Bumblebee
(Battle Charger)
This is Bumblebee. He's
a Chevrolet Cam-- wait, why am I doing this again? You know what I'm gonna
say about his vehicle mode, for the most part. The dull orange-yellow and
black stripes go together decently enough, even if it's not an outstanding
color scheme, the blue windows provide some nice contrast, as does the
silver against the black, etc. You know the drill by now. Obviously with
a toy aimed at as young of an audience as a Battle Charger, the proportions
are a bit more rounded and "chubby" and the detailing is kept to a minimum
for the most part (though the front bumper is surprisingly well-detailed).
I think it's rather odd how the car is slanted downwards as you go from
the back to the front, though. Not sure what that's all about.
The whole Battle Charger
gimmick has to do with pulling the toy back and letting it go-- it'll travel
forward for a while, and if it bumps into a wall (or if you just press
in on the front bumper), the upper part of the car will rotate around,
revealing the upper half of the robot in question. No electronics though,
sadly. The robot "mode" (i.e., the robot sticking out of the top of the
car mode) is detailed quite wel, with nary a detail missing even from a
complex movie design. In the interest of kid-friendliness, though, the
head and hands are bigger proportionally (or the chest and upper arms smaller
proportionally, take your pick). The head is detailed particularly well,
especially in respect to paint apps, and making one of his hands in its
cannon form-- even if it doesn't actually fire any projectiles-- helps
to shake things up a little. As far as articulation goes, like other Battle
Chargers, due to the transformation Bumblebee can move his lower arms in
a little and his head down a little, but they immediately spring back to
their default position once you let go, sadly.
Battle Charger Bumblebee
is certainly a great choice-- and one of the better Battle Chargers-- if
you're getting it for a little kiddy Bumblebee fan who doesn't care about
articulation or, well... really the bottom half of a robot mode, even.
The kid-friendly design and bump-'n-go action will certainly keep little
ones entertained, but like all Battle Chargers it's clear this is aimed
at the little guys. Any enjoyment we older fans may get out of it is simply
a bonus.
Review by Beastbot