Black TwinBee-01 (ブラック ツインビー 1号機 Burakku TsuinBī 1 Gōki, lit. "Black TwinBee 1st Unit") and Black TwinBee-02 (ブラック ツインビー 2号機 Burakku TsuinBī 2 Gōki, lit. "Black TwinBee 2nd Unit") are the bumblebee battleships of Shizu and Saryuto, respectively. Just like their android pilots, they were created by Dr. Warumon.
Description[]
Unlike the bumblebee androids created by Dr. Cinnamon –TwinBee, WinBee and GwinBee– Dr. Warumon's Black TwinBees feature a more battle-type and threatening design, looking more mechanical and less humanoid and friendly. They lack a mouth and feature an overall dark-colored scheme. Nonetheless, they still have arms, hands and legs.
Instead of having a large liftable canopy, they have two windows on their cockpits, which would make for the mechas' eyes. In both cases, the right window is smaller and slim, while the left one is larger, circular and protrudes out of the ship, likely having powerful telescopic properties. Below this telescope, both have a green recon searchlight. In addition, both have spiked metal "wristbands" attached to their arms, which further add to their already menacing visage.
Originally, both BT ships were nearly identical, being dark blue (or dark gray in some productions) with accompanying red details such as the side tanks, the window frames and the spiked "wristbands". However, since the release of TwinBee RPG, both were redesigned and given a more unique color scheme –likely to differentiate one ship from the other– with Shizu's BT-01 now being dark blue with the accompanying details in a lighter blue tone and having an overall bulkier complexion, and Saryuto's BT-02 being slimmer and with its accompanying details remaining red colored, giving it an more feminine appearance.
It's worth noting that unlike TwinBee, WinBee and GwinBee, the Black TwinBees are not self-aware or even seem to have any type of artificial intelligence at all; they are simply ships that are used for battle.
Appearances[]
Video games[]
- TwinBee Yahho!: Fushigi no Kuni de Ōabare!! (1995 - arcade, PS, Saturn): First appearance of a Black TwinBee unit in the series. A Black TwinBee can be seen in the final chase sequence of the game, where Dr. Warumon's escape pod releases it and acts as a minor miniboss during the pursuit. In this appearance, the ship only acts as a minion (akin to other ZakoBees) and still hadn't been given an established pilot (read below).
- TwinBee PARADISE in Donburi Shima (1998 - PC): Both Black TwinBees appear in the "TwinBee Jockey" event, piloted by their respective owners, Shizu and Saryuto. The event consists on a racing match between all the bumblebee ships on the island, including TwinBee, WinBee, GwinBee and Bee-chan.
- TwinBee RPG (1998 - PS)
Other media[]
- TwinBee PARADISE (1993-97 - radio drama): First appearance of the Black TwinBee units, although being a radio drama, only in narrative form.
- Tulip Beach Stories (1995 - OVA): Shizu and Saryuto challenge TwinBee and WinBee to a game of volleyball at Tulip Beach (as the latter's pilots, Light and Pastel, are too busy partaking in common beach activities). Both siblings then board their respective Black TwinBee battleships to even the match against the bumblebee androids. This OVA was originally included as part of the content in TwinBee PARADISE in Donburi Shima three years later, and as such, both BT ships still appear with their original designs featuring red frames around some of their parts, even if Tulip Beach Stories inclusion in TwinBee PARADISE Vol.0 was released after TwinBee RPG.
