Bumblebee
(Quickblade) [Prime]
(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 Prime "Robots in Disguise" legion Bumblebee. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" legion Bumblebee figure here.)
Bumblebee in a "reverse"
colors redeco?! Well, talk about a surprise! Seriously, though, this has
become an annual thing for Bumblebee (in some cases, a more-than-annual
thing), so this redeco's existence is mostly self-explanatory. Most of
this Bumblebee deco has black plastic instead of yellow, with the yellow
instead being relegated to paint on his head, waist, ankles, fromt bumper,
and stripes on his sides. It's not a straight "inverse" deco job of the
original version of this mode, though-- no, for Quickblade Bumblebee, his
stripes are fewer in number, but thicker on each side. I rather like the
angular design of them, coming forward slightly on the sides of his exposed
engine and then abruptly sweeping backwards along the sides-- it looks
pretty neat. The windows on Bumblebee are also all painted this time, and
with a really nice, semi-dark metallic shade of blue, too-- despite it
being somewhat dark, it still contrasts extremely well with the black,
and is just a really attractive color. Unfortunately, the taillights or
anything on the back bumper aren't painted on Quickblade Bumblebee. His
robot mode generally has enough yellow paint apps-- either specific to
the 'bot mode or carried over from the car mode-- to keep things looking
interesting for the most part, though a little bit of paint on the "robot
bits" detailing on the inside of his car door-arms would've been appreciated.
No mold changes have
been made to the core toy of Quickblade Bumblebee, though his weapon is
now the standard "blade weapon" that comes with some other 2012 Prime legion
class toys. As opposed to the normal "Autobot red", however, this one's
in a rather neat shade of translucent green that contrasts EXTREMELY well
with all of Bumblebee's other colors, but the black in particular.
Quickblade Bumblebee
may be a pretty predictable redeco, but that doesn't mean that he's boring.
The reverse black/yellow coloration has nearly always worked for me, and
this time is no exception. The different vehicle mode stripes and different
(and differently-colored) weapon help make this one stand out a bit more
from your typical reverse colors Bumblebee, and overall this is my favorite
color scheme on the various iterations of this mold by a hair. If you want
a little Prime Bumblebee and don't care about show-accurate colors, this
is your 'bot.
Review by Beastbot