Bumblebee's vehicle mode-- for the most part-- does fairly well when scaled up to Weaponizer size. The proportions are more or less spot-on for the lower two-thirds or so of this mode, with the raised back bumper being a bit more obvious on this version of Prime Bumblebee when compared to most of his other toys. However, the one exception to this is how little his roof sits above the body of the car-- there's barely room for any actual window there, particularly on the back and sides. Inside the windows, one can also quite blatantly see Bumblebee's shoulders and upper arms-- my main beef with this mode. If this was a legion or even a deluxe toy, I'd be more forgiving, but at this large of a scale? Big robot bits like that need to be better covered up. (Speaking of which, the transparent blue plastic used for Bumblebee's front windows and headlights is a tad too light-- you can see through them to the yellow plastic behind quite easily, so they aren't all that convincing as "glass". The dark blue paint used on Bumblebee's back windows is more in line with the shade of blue I'd want here.) You're likely quite familiar with Bumblebee's color scheme of a moderately dull yellow and black with a fair amount of gray (in this case a gray that's a bit darker of a shade with some glitter mixed in to make it semi-metallic)-- it only has the slightest of variations on this version compared with his more "normal-sized" toys, and you either like it or you don't. What I find odd, however, is that Bumblebee's stripes aren't show-accurate; they aren't thick enough on the front, they don't run from the front to the sides, and his top stripes should be much closer to the sides instead of the center. Given that these new stripes take up roughly the same number of paint apps as the show-accurate stripes would, it's pretty bizarre why these inaccurate stripes were chosen. Bumblebee's front grill also has a fair amount of black, and his rear taillights are painted a light red-- thus, except for the lack of silver on his wheels, he comes out decently enough in the paint app department here. In typical Prime style, his mold detailing is fairly minimal and his proportions slightly stylized, though a few bits like his wheels have a pretty good amount of mold detailing on them. I will say this about the wheels, though-- I'm not one to care too much about clip-on wheels. If that money can be better spent on paint apps or more pieces for articulation/engineering, then by all means use clip-on wheels. That said, the rear wheels have regular black centers and the front have big, really obvious yellow clips in their centers, and the obvious difference here bugs me. Bumblebee has a port on the right side behind his windows for his double-barreled cannon weapon, but the "real" weapon here is hidden. Pressing down on the engine block piece and releasing it causes two rotary cannons to rotate and spin rapidly up from inside his front hood, along with red LED lights that briefly come on to partially illuminate his headlights. It's a pretty cool gimmick, if not particularly mind-blowing.
    Bumblebee's transformation is a bit more complex than his other non-First Edition toys, but it still isn't hard; it just takes a bit more finangling, the arms in particular. Bumblebee's robot mode has some definite pros about it, and some definite cons as well. First, the pros-- this is the most show-accurate you're ever going to get 'Bee's feet to look. There isn't any more shells of the rear of his car mode sticking out of the sides of his feet-- his whole legs and waist are quite accurate proportionally to how they look on his show model. His door wings are also at a slight angle to the rest of his body, making them appear a bit smaller and more show-accurate. His mold detailing is also about 90% spot-on, with his headsculpt looking quite nice with some silver paint (and having nicely-done blue light piping), and all the stylized mechanical bits on his waist, shoulders, and feet quite well-done. However, proportionally Bumblebee is a bit barrel-chested when compared to his show model (almost entirely due to his Weaponizer gimmick, which has his rotary guns rotate out of the top of his chest in this mode when you press forward on the gray tab also on top of his chest). His head and shoulders are also just a tad too small, and his car-roof backpack sticks out from behind him a bit more than I'd like. His lower arms are the worst part of this mode, being overly two-dimensional due to their transformation, having hands that are too small, and also having big taillight paint apps on the sides of them in a very show-inaccurate manner. There had to have been somewhere better they could've put those wheels and back bumper pieces... Also, this mode really could've used a few more paint apps, particularly on the sides of his legs to bring out the fake tire detailing, but also with more detailed paint apps on his waist, where there's just a big black paint app obscuring a lot of the detail in a-- again-- quite show-inaccurate manner. One final downside is that Bumblebee's backpack doesn't click into place all that solidly, and can move about a little as you're playing with him. Bumblebee's articulaton is at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at three points), hips (at two points), and knees (at two points). Thus he's got pretty decent movement, though I wish his ankles had some articulation to keep him a bit steadier, given that he's slightly back-heavy. Bumblebee can hold his two-barreled weapon in either of his fists, or on the sides of either of his lower arms.
    Weaponizer Bumblebee has some definite upsides, like a considerably more proportional, accurate robot mode than his mainline deluxe version, and a nifty "Weaponize" gimmick; however, he also has some definite downsides, with his car mode having some weirdly inaccurate stripes, obvious robot kibble, and odd window/roof proportions, along with just plain bad lower arms in his robot mode. Overall I'd still recommend the First Edition version of him the most. But, if you want a big Bumblebee and/or one that has a cool electronic gimmick, this'll do nicely.

Review by Beastbot

Back to Transformers: Prime Index