Toy Review: Generations Bumblebee (IDW Deluxe)
Series - Transformers Generations
Sub-line - N/A
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - new
Wave - 5
Released here - not yet (released globally July 2013)
Approximate Retail Price - $25
Approximate Size - 14 cm tall (robot), 13 cm long (alt)
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - "Sports car"
Main Features/Gimmicks - wheels
Main Colours - yellow, black stripes
Main Accessories - 2x "Stinger Blaster", can peg together to make larger weapon.
Official product photo:
Alt mode:
Bumblebee's alt mode is some sort of generic sports car. It looks good, and fairly accurate to the comic portrayal, though with the addition of rear spoilers. Two 5mm ports on the rear sides allow you to attach the two 'Stinger blasters' in this mode. The vehicle mode is light weight but tabs together very solidly and is the second largest vehicle in the wave, behind Megatron. Unfortunately Bumblebee doesn't roll well due to the use of a moulded chest piece on the underside of the vehicle which scrapes on the ground (on mine, anyway).
The rear window has been painted a metallic light blue which makes it stand out from the others which are transparent. This is most likely to provide sufficient mechanical strength to facilitate transformation and hide the inner workings. They may in fact have been better off making all the windows opaque as you can see clear through the vehicle, as well as the robot arms inside.
In addition to the window, Bumblebee's paint apps include his racing stripes, wheels, front and rear lights, front grille, rear bumper area and exhaust have been painted, though they're block colours and lack any fine detail.
Transformation
Bumblebee has the most frustrating transformation scheme out of the wave 5 figures. It's not particularly complex, but the order in which parts have to transform and the size and positioning of tabs often makes things very fiddly. You'll frequently need to get a large tab to pass through another part, or have to try and tab in three parts simultaneously. At least my tabs aren't showing any signs of stress after a half dozen transformations.
It's hard to describe, but the major problems I've encountered are:
- Tabbing and untabbing the car doors: Minimal clearance between door edge and leg, and a large tab.
- Tabbing the car sides into place: The door hinges can be difficult to fit past the edge of the bonnet plate:
- Tabbing the roof plate into the legs when converting to car mode: Again, a large tab into a partially occluded hole with insufficient room to work the tab into place.
- Connecting the leg/car rear halves: tabs are more like clips, requiring you to connect them at an angle, then straighten out.
Robot mode:
Bumblebee's robot mode is quite reminiscent of his comic appearance, though it seems to vary more than the other IDW figures. Bumblebee seems to have had a number of slightly different designs over the run of IDW comics, so this mould may be intended to capture the spirit of the design rather than any particular incarnation. He has a nice head sculpt with silver paint on the face and ridged details and excellent light piping.
He's also well articulated with all the usual joints and a good range of motion at the knees and shoulders, despite the shoulder pads. Although the head is only able to rotate, the wrists lack swivel and the feet have only a very minimal range of tilt, most of these restrictions apply to Trailcutter and Megatron as well.
As far as paint applications go, in addition to the head, the chest piece has black stripes, silver detail and an Autobot logo, the fronts of the feet have some faux-tail light detail painted on and the arms have side panels painted yellow on black plastic. These panels don't match the body colour, but are hidden in vehicle mode. The yellow paint on the weapons has a similar problem, though less pronounced due to the grey base colour.Curiously, the tail lights are completely different from the ones in vehicle mode?
Unfortunately Bumblebee is something of a panel former. The major weakness of the robot mode is the massive bonnet and roof panels that sit on his back and extend down almost to the knees. While there is a small peg to help keep them as much out of the way as possible, it doesn't function particularly effectively. The door wings are part of the look of the character, but in this mould they seem to float too far behind the shoulders and look out of place.
The final issue I have is the chest slider mechanism. Because the front and rear halves secure together at one end, there's a lot of play in the mechanism which results in a wobbly chest. Not an issue if you leave it in a static pose, but could get annoying if you like to play.
Overall
Bumblebee is a disappointing figure, though I'm not sure that's necessarily because it's a bad figure. Although I've ragged on Bumblebee quite a bit, he is certainly passable and captures the look of the comic quite well, however he suffers in comparison to the other IDW deluxe figures and in my opinion is the weakest member of the wave by a considerable margin.
The other figures in the wave, though small, are exceptional figures with straight-forward transformations, rock solid alt and robot modes, minimal extraneous vehicle parts, all topped off with excellent detail and head sculpts. In comparison Bumblebee is bland, fiddly and kibbly and just doesn't live up to the very high standard set by his wave-mates.
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