From a mission to retrieve a pair of glasses to all out planetary warfare, the Transformers franchise seems to be moving in a less explosive plan of attack featured here in the first teaser trailer of Bumbleebee. A prequel set in 1987, the decade the original animated series arrived on the scene, the film looks to explore the relationship between the titular character and a girl who believes she’s getting a new car. Check out the trailer after the jump.

The original tagline, “robots in disguise,” feels ever so prevalent here. If this prequel is truly following in the path of its predecessors, than we know that the Autobots are desperately seeking the All Spark with Bumblebee already on Earth before he meets Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) in the first movie. And from what we understand, the gold bug has been fighting wars with humans in secret for years according Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) to Transformers: The Last Knight.

Bumblebee seen some shit has been through a lot over the years and I wouldn’t blame him if he’s just lying in wait until a hint of the All Spark appeared. But it isn’t his hesitant nature to trust humans or his reluctance to fight that makes this Transformers entry feel far and away different from the others. It’s almost as if this is Bumblebee’s coming of age story that only deals with one villain, Starscream.

There’s no fight atop the pyramids with hundreds of nameless drones running around, no explosive battle throughout the streets of Los Angeles, ships are not falling out of the sky in Chicago, and are there no blue beams of light seen anywhere shooting into the sky. From what’s seen in the trailer, this is a more basic, lighter story that fans of the franchise would be more accustom to.

Watch the official teaser trailer for Bumblebee below:

And here’s the official teaser poster. It’s very subtle and gives off a very simplistic tone compared to the bombastic nature of the previous entries in the Transformers franchise. Just a girl and her robot car.

Here is the official plot synopsis for Bumblebee, courtesy of Paramount Pictures:

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.  When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.

And here’s a handful of screenshots from the trailer (click on any thumbnail to begin the image gallery):

Directed by Travis Knight, Bumbleebee stars Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena. The movie is set to release this Christmas.

Source: Paramount Pictures