Cliffbee.com Gobot Bumblebee Toy Review

Name: Bumblebee
Series: Generation 2
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Espionage
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



CAR MODE
Height: 2cm Length: 7.5cm Width: 3cm

   Our familiar VW beetle is now a metallic gold sports car with brown painted windows and a black painted engine block. The entire top surface is painted - nowhere except the front and rear bumpers remain the base black plastic. He's got black tyres with chrome gold hubcaps painted on. While all this paint may sound like he's asking for paint chips, mine has no chips and he's 10 years old. This isn't a bad colour scheme, although the gold is a bit dark, and black windows would have worked better than brown for the windows. I suspect both of these are a result of them trying to differentiate him from Highbeam, of which is he a recolour.

   The moulding of the engine block is quite complex, and behind it is a spoiler. You lose some of this detail in the black, but it's still quite noticeable. He has moulded pop-up headlights and circular taillights, all of which contributes to a good level of detail for such an inexpensive toy. He has axles, as all G2 Gobots had (being their major gimmick), and rolls really well. He can use a Hot Wheels style track, being the same scale as Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars.

   In my opinion, this has always been the best Gobot/Spychanger mould. There's yet to be a bad use of it, either. Bumblebee's probably the least interesting, but there's certainly worse Gobots out there. Combine the good mould with a decent paint job and this is a good car mode.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Pretty simple. Pull down the rear to form the legs, fold down the hood to form the chest, pull out the arms.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 7cm Width: 4cm

   The black plastic now dominates - he's got black arms and lower legs (with the outsides of his arms painted gold). His chest is gold, his groin, thighs and head are yellow. This yellow is, unfortunately, a fluorescent yellow. While it's used fairly sparingly, it's not a good plastic colour. Luckily the rest of this mode is quite dark. Anyway, his face is painted red, his gun is yellow. The head is not Bumblebee's, really, being bright yellow with a red face.

   Bumblebee has less visible detail in this mode, since much of the detail is on black or bright yellow parts (the shins and face). The chest, being a car bonnet, is smooth. The detail of his face mould is totally lost in the red paint, and the yellow is so bright it drowns out everything. All you see is yellow (and then blue patches when you close your eyes...)

   The robot mode doesn't have any of the mould flaws that some other Gobot moulds have, it looks pretty sleek and stylish. Poseability is about what you'd expect of a Gobot - his shoulders rotate. It's not great, but for a $4 toy it's enough. The play value's in the car mode, anyway. Bad use of fluorescent yellow really brings this mode down, though.

VARIATIONS

   None as such, but a recolour of Highbeam. This same mould was used for Nightracer, who in fact has the same plastic colours but a different paint job.

OVERALL

   The best of the G2 Gobot moulds, but the worst version of this mould, thanks to that awful yellow. Sure, he's not as bad as Gobot Soundwave, but it's enough to hurt the robot mode. I recommend the mould, but get Highbeam or Crosswise instead - 7/10