Arcee's vehicle mode-- as it's been in several of her incarnations, now-- is a motorcycle. It's a dark blue motorcycle, as opposed to her usual white/pinkish red color scheme. It's a pretty nifty shade of blue if you really look at it, but it is a bit TOO dark compared to the show model, and could've used a bit more lightening up, particularly since the other main color for Arcee is black. The silver paint apps on parts of her body, tailpipes, and blades help to break up all of this darkness, but the silver isn't QUITE light enough to do it effectively, in my book. Only the transparent blue used for Arcee's windshield is what I would consider a bonafide "light" color, here. When it comes to First Edtion toys, Arcee is probably the one who has the most obvious robot kibble in her motorcycle mode. The overall proportions are quite good (though the "bump" in front of the rider's seat is a bit larger than it should be, which makes the windshield look a tad too low), but the robot arms are somewhat obvious folded up partially behind the blue "shoulder" pieces on each side of the cycle, and her feet are also pretty obvious poking out behind those pieces. Also, if you remove the blade pieces, her lower legs are also pretty obvious, though that's a more minor quibble. This results in a motorcycle that is slightly too wide if looked at from the front/back (more obvious if you note that she doesn't need her kickstand piece to stand up straight here). The mold detailing makes her fit right in with the Prime aesthetic, with some pieces being impressively detailed (such as the interior of her wheels), while most of the armor pieces have a style that alternatively goes between rounded and pointed edges (more of the latter with Arcee in particular). It makes for a rather sleek, dynamic-looking motorcycle mode from a side or diagonal view.
    Unlike most other First Edition figures, Arcee's transformation isn't all that complex, and in fact is only slightly more complicated than her "vanilla" mainline "Robots in Disguise" release. Her arms and legs unfold in a rather straightforward manner, she twists around at the waist, you pull out her head, and move her front tire and most of her windshield behind her back. (However, these pieces don't really fold back all the way, making them the only real obvious pieces of vehicle mode kibble here.) There are some creative little bits, though, such as how her rear wheel splits in half and folds into a gap in her lower legs to give her legs a rather unique look, and I also love how two parts of the windshield split off and flip forward to form her chest. In robot mode, Arcee is bit tall for a deluxe when compared to other Prime toys, which is a bit disconcerting given that she's easily the smallest member of Team Prime-- but hey, I'm not going to complain about getting MORE plastic for a deluxe price point, and she looks just fine by herself. Her main body and head are very well-detailed, with a great amount of color variety (especially around her stomach), and the metallic pale pink on her head crests and parts of her lower legs helps add another contrast color to the mix, though I would've preferred if it had been a little lighter for better contrast and show accuracy. Her pointed stiletto heels look nice and help with her characterization and look, and I'm also a fan of how her upper legs have small see-through holes in them, while her upper arms are nearly pipe-cleaner-thin-- this helps make it look like she's really stretching out her mass in robot mode, which is certainly true in the show (they take it almost past the point of believability in her mass-shifting, there). However, other than that particular characterization, I'm not a huge fan of the large shoulder plates that hang off her upper arms-- they aren't accurate to the show at all, and don't have any paint detailing on them, meaning that Arcee's arms definitely lack some color variety. However, she can attach her blade weapons to the underside of her lower arms just like in the show, and they make for great melee weapons. Although Arcee's head is molded so that her eyes can use light piping, it actually doesn't work that well for her, unfortunately. For articulation, Arcee can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), back-and-forth at the wrists, and she can also move at the waist, hips (at two points), and knees. Thus, her lower legs aren't the most articulate, but pretty much everything else is, and since she's well-balanced this means she can pull off a pretty good number of poses.
    Whether I would recommend First Edition Arcee over the mainlne "Robots in Disguise" release depends on what you think matters more for her. If two blade-weapons matter, a more show-accurate chest, and show-accuracy and looks in robot mode matter, than this is the version of Arcee that you want. However, if a more accurate vehicle mode and show-accurate color scheme is what you want, the "Robots in Disguise" release is for you. Overall I like this version SLIGHTLY more, but not enough to just recommend that it be the Prime Arcee purchase for everyone.

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Review by Beastbot

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