Toy Review - TFPrime 2-pack (Bbee Vs Sscream)

[griffin]

(Please post photos, comments or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details to get you started)

Bumblebee Vs Starscream (with Silas & MECH Soldier)
Series - Transformers Prime
Sub-line - Robots In Disguise
Size/class - N/A (2 x Deluxe + 2 figurines)
Wave - N/A
New/remould/redeco - Redeco Robots (First Edition versions), new Humans
Released here - March 2012
Approximate Retail Price - $60 (US$25 elsewhere)
Approximate Size - 14cm each
Allegiance - Autobot (Bumblebee), Decepticon (Starscream), MECH (figurines)
Alt-mode - Sports Car (Bumblebee), Fighter Jet (Starscream)
Main Features/Gimmicks - 2 human figures + DVD of 3 episodes (DVD in US version only).
Main Colours - yellow, black, blue (Bumblebee), grey, purple (Starscream)
Main Accessories - gun (Bumblebee), 2 arm-guns (Starscream) + 2 human figurines.

Note - photo below is of the US version that has a DVD included. Our version has a leaflet enclosed instead.
(image is only temporary, as no official images exist at this time)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tftoys/tfpr16.jpg

[Decepticon]

It's not even a comic book! It's just a brochure promoting Prime toys and specs.

[griffin]

Well that sucks... We get shafted with expensive prices, and then get shafted with no DVD or a comic (which I thought it had) to make this set or redecos worth buying...
This is sooo totally imported for me.

Changed the first post to reflect it.

[Jinto]

It's not even a comic book! It's just a brochure promoting Prime toys and specs.

If I could get it for $40 or under I'd be interested; FE starscream costs about that on Ebay right now. He looks pretty good with that Dark Energon colouring IMO.

[Decepticon]

I bought 2 at the Myer 'Buy2 toys get the 3rd free' sale on Saturday. One for a friend who wanted it also, so it did work out at $40 each which is the most I would of paid.

[griffin]

Does anyone have any photos of our version, like, the back or sides to see if it is covered in multi-lingual wording? I haven't seen it yet, but would probably import the DVD version if our packaging is spoilt by 6 different languages replacing/covering up all the good stuff of the other version.

[christalcase]

Does anyone have any photos of our version, like, the back or sides to see if it is covered in multi-lingual wording? I haven't seen it yet, but would probably import the DVD version if our packaging is spoilt by 6 different languages replacing/covering up all the good stuff of the other version.

it is multilingual version, I can take photos for you tomorrow if you want

[griffin]

You can if you want... I'll probably be at a Target tomorrow to see for myself though.

[GoktimusPrime]

Does anyone have any photos of our version, like, the back or sides to see if it is covered in multi-lingual wording? I haven't seen it yet, but would probably import the DVD version if our packaging is spoilt by 6 different languages replacing/covering up all the good stuff of the other version.
It's multilingual packaging, but surprisingly there's not that much text on the box itself. There's heaps of blank areas. Most of the legal blurb is printed on a sheet of paper included inside the box. As such I don't think the packaging gets "spoilt" much by being covered in text. If anything I think it looks too 'empty.' There's no tech specs* printed on the packaging either. Actually... it's a lot like First Edition packaging, only with PRiD colours. Most of the multilingual blurb is on the sides.

-------------------------------------------------------
*The leaflet contains pics of main characters and their stats (Str, Int, Spd etc.) but no profiles.

[i_amtrunks]

I voted no. But there are certainly positives to it.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Prime series, especially since I feel it is far inferior to the series it replaced, but this two pack piqued my interest as the robot modes look pretty similar to the show models and the sale price of $33 is mere dollars more than the average deluxe price anyway so I thought I might as well give it a go.

Both of the toys are very small, Bumblebee is 2/3 the size of Energon Hotshot. Starscream appears to have more height in alt mode than depth and looks exactly like a plane with giant robot legs pegged on underneath.

It is a shame that the alt modes are both so weak considering that the robot modes are so nice. Bumblebee just twists and turns all over the place to end up being the bog standard head under bonnet, arms tucked in the central console, legs are the boot car with everything hanging underneath. He also looks like a jigsaw puzzle with his panels not quite lining up perfectly, and its great to see Hasbro didn't use all of their allspark blue on the movie line. :rolleyes: It does look awful in alt mode.

