Toy Review - Studio Series 18 Bumblebee
BUMBLEBEE
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here - September 2018
Approximate Retail Price - $35
Approximate Size - 11cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Volkswagen Beetle Type 1 car
Main Features/Gimmicks - see "Main Accessories"
Main Colours - yellow with grey and silver highlights
Main Accessories - Attachable weapons and battle mask
Vehicle Mode
https://image.ibb.co/ck7iEz/studioseries_00a.jpg
A gorgeous rendition of the VW Beetle Type 1 with all manner of details throughout including:
* clear headlights and windows
* painted indicator and tail lights
* painted windscreen wipers
* sculpted door, boot and bonnet handles
* ventilation grill on bonnet
* grey hubcaps on black tyres! The front and rear bumpers are separate grey plastic pieces too
* VW logos sculpted on the hubcaps and boot
* a single wing mirror on the driver's side
Note: the boot is on the front and the bonnet is at the end of the vehicle
https://image.ibb.co/hL4wZz/studioseries_02.jpg
The vehicle mode has all the detail that you would expect and is a fairly accurate looking VW Beetle. My only main and minor gripe about this mode is that the rear wheels are narrower than the front wheels. It would've been nice if the rear wheels had some pins that allowed the wheels to slide outwards to gain a bit of additional width, but it's not a deal breaker and overall this is still a very nice looking VW mode. It can also be difficult to get everything to sit in exactly flush. The door panels are prone to not tabbing in all the way into slots on the thighs causing the side panels to bulge out ever so slightly (but you probably wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it). I find that even if you do get the side panels to peg in firmly, it causes the roof panels to pop out, and I'd rather have the roof panels sit flush as the gap is more noticeable than a "micro bulge" on the side. I've tried it both ways. I bought this toy at the same time as TheScreamMan and Tha_Phantom and all three of our Bumblebees had this issue, so it wasn't isolated just to my figure. But this is just minor nitpicking (even for me :p) and on the whole this is really just a great vehicle mode.
https://image.ibb.co/dFhiEz/studioseries_03.jpg
The weapons/accessories can all be stowed away in vehicle mode and the wheels can all still roll even with the accessories attached underneath.
Robot Mode
https://image.ibb.co/b0RAuz/studioseries_00b.jpg
One thing to note is that the toy does come packaged slightly mistransformed in robot mode as the rear canopy panels aren't tucked in all the way. And this is also the trickiest part of the transformation to robot mode to do. There is a grey hook sticking out from Bumblebee's back and you need to raise the yellow canopy tab above this hook to lock it into place. Once you've done this then the front bumper section will come down and give the head more clearance. If you're having trouble with this then I recommend checking out 08:50 on Peaugh's video review.
https://image.ibb.co/mRCTge/studioseries_01.jpg
The end result is a pretty nice robot mode. The chest does have a faux-bonnet sternum but the pectoral panels are both made from the actual vehicle's headlight sections. Except for the headlight section, the rest of the car canopy basically compacts into the back and it's pretty clever how it all folds and tucks away, even if the final tuck can be tricky to tab in. The robot mode offers 11 points of articulation with additional black, grey and silver highlights revealed throughout the figure. The eyes are painted blue and there is a small Autobot insignia tampographed on the forehead crest.
The sword can be attached to either forearm. The right forearm can detach and be replaced with the gun arm. The gun arm clips in fine on my figure but isn't as tight as the normal arm. On TheScreamMan's figure it was loose and easily fell off, so your kilometreage on this gimmick may vary. The face is removable and can be replaced with the battle mask - a gimmick that's rarely seen on a figure outside of Masterpiece. The smaller size does make it much harder to pop the face off, and a simple swing up/down mask gimmick that we've seen in some previous Movie Bumblebee toys would make things much easier, but admittedly the swinging mask gimmick often compromised the look of the head on a Deluxe Class toy. So I definitely appreciate why they went with having a replaceable face - it's a trickier gimmick but it does look nicer. The faces can be attached onto slots on the rear windows (which sit below the tyres in robot mode) and the spare arm are meant to be tabbed onto pegs on the back, but in reality they pop of too easily. The storage thing looks weird in robot mode, but I definitely appreciate the fact that this toy gives you the option of attach accessories onto the robot mode rather than simply setting it aside which makes them more prone to getting lost.
Overall
https://image.ibb.co/gPjKnK/studioseries_00.jpg
Far too fiddly and tricky to be a little kid's toy, the Studio Series Deluxe figure is definitely more for the collectors. The size/scale and aesthetics of this toy goes well with other Studio Series figures, and as such this is an appropriately small figure. A lot of passion and effort has clearly been poured into this figure and it's just a really nice toy for its size and price point. At 11cm this figure is only 1cm taller than a Legends/Scout Class toy. But for a Deluxe toy this figure is really just excellent. By far my favourite Deluxe Studio Series figure thus far. If you're a stickler for minor details then maybe wait for MPM-7 Bumblebee, but as a humble Deluxe toy I would rate this toy as excellent. :) Certainly looooooaaaaaads dollar value compared to the same-priced Warrior Class Cyberverse Bumblebee toy. ;)
Don't just sit there reading this, go buy this toy now! :D
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