(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 warrior Bumblebