SHIA LABEOUF: Sam Whitwicky comes from a lineage of explorers. Captain Archibald Whitwicky was his great, great grandfather, a 19th Century Seaman, who, during a search, an exploration of the arctic circle, fell upon an ice cave. Fell into the ice cave and into a hand; the hand of Megatron. What he saw when he turned was an eye which burned a laser into his eyeglasses, which was a map of where the Energon Cube is being stored.
When Optimus and the Autobots come to Earth, they're looking for the same thing the Decepticons, obviously. The way that they get there is the map on the glasses. Who has the glasses? Sam has the glasses. So, he becomes the liaison between them and their goal. I'm the middle man.
QUINT: There's also an element of protection, as well. They protect you from the Decepticons.
SHIA LABEOUF: Yeah. Bumblebee becomes my guardian because now that I am the liaison there's power. It's like knowing where the next oil well is, for Americans. Now you have this power, everyone's going to come after you. The Energon Cube is that. Every time I think of this Energon Cube... I know of the Transformers, but when I'm explaining to my mother, that's how I always explain it. It's like oil for America. That's what it is. And there's a lot of political shit in this. If you're watching and if you have the imagination, can become a kid again, you'll understand.