Bumblebee (Cyber Commander) [Amazon Exclusive]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Cyber Commander
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Moderately pale yellow, black, and some moderately light milky gray, dull silver, and moderately light flat blue
Rating: 7.6

    Bumblebee's vehicle mode, as you'd expect, is a yellow sportscar-- although it's a pretty big yellow sportscar, considering that the Cyber Commander figures are roughly the size of a "normal" Leader class toy nowadays-- maybe even a little bigger, in terms of plastic mass. As far as proportions go, though, these are pretty darned good for a sportscar (though the rear spoiler is perhaps a bit undersized), and there's BASICALLY no robot extras. My only caveat there is that, due to the transformation, there's just a TINY BIT of gray showing through above the top of the car doors, near the back-- the parts just don't QUITE come together completely there, but that's it. Adding to the toy looking a little "oversized" is the pretty minimal mold detailing on most parts-- though then again, it IS a sportscar, so keeping the mold detailing minimal in this mode makes sense so it looks aerodynamic. There are some fairly good stylized mold details on the front end, with angular headlights and grill. I also love the exhaust pipes on the side, which help differentiate this version of Bumblebee a bit more than his bazillion other versions. There's a couple of minor wedge-like details on the back end, as well, and some minor detailing on the wheels. As for the paint, I especially love the moderately light blue used on the front and side windows (sadly no paint on the rear side and rear windows), as it goes REALLY nicely with the yellow and is just a great shade. There's two black stripes on the front hood to keep Bumblebee a bit more "in sync" with his other contemporary versions. There's also black on the front grill, silver on the upper portion of said front grill, more of that lovely light blue on the lower front headlights (though oddly nothing on the UPPER front headlights), black on the side rims, and some nice dull silver on the exhaust pipes. Unfortunately there's no paint on the rear headlights or anything like that, though at least the plastic breakup back there has gray on the bottom half so it's not completely one color.
    Bumblebee's transformation and robot mode design are fairly closely based on the RID2015 legion Bumblebee figure. The main differences are that the shoulder mechanisms are more complex and require another rotation to get them into place, and the feet rotate down from the opposite site of the lower leg. Both of these changes are positive, as A. The shoulders now aren't so oddly placed in relation to the body and B. Since the feet come from the back of the lower leg, there isn't an obvious cavity in said lower leg from a frontal view. Otherwise, most of my general comments about RID2015 legion 'Bee's robot mode also apply here-- the main body is okay, but doesn't really look like Bumblebee, with the windshield not flat like it usually is and too high on the chest, with an oddly long lower stomach/waist for the guy. There's also a bit of an extra with the rear piece of the car mode sticking out behind his lower body, but it doesn't get in the way of articulation much and is a minor downside. The arms are merely molded on the inside of the sides of the car, but with articulated elbows this doesn't bother me as much as it did on the RID2015 legion figure. The fists are also more 3-D on this toy, as well. The legs overall are remarkably solid-- I really have absolutely no complaints there in terms of looks. Bumblebee's head looks great as far as the silouhette, but his face is off-- he's got some weird kind of angular faceplate, and not one that looks like the faceplate he had on any of his movie toys or anything like that-- it looks like this "faceplate" is actually part of his actual face and angular; it just looks weird. The mold detailing on the robot parts is delightfully more intricate compared to the car mode, with lots of little circuitry and tech details on the body in particular. Unfortunately beyond the silver and blue on the face and eyes, there's no paint apps specific to the robot mode, but other than the arms the colors are still broken up fairly well between the black, yellow, gray, and blue. For articulation, Bumblebee can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), hips (at two points), and slightly back-and-forth at the ankles. I really wish he had knee articulation, but otherwise he's got pretty good articulation for a Cyber Battalion/Commander toy.
    Cyber Commander Bumblebee is a pretty solid design overall, with a near-flawless vehicle mode and a robot mode that has some weaknesses (such as the chest, no knee articulation, and the arms molded onto the inside of the car doors), but is generally still pretty good and improves upon the RID2015 legion toy it borrows the transformation from. At only $20 U.S. on Amazon, this is a solid recommendation for a Bumblebee fan who wants a fairly simple, solid, sturdy toy-- it's a pretty good value.



Bumblebee (Cyber Commander) Bio:
Bumblebee might be small compared to other bots, but he won't back down from any battle.

Review by Beastbot

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