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.
Review by Beastbot