(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 RID2015 3-step Bumblebee toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original RID2015 3-step Bumblebee here.)
There's a lot of debate
among fans (well, a little) between the terms "redeco" and "repaint". Technically,
say some, a redeco should refer to a toy where the mold is the same,
but the plastic colors have been changed, while a repaint should
ONLY refer to a toy where the plastic colors are the same, and the only
thing that has been changed is the paint apps. And yes, if you want to
get technical I use the "Because this is a repaint..." bit at the top of
many toy reviews that are redecoes or even remolds, but I don't particularly
care about parsing the language that closely. That said, by ANY definition
of the word, Energon Boost Bumblebee here is a repaint. The core
colors of the plastic are all the same as on the original 3-step Bumblebee.
The yellow is the same shade and in the same places; same with the black
plastic and the moderately light semi-metallic gray plastic. Heck, even
the silver paint apps on the robot abs and face, the red paint apps on
the long headlights on the front, and the black paint apps on the front
and side windows and on Bee's eyebrows are the same. The main and most
obvious change made for Energon Boost Bumblebee is the replacement of most
of the original's black paint with a light sky blue. That is, there's sky
blue on the front hood, car doors, faux window on the robot chest, on the
shoulders, and on the little bit in the center of Bumblebee's forehead.
There's also been some stripes added to the roof for a bit more color change-up.
Overall, the blue gives this version of 'Bee a more unique look, and the
blue and yellow contrast against each fairly well while still both being
light. (Of course, there's still the aforementioned black and gray/silver
to give the toy some darker colors.) One SLIGHT change the existing sky
blue paint apps, when compared with the black, is that on the side doors,
the small angular stripe above the blue paint on the bottom of the doors
is just a bit thicker on this version. It's a minor change, but it looks
a bit better.
No mold changes have
been made to Energon Boost Bumblebee.
The 3-step version of
Energon Boost Bumblebee is a bit of a low-effort repaint-- all of the plastic
colors are the same as on the original, with the only major change being
that most of the black paint apps have been changed to a light blue. Even
(most) of the paint masks are the same. If you have the original 3-step
Bumblebee, there's no reason to get this version unless you're a completist,
but I think the blue pops a bit more on this version and thus would recommend
this slightly more than the original (though not as much as some of the
other versions, like Night Ops).
Review by Beastbot