Overall summary for Bumblebee: a simple transformation from a decent robot to mediocre alt mode all jumbled up due to overcomplicating the simple things and terrible instructions.

Starscream in his purple deco makes an already very feminine robot mode even more feminine. His high heels , thin legs and colours are very reminiscent of Cybertron Thunderblast. Unlike that shellformer, Starscream ends up showing all his robot mode in alt mode. Starscream suffers from the same problems during transformation as Bumblebee, what is essentially a very simple transformation is made over fiddly due to bad instructions and unnecessary steps. The alt mode is again is very jigsaw panelly and the whole mode has a tendency to do it's best to try and unpeg itself. In order to have a decently painted robot mode, the alt mode suffers, being mostly grey with some strange purple highlights where the wings meet the fuselage, the jet exhaust and a terrible shaded cockpit that looks atrocious.

Overall summary for Starscream: A very well sculpted and designed robot mode with a terrible alt mode, shockingly bad transformation that is too fiddly and annoying to be fun.

The two human figures are barely worth a mention. They are solid plastic with wide bases to help them stand with a few paint apps, nothing special, but not bad, and nothing to complain about as an added bonus.

The packaging is plain and as Gok mentioned, empty and void of anything interesting. The instructions are badly made and designed (and overly large) and the pictures can be hard to see in grey scale when small parts need to be altered. Instead of a DVD, we get a flimsy paper booklet with stats for the main bot and con cast, with no bios or any interesting tidbits, just broken english single sentence scraps that were easy to translate into the dozen or so other languages.

I feel that generally these figures have the same pitfalls and issues that the whole Prime line does. In order to have decent robot mode show likeness, the alt mode suffers, they are far too small for the price, smaller than DotM toys for the same price point, for no reason, there are no oversized weapons here that used the plastic allowance either. Only soft clip on weapons with no playability replace any interactive weapons.

I can only recommend these two figures to those who really enjoy the Prime series, who want to get FE versions of two main characters in alternate colours and may have missed out/cant afford the proper versions. The robot modes display well and do look like the show (bar the colours). If you are interested, try to track down during a sale, for $33 I don't feel too ripped off, but had I paid $60 or whatever myer is charging, I'd be wanting to return these. As is, I am not sure how long I'll hold onto them, they have turned me off from collecting any further Prime figures (since these are the FE/ better designed versions) with their small size, poorly designed transformations and horrible alt modes.

When I mention their over complicated transformations, I do not intend to infer that the transformations are hard, as they are not, but they are fiddly, like the movie toys, the panels need to be clipped in just right at the right time, and if you follow the instructions; certain joints need to be massaged in or moved, rotated, moved, rotated, rotated and flipped at the exact right times and angles rather than just twisted and pushed in at the end (which for Bee works better!) I cannot see younger kids truly enjoying these transformations, they are not fun or intuitive as a toy designed for play should be.

Here's hoping I maintain this feeling, it'll make my wallet happier and let me track down better figures from better series. :D

[GoktimusPrime]

Comparison pics between FE and 2 Pack Bumblebee and Starscream.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_bumblebee2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_bumblebee3.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_bumblebee1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_starscream3.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_starscream2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/comparison_prime_starscream1.jpg

Thoughts:

Starscream
2Pk Starscream is very grey. It's not quite Hasbro grey, but it's very grey which does give the jet mode a relatively more realistic looking jet fighter colour scheme, but also looks more dull. But then again the purple and pink highlights kinda go right against this. The FE Starscream mould does suffer from showing the entire robot chest on the jet canopy, and the singular grey does help it to blend into the jet and not stick out so badly. There are less paint apps on 2Pk Starscream; whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of personal preference/taste. 2Pk Starscream looks really dull in robot mode... but I guess it's the nature of this mould. You can have a nice looking robot like FE Starscream with various colours offsetting each other well (and looking more like the cartoon), but then looks too "busy" in jet mode; or have the less colourful looking 2Pk Starscream which suffers from looking dull in robot mode, but a more unified look in jet mode.

I personally prefer the colours on FE Starscream. The purples and pink on 2Pk Starscream just doesn't sit right with me in both modes (unless you wanna pretend this is "Dark Energon Starscream" ;)). Also people who prefer show-likeness would be better off with FE Starscream.

