After Skrapnel/Shrapnel, Bombshell is the next G1 Insecticon to get the Generations Legends class treatment. In insect mode, he looks remarkably accurate to his G1 toy, but more insect-like and less, well, "vehicle-like". He has actual insect legs instead of legs-on-wheels, and his general proportions show a definite thorax and a definite abdomen. The hallmarks of Bombshell's insect mode are still kept intact, though including the large yellow shoulder-"eyes", the long multi-pronged antennae, and having a back half that's honestly a bit too short proportionally for such a bug. The color scheme is also carried over pretty well from his G1 version, but with a bit more "spicing up" and generally a more varied color scheme-- yes, he does have black, yellow, and purple as major colors (but no chrome-- I'm fine with that part, but boo on replacing it with that blah light milky gray plastic. Ah, well, at least it's not a dominant color). The shade of purple is an attractive, milky shade of dark purple, and goes well with the black-- though if those were the only colors, Bombshell would look too dark. Luckily he's got a pretty good number of paint apps, with a yellowish gold on the front section and some nice red vents and detailing on the back half. (The sides of the back half are also painted black, in a sort of "half-attempt" to color that section like his G1 toy-- I like the purple more, though.) The mold detailing is pretty intricate in some parts-- the insect legs, in particular-- but overall it's not QUITE up to the standards of most other Legends figures, with most of the detailing being either the bare essentials or a few extra circuitry lines here and there. A bit of a nice surprise is that Bombshell has two 5mm-compatible handles on the back end of this mode-- given the whole "Combiner Wars" theme, it's not hard to see him being held like a gun in beast mode by a combiner, so that was a completely unneeded but nice little extra touch. For articulation in this mode, Bombshell is rather restricted-- his back two legs on each side can move up and down a little (as one piece), and his antennae can move at one point, but that's it-- I was hoping for a little more, honestly.
    Bombshell's transformation is remarkably simple, even for a Legend-- you basically just unfold his legs, turn them around at the waist, fold out the arms, and then turn back the antennae to reveal his robot head. It's a plus for a quick, simple transformation, but the downside to this is that pretty much all of his details from insect mode are visible in this mode (mostly on his chest and lower legs), so the two modes look a bit too same-ish. (Granted, this is similar to how his G1 toy looks, but I still wanted a bit "more"-- a few unexpected twists and turns, like on Skrapnel.) Thus, my comments on Bombshell's robot mode are a bit sparse in comparison, other than that his proportions are generally solid (and a bit unexpectedly curvy). The 5mm handles look decent enough as "kneecaps", and I like that Bombshell's fists-- while still havimg 5mm compatible holes in them for holding weapons-- have little cannons on the front of said fists, giving him some (imaginary) firepower. His headsculpt is pretty spot-on, with some evil beady litle red eyes and a knight-like faceplate, though I wish his antennae had a more elegant manner of folding behind his upper back or something. For articulation, Bombshell can move at the shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, and knees (slightly restricted because of the pegs on the front and the insect legs interfering a bit with backwards articulation). I wish his head could move, but at this scale I suppose that's not really reasonable, given his transformation. Most of these joints are ball joints, so he can pull off some nice poses, and given the size of his feet and the insect leg "heels" behind them, he's pretty stable as well.
    Combiner Wars Bombshell's a great little simple toy and a nice update of the G1 character, with a good number of paint apps-- it's only because of how excellent and detailed his predecessor Skrapnel was that I am, in some cases, disappointed in him (particularly in terms of the relatively simplistic mold detailing and transformation, relatively tiny insect legs, and really bulky lower legs). He's still a recommended purchase, and a great addition to your Decepticon army-- I just wish he fit in better stylistically with Skrapnel.

Review by Beastbot

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