Just like with the other two toys in the "Remote-Controlled assortment", Bumblebee's vehicle mode is a bit "chibi", rounded, and "superdeformed", primarily to let the remote-controlled gimmick work its magic. In vehicle mode, this means that the back half is quite exaggerated in height compared to the front, with the rear wheels noticeably larger and the back section sitting higher than the front hood. The roof also doesn't stick up from the car much--only being slightly higher than the raised back end, in fact. The exposed front engine is also a bit exaggerated in size, due to the radio receiver being housed in it. The mold detailing in this mode-- in keeping with the "superdeformed" look-- is fairly minimal in most areas, though a couple of areas-- such as the wheels and front grill--are decently detailed. Most of the paint is devoted to the black stripes across Bumblebee in this mode, which contrast well enough with the orangish "cheese yellow" that's 'Bee's dominant plastic color. You probably know full well by now whether or not this color is pleasing to your eye (I'm largely not a fan of yellow), and this toy isn't different enough in its color shades from most releases of Prime Bumblebee to change your opinion on 'Bee's color scheme one way or the other. That said, the dark metallic blue paint used on the windows is quite a nice-looking shade, and definitely contrasts with the yellow better than a lighter blue would have. However, some big details are definitely missing some paint apps in this mode-- his headlights aren't painted (being the same black as the rest of his front grill), while his rear window and taillights aren't painted at all, either. Considering how big the taillight detailing is in particular, this is a bit of noticeable omission.
    Like all of the other toys in the Remote Control assortment, Bumblebee also comes with a small remote. What's quite unique about this remote is that it can be set on three different frequencies, with a slider on the side to select the one you want to use; the toy also has a corresponding slider on the bottom, allowing you to set it at the "I", "II", or "III" frequency. This allows three different people to control the three different toys in this assortment separately and at the same time! Bumblebee's remote has some cool "armor panel" detailing on it (just like the others' remotes) and is largely a shade of boring milky light gray . The bits of orangish yellow and sky blue on the buttons and the black Autobot symbol near the top of the remote help to obviously pair it with Bumblebee. The remote itself is quite simple, though-- don't expect to get your Bumblebee toy to do anything spectacular. There's a "conversion" button that will have Bumblebee transform from his current mode to his other mode (accomplished by either having the front two-thirds of the toy spread out/collapse together and rotate up or down, depending upon which way you're transforming him). The other button causes the toy to move forward-- no other directions are available, though in actuality Bumblebee moves forward at an ever-so-slight angle, so he'll slowly turn to face another direction. That said, the lack of other directions for him to move is my big beef with this toy's main gimmick. In vehicle mode, because he's got all four wheels on the ground, Bumblebee will move forward fairly steadily, even on some carpet-- however, because he's only on his rear wheels in robot mode, he can get "caught" on carpet a bit easier there.
    Bumblebee's robot mode follows the rest of the subline in terms of having odd robot proportions due to the gimmick. His lower body is a large curvy block with wheels on the sides and two little silver feet on the front. Bumblebee's robot mode detailing is quite accurate to his show model (at least what's there)-- the detailing on his arms (which mostly just consists of his robot fists) is a bit minimal, but his stomach and waist have quite accurate mold and paint detailing on them, and Bumblebee's headsculpt is dead-on, though it's quite obviously missing some black paint. (The silver face and light blue eyes don't provide enough contrast against the yellow plastic by themselves, in my opinion.) A milky grayish brown plastic also makes itself known on many of the interior parts of this mode, which is a decent color, but more black to keep everything more "Bumblebee-ish" would've looked better. Continuing on with his proportions, the chest sits too far forward and is overly fat, and his arms are very two-dimensional, with only their placement and the black-painted fists at the end of said arms making it obvious that they ARE arms. The car roof also sits fairly plainly on Bumblebee's back, though compared to all his other proportional issues this kibble is pretty minor. For articulation (ignoring his remote-controlled movement), he can rotate his upper body to the right (but only right), and you can push back his arms a bit, though they're spring-loaded which means that they pop right back into their default position as soon as you let go of them. All of this odd articulation, though, is for what I think is definitely the coolest part of the toy's gimmick-- the way Bumblebee "walks". Unlike in vehicle mode, Bumblebee doesn't simply roll forward when you press the corresponding button on his remote-- as he's moving forward, his upper body will swish from side-to-side, his arms swinging appropriately, like he's "walking" (even though his lower body stays inert if you don't count his wheels). It's a pretty neat and addictive gimmick that was what edged me into buying this toy (and the others in the assortment).
    Out of the three different toys in the Prime Remote Control assortment, I consider Bumblebee middle-of-the-road. Since he's got a sportscar alt mode, his vehicle mode proportions aren't quite as out-of-whack as Optimus Prime's, but his yellow/black color scheme doesn't look nearly as good as Knock Out's, in my opinion, and Bumblebee also suffers from an obvious lack of paint in places like his face and vehicle mode rear where the other two don't. The gimmick is just as fun here as on the other two toys in the assortment, though.

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Review by Beastbot

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