Bumblebee
(Sting Racer) [Bumper Battler]
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Bumper Battler Bumblebee. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Bumper Battler Bumblebee here.)
Bumblebee's "Sting Racer"
is probably one of the most pointless Animated repaints ever, particularly
for a mass-release and not some store exclusive half-repaint. Basically
his color scheme is slightly more "electric-y", with his black stripe down
one side instead being replaced with a more jagged electric blue "lightning
stripe". His windows are also a very dark shade of electric blue, and his
yellow has just a tinge of bluish shading to it. He also has more jagged
electric blue lines on his sides, and his stylized "Bumblebee" logo is
now in electric blue as well. I understand they want to keep yellow associated
with Bumblebee, but THIS little of a change? Really? One cool difference
with the robot mode, though, is that his mouth-- which is painted on, not
molded-in-- is in a different kind of smirky expression, which is rather
inventive.
No mold changes have
been made to Sting Racer Bumblebee. However, surprisingly, many of his
electronic sounds have been changed from the previous version. As can be
seen fron the list of sounds below, some are the same, but there are definitely
some different phrases for the Sting Racer variant:
-"Engine revving up" noise
-"Tires screeching" noise
-"Electric blasts" noise
-Slightly different "electric blast" noise
-Grunting noise
-Transforming noise
-"Ow!"
-"Wanna race?"
-Laughing (same as the original Bumper
Battler)
-"I'm Bumblebee."
-"Let's go."
-"There's no 'bot faster."
-"This calls for speed!"
-"Bring it on, Decepticons!"
-"You're going dooooown!"
-"Not the racing stripes!"
Overall, I'd only get
Sting Racer Bumblebee if A. You already like the Bumper Battler concept
and B. The sounds are what do it for you way more than the toy itself.
The toy is barely different, and though I sorta like the "electric" theme,
I think it's a bit too bright with not enough dark contrasting colors.
If you're going to get one version of this mold, make it the original.
Review by Beastbot