Cliffbee.com Generations Legends Bumblebee Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Bumblebee
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



CAR MODE
Height: 2.5cm Length: 6.5cm Width: 3.5cm

   A darkish metallic gold hatchback with black tyres and black painted windows, Bumblebee is a hatchback but is distinctly not a VW Beetle due to licensing issues. Despite this, he is a representation of G1 Bumblebee. The headlights are silver while there's a small rubsign on his roof. The colour scheme is a deliberate reference to Goldbug, although this is a much darker shade of gold compared to Goldbug.

   This is a fairly lowriding hatch, Bumblebee is more of a sports car than a functional car (like say, the VW Beetle). It's a decent car mode, at any rate, and has a Classics feel about it. As you'd expect of a Legends car the play value doesn't go beyond the wheels.

   A simple car with a focused paint job which is more detailed than is often the case at this size. I would have liked a shape closer to the original Beetle, but this is close enough to sell the character, so I'm not complaining. The gold really does evoke Goldbug, despite being about as dark as gold can get before becoming brown.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Pull the front down and forward to become his legs, pulling the groin into place. Fold up and split the feet, straighten the legs. Pull the rear fenders out to the sides, fold the rear down behind to form his back - and reveal the face - the fenders will swing down to form arms, swing the arms into place and you're done.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 7.5cm Width: 4.5cm

   A gold robot with blue arms, legs, groin and a blue head. Bumblebee has a silver face with metallic blue eyes while the rubsign is now on his chest. The windshield is on his waist and the grille and headlights on his feet, while the rear window is on his back. While the face is Bumblebee (as he's a repaint of the Universe Legends Bumblebee), the colours and chest are Goldbug. I really wish they'd named this toy as such, despite the face. Granted, the Goldbug toy didn't have this much blue - but most Bumblebee toys (and the Bumblebee character concept) have none.

   It's a nice figure and the Goldbug stylings help set him apart from the slew of Bumblebee toys in recent years. The transformation and layout is Goldbug more than Bumblebee, although with actual legs. The arms sit inside the yellow rear fenders, but this is the only car kibble here, and he sports the front as feet and roof as chest which are hallmarks of the character.

   As you'd expect of this size class, there are no gimmicks here. His poseability is limited but then this robot mode is more about tribute than articulation. His arms swing at the shoulders and his hips are ball jointed. His ankles are hinged but the feet are blocky so there's not a lot of actual poseability in his legs, but it's more than the Minibot (and the Throttlebot!), at least.

   A very displayable Bumblebee robot with very strong shades of his Throttlebot alter-ego - it's a good is somewhat misplaced tribute. He has some updates to the bodyshape compared to the original toy. The poseability is lacking compared to most legends, so he's not as playable as some might like. Still, this is a rewarding robot mode.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of. Takara released this mould in red as Cliffjumper.

OVERALL

   A good Legends toy with a very strong tribute in robot mode and a solid vehicle mode which departs from the VW Beetle a little more than I'd like. The gold and blue look nice - and it should have been called Goldbug. Still, it's close enough for you to repurpose (and is the same character anyway). As a fairly cheap repaint, this one's quite compelling for those who appreciate Goldbug - 7/10

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