jetfire finally rejected the Autobots by punching Goldbug in the face and freeing his old friend. However, Goldbug had enough strength left in him to blast Starscream in the chest; although Starscream survived the first shot, Goldbug easily reached into the wound, ripped his spark from his body, and coldly reminded Jetfire of his warning before he left. Although the Decepticons successfully liberated Gold City, Goldbug escaped amidst the confusion and retreated to Metroplex's resting ground, where he used Starscream's spark to revive the Titan.
