(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.)

    It's been happening for a while now; Bumblebee is a popular enough character to need redecos to keep him on shelves, and an easy way to repaint him while still having him keep his basic colors is simply to switch them around. Thus, most of Night Ops Bumblebee- particularly in vehicle mode-- is black (a charcoal, "impure" black, to be precise), with yellow relegated to the front hood stripes and grill. In robot mode, the yellow shows through much more, with quite frankly a ton of yellow paint on his shoulders, lower arms, and chest in a rather neat fashion-- they're basically yellow with black "borders", and painted on in a different manner than the original version's paint apps, and it looks quite good. What looks REALLY good-- and makes the figure pop, especially in vehicle mode-- is the moderately light blue paint, which goes extremely well with both the yellow and the black, and is used on both the headlights and the front and side windows. (Sadly, the rear window is still left unpainted.) There's also some blue on the eyes in robot mode, and silver on the face. There is some moderately light milky gray plastic on the waist, upper legs, tires, and a few other minor parts. Now, I don't think this color is EXCITING by any means, but I don't think it's as boring as the blah lighter milky gray plastic-- this is... acceptable, I guess. I don't like it being on the wheels, though-- having gray wheels on a black vehicle looks a bit odd.
    No mold changes have been made to Night Ops Bumblebee.
    RID2015 3-step Night Ops Bumblebee is an excellent redeco of the character, doing the usual color-reversal but also adding some unique paint apps (particularly in robot mode), and some excellent blue on the windows and headlights. I think, out of various versions of this mold released, this is my favorite that isn't a Toys "R" Us exclusive. A VERY easy recommendation if you want an easy-to-transform 'Bee.
 

Review by Beastbot

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