Toy Review - Prime Deluxe Bumblebee

[griffin]

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

Toy Review - Bumblebee
Series - TFPrime
Sub-line - none
Size/class - Deluxe
Wave - 0 (First Edition)
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - Maybe not here at all (Released globally Nov/Dec 2011)
Approximate Retail Price - ($24-30?) US$12
Approximate Size - (14cm)
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Sports car
Main Features/Gimmicks - none
Main Colours - Yellow, black, grey
Main Accessories - gun

[griffin]

Considering that Hasbro would have needed to rush the development of these Prime toys to get them out as soon as possible after Animated was axed, it seems they over-complicated this toy... to the point that it won't be much fun for the new kiddies they are trying to hook into this new era of Transformers.
Bumblebee is the character/toy that they are expecting will be the kids & parents first choice when delving into Transformers after watching the new cartoon... so it should have been the easiest and "fun-est" toy of the main Deluxe-sized cast.

It starts out well enough with the legs (from car mode), but after figuring out the "auto-morph" feature of the feet, the rest of the toy is annoyingly fiddly. The arms, chest, neck, shoulders... all more complicated than they need to be.
The front-bumper/chest halves are even meant to split downward, but the one side that does (on mine), only splits so slightly that it isn't even noticeable enough (to wonder why they even bothered creating extra pieces to do it).... even the packaging/official pics don't even show it.

The middle of the robot chest has an autobot symbol, but if you move the chest halves (or even while you are playing with the toy making it move), the symbol gets covered up.

As I had commented elsewhere before, I wasn't too keen on the proportions of this toy, with its tiny legs, arms and hips, but huge chest.... and now having the toy, it is just as bad as I had feared. Plus, it's car doors stick out to the sides, making it even more top-heavy.

I'd suggest waiting until the Wave 1 version is released to see what mould changes are done. At least if the Wave 1 version is worse, there should be First Edition figures still around online for about the same price.


On a side note - mine has two left thighs... which can't be removed without removing the knee pin. And you can't see it in packaging, because it is hidden in car mode.
At least I got a second one (I was going to sell or give away)... I'll have to offload this one cheap then.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Probably the worst of the initial Prime toys I am afraid. Mine has a wobbly torso as well, not surprising considering how many pieces make it up. Long Monkey arms, big goofy feet, and he looks quite dumpy, yet BB on the show looks fairly sleek. I like the vehicle mode though, so I reckon the others will be robots, yet BB will sit it out in vehicle mode.

[jaydisc]

+1 Weakest of the first wave. Annoying shoulders that lack that peg-and-hole philosophy that seems present in all the other figures. Regardless, like the rest of its brethren, it nails the character.

[GoktimusPrime]

By far the weakest of the First Edition Prime toys IMO... unnecessarily fiddly upper torso stuff. The two lower panels of the chest -- on ONE side of mine it partially lowers just ever so slightly, the other one just won't budge! The "belly" panel on mine is also kinda loose and floppy... fortunately the breast panels hold it in place - but otherwise there's no locking mechanism for it (lame).

The rest of the toy seems fine - arms, legs, head etc. -- just the body bugs me... gah. Oh, and I can't seem to get the gun to sit properly inside the storage area in vehicle mode. :/

And where is this toy's Tech Specs profile?!?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I have been taking this guy to work and generally just leaving him around for some idle fiddling (ooer!) and he has grown on me somewhat. I have found that clipping the bonnet/shoulders into a couple of hooks aids in his loose chestyness a little.

With a bit of change in arm angling I can fool myself into thinking he doesn;t have big goofy arms, same with his legs and feet. I think I didn't have the rear parts fo the car angled up high enough before.

Shame that I can't seem tomake him point his blaster the way he does in the cartoon. This seems to stem from the curve in back of his forearm, so he always ends up pointing his gun down. Maybe he is a gangster?

Still a shame about the Autobot symbol getting covered up and the splitting bumper under the lights needs a bit of help with a nail file to get looking nice. I just can't pull it out very far with fingernails alone, but with some aid, it looks good. Overall he has good posability.

Awesome light piping and have a look into his eyes to see his, uuh, pupils for wnat of a better word. Just like the show.

I would recomend waiting for the wave 1 to see if there is any difference. If there isn't then this is an OK figure. the others are till definitely better.

[GL-Sideswipe]

I think that bee is an alright figure, I like the way he looks but what I have a problem with is that some parts a fidgety.. like really fidgety and the chest panels dont pull down at all like they’re supposed too :/ But I think i’m still happy to get one of the first edition figures. Still an alright figure in my opinion.