Review: #786
Name: Bumblebee
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - Legacy United
Year of Release: 2024
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 1)
Mold Status: new
VEHICLE MODE:
Based upon his Animated incarnation, Bumblebee transforms into a sporty hatchback with a singular black racing strip.
He's technically part of the police force so he has a blue siren on the left side. This is an okay vehicle mode although the rear really needed some red paint for the tail lights as it is just a blob of unrecognizable yellow as it is.
Unfortunately, in an effort for "scale", Bumblebee is absolutely tiny. Rather than a Deluxe, he is more like the size of a Core class figure, which is extremely disappointing and feels like a rip-off.
In vehicle mode, there are several ways to attach his robot accessories. The first is attaching them to the front as a sort of attacking mode.
The other way is better, which has the rockets on the back, and the drill pieces look like flames when attached at the end.
This is an okay vehicle mode, but lacking in both size and paint.
TRANSFORMATION:
Sadly, Bumblebee loses the innovative way of transformation from the original toy. It's a lot more standardised which means a lot more boring as well. The front splits to form the legs, while the roof forms the torso and the sides the arms. There's actually nothing here that is surprising, which feels like a regression of the original Animated line, which aimed at innovative and elegant transformations.
ROBOT MODE:
Robot mode is good, and he looks like Animated Bumblebee, but with proportions tweaked to also fit the Generations aesthetics.
He carries some kibble on his back, mainly just the rear of the vehicle.
The head sculpt is clearly Bumblebee, the designer didn't bother to make it more G1-esque, so it can look a little bit weird with such a stylized head with a more blocky body.
Again, size-wise he is horrendous. He is absolutely tiny and this is not really acceptable. Sure, his transformation is definitely above a Core class, but to make him this tiny makes him impossible to justify the Deluxe price point.
He looks good with the other Animated figures done so far in the Generations line, although it seems the design focus was more towards keeping the Animated aesthetics, as Prowl was definitely more G1-fied in comparison.
Articulation is great, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles. Although his ankles only really has up / down motion, rather than side to side.
If you look closely, his feet actually has molding to replicate the vehicle headlights, since the original toy used the vehicle's front as the feet.
He comes with two rockets and two drill pieces.
The rockets can attach on his back, and you can then attach the drill pieces to the end of them to replicate a jet pack.
It doesn't actually look half bad, considering the drill pieces isn't very fiery like.
Alternatively, he can hold the rockets as handheld weapons, but this is a bit more of a stretch in comparison.
The individual drill pieces can attach to his wrists, but they weren't designed to be handled separately, so the angle is weird and doesn't quite work.
The drill pieces and the ports in his wrist were angled in such a way so that the drill halves can combine into one, and it works wonderfully here.
That's about it, since the toy is more about articulation and the flexibility of the accessories. It's a good robot mode, hampered only by the small size.
OVERALL:
Bumblebee has the potential to be a great update but is let down in a few areas. His small size is inexcusable, no matter how much the line wants to adhere to scale, it's just not good value for money. The updated transformation also feels a lot more generic and boring.
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