Bumblebee's again a small yellow car, although again he's not a VW-like bug, and in a nod to the more recent movie look for him, he's a got a black stripe down one side of his vehicle mode (though not two symmetrical stripes, which I think is rather odd). Out of all of the vehicle modes in Animated, Bumblebee has one of the most exaggerated-- it's very chibi-esque, and more curved and "kiddy" than even most of the other Animated toys. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it fits Bumblebee's character, but if you shy away from those words completely, Bumblebee may not be the toy for you. In keeping with the other "core five" Autobots on the TV show, Bumblebee has a bit of an emergency vehicle bent, with a small red police siren in the middle of his black stripe. His windows are translucent, but more yellow plastic is just on the other side of those windows, so you can't see any of his robot bits inside, thank goodness. In fact, there's no robot mode extras whatsoever in this mode. There is, however, one major complaint I have about this mode (and indeed, the toy), and that's the particular shade of yellow plastic they used. It's very... cheap-looking. I hate to say that about a Transformer, but it really does look really "off", and not a solid matte color like on most of the other Animated toys. It also doesn't quite match the yellow that's painted on the translucent blue pieces of plastic, which makes his vehicle mode looks a bit mis-matched as well. In addition, though he has the "necessary" amount of paint detailing, he could still use a little more, particularly on the sides of this mode, to liven it up a bit, as there's very little mold detailing, even for an Animated toy. Another odd choice is that the front headlights are painted, but using a very pale yellowish white color that makes it look like it isn't even painted from most angles. Still, on the positive side, Bumblebee does have some really neat booster rocket attachments (which he uses in a few episodes in the show), which you can attach near the rear of this mode (and leave attached during transformation!), or you can take them off and put them aside if you don't like them.
    In robot mode, Bumblebee certainly manages to capture the energetic, smart-alecky personality he has in the TV show-- his face retains the classic "horns" that Bumblebee's almost always had, but with a much more youthful look and a smirk on his face. He also has a rather interesting transformation that's more complicated than it looks-- the "car hood" on his chest is in fact a fake one, with his real car hood in pieces on his upper back (which also hold the jet boosters in this mode as well), and behind his lower legs. Proportionally he fits right in amongst the Animated toys, though his head is a tad big even for Animated. He's got a thin waist and upper legs with painted black "line" detailing, which really should've been used more on the toy, as he still is lacking a bit in paint details in this mode, although not to the extent that he is in vehicle mode. Most of the car parts either meld with his overall look in this mode (such as the wheels on his shoulders and the small car pieces on his upper back), but there are a few rather kibbly parts-- namely, his front hood parts on the back of his lower legs. They do stick out a bit noticeably (and are also noticeably nowhere to be seen on the show model), and are probably the most unsightly part of this mode. His feet are also made from the front bumper, but turned upwards, so they're rather elongated and large, even when compared to the show model. As far as his articulation goes, it's fair-- he can move at the neck (at two places), shoulders (at two places), elbows (at two places), hips, and knees. He can bend upwards or downwards at the stomach due to the transformation however, which is a cool bit, and his waist can rotate, though not a full 360 in his usual robot mode position. He has no lateral elbow movement, though, which is a bit of a downer, so his arms are a bit stiff. Speaking of his arms, his lower arms contain his main gimmick in this mode-- you can flip in the hands and flip out "stinger" halves, which can be combined together (shown above) to form his primary weapon in the show. However, this mold has a slight defect in that the stinger halves don't fold into the lower arms quite as far as they're supposed to. It's not a huge deal-- it doesn't hinder his transformation or anything-- but they do stick out a bit.
    Animated Bumblebee is a decent enough toy, though it does have some problems, such as the kibble on the robot feet, the cheap-looking yellow plastic, and a lack of detailing (particularly mold detailing). The mold does have a ton of personality, though, and the transformation is quite brilliant overall. If you only want to get one version of this mold, I'd get the Elite Guard repaint instead as I think the color scheme for that one is much better, but if you're going for show accuracy at the deluxe price point obviously this is your 'bot.

Review by Beastbot

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