Bumblebee
First of it seems that Hasbro has fixed the problem with the lower breast panels which are a massive pain in the rear to open on FE Bumblebee. These same panels are quite easy to open and close on 2Pk Bumblebee. The colours on 2Pk Bumblebee are an improvement over FE Bumblebee. It uses a richer deep cadmium yellow which arguably looks more like the show model (http://transformerscomics.co.cc/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Bumblebee.jpg). The face is also painted silver which looks a lot nicer than the dark grey face on FE Bumblebee and is more show-like too.

Unfortunately this toy isn't without its flaws... the most obvious one is the use of Hasbro's Baby Blue along the stripes on the bonnet and doors. No idea why... just looks stupid. The belly panel and hips have no paint apps on them at all, and for some odd reason there's no Autobot insignia on this toy at all! What is it with Hasbro and randomly skipping insignias on certain TF Prime Deluxe figures?!? (this is the fourth time now...). Overall 2Pk Bumblebee has a much nicer choice of yellow plastic, but suffers from some inferior paint apps (or lack of).

The 2-pack is currently selling at Target for $33 which makes it really good value for 2 Deluxes (plus the bonus stuff). The regular price is $11 more, but is still good value IMO. Bumblebee can be easily improved by painting over the blues with black (should be easy enough with a steady hand ;)) then attach an Autobot logo sticker on the mid-chest panel. If not for the purple and pink Starscream would look a helluva lot better (perhaps it those parts can be painted over with a dark cobalt or grey-blue).

Conclusion: Overall the FEs are superior, but at $33 you're nearly getting 2 Deluxes for the price of 1 -- so in this sense I'd say it's reasonable value and worth buying, especially for anyone who's missed out on getting the FEs and are unable to find them at RRP.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/jaam_shoulders.gif

[Doubledealer]

Finally got to check these out at a Myer yesterday. They actually look worse than I had imagined! The colours cheapen and totally ruin these otherwise above average toys. It's infuriating that this is the first taste Australia gets of the FE toys, what a joke.

It does get a few points for Silas' hilarious bug eyes though. :rolleyes:

[GoktimusPrime]

Finally got to check these out at a Myer yesterday.
I thought they were Target exclusives. I sit corrected. :)


They actually look worse than I had imagined! The colours cheapen and totally ruin these otherwise above average toys.
Yeah, and it could have been so easily avoided. Starscream would look tonnes better if not for a the purple and pinks and Bumblebee would actually look better than FE Bumblebee if not for the baby blues.

I don't consider these to be above average toys either. i_amtrunks' post explains a lot of the flaws about these moulds -- but in my review I didn't take them into account because they were already discussed in the review threads for the FE versions of these moulds... mine was more of a comparative review and obviously these toys will carry over any strengths/weaknesses of the originals. Having said that, they are above average for Transformers Prime... simply because the standard of the PRiD toys is so shockingly poor. The FE Bumblebee mould poops all over PRiD Bumblebee not because it's a fantastic design, but because PRiD Bumblebee is just such a piece of crap figure. :(

Both your comments and i_amtrunks' comments have encouraged me to change my final verdict for these toys. I did mention that they can be drastically improved with some repainting, but really... people shouldn't have to! Hasbro should just give them good colours to begin with.


It does get a few points for Silas' hilarious bug eyes though. :rolleyes:
The MECH dudes are the only reason I got this set actually. I split the cost of this set with someone else who's gonna get to keep the TFs. :)

[VERT]

Got this set yesterday. Great for 33 bucks but no more than that. The Bee is a nice yellow for a change. Other than the blue stripes he would have been perfect. So I painted over the blue with black. And added some more paint to the hips and other places they missed. Now he is the perfect Prime Bee :D

Starscream is cheap looking. But different so he will just play the part of another seeker.

I never really have to "Finish" TFs from other lines before. But I find myself doing just that with Prime toys alot.

[Stompy]

I actually prefer this redeco of FE Bumblebee over the original Hasbro release. The colours are just so much better. Barring the allspark blue which is unfortunate but is growing on me. Might paint over it.

Starscream is ok. I like mold a LOT so as many as I can get my hands on, the better.

[verboten82]

myers southland has this set for 39.95 today

[Decepticon]

Spotted these ar TRU today. $49.99. Looks like they will be shelf warming at every shop!:mad:

[Sutton]

Down to under $20 for the pack at Myer Launceston now, so I'm guessing they're on clearance at other Myer's around the place too since they (as usual) over-priced them horribly in the first place.

Good toys for the price paid.