hey why does bee have a scar in the middle of his neck? what did you do to him??????
oooooougggghhhh this answer comes with a lot of lore so i decided to go with a huge info dump-
alright, so Bumblebee is the last generation of Cybertronians to be born on Cybertron (currently). He was created after the war started, towards the early middle of it. the generations before him had been in war for a long time already and were already war tired. Bee’s generation saw the disparity around them and were obviously extremely troubled by it. growing up with fighting and their planet being torn apart, they were unmotivated to help in the war or pick a side, trying to stay as distant from it as possible.
Bumblebee took huge inspiration from Optimus Prime and his many speeches over the ages of war. Bee took after him in many ways, including speaking up loudly and proudly. He encouraged and inspired his generation to not sit back and let the generations before them decide the fate of the war for them. He wanted his generation to stand up and make a difference, use their voices and make a decision in order to help bring the end of the war. He converted many undecided young Cybertronians to the Autobot cause, and he himself grew quickly in ranks and became a commander.
obviously, the Decepticons were not happy with this. Bumblebee was becoming widely known for his outspokenness and encouragement for peace. Megatron sent several assassins for him over years, but most were unsuccessful. Even the famous bounty hunter Lockdown was unable to silence him. Finally over waiting, Megatron went to deal with Bumblebee himself. He was successful in kidnapping him and storing him away in Tyger Pax for a long time. He severely damaged Bumblebee’s voice box, a punishment for speaking out against the Decepticons.
After some years, Bumblebee was rescued by the Wrecker Crew. His damages were cared for by the crew’s medic, Ratchet. However, he was not able to completely fix his voice box. While still useable, it was left with permanent damage.
I like to think that voice boxes are extremely valuable and personal to each Cybertronian. Yes, they CAN be replaced. But no voice box sounds completely the same, so even if it were replaced, their voice would not be “theirs”. Bumblebee chose not to replace his, even though there were resources to do so. He didn’t want to lose the voice he had used and would continue to use to inspire others. Even with it damaged and his voice sounding “different”, it was still his.
The damage to his voice box does make him sound a bit different than others. Yes, he can still speak. But it sounds more “scratchy” than other Cybertronians, almost like a very heavy radio filter. When he gets upset or excited, his voice often has an echo of a high pitched whine behind it, like a speaker being pushed too high. It’s not appealing, but he wouldn’t change his voice for the world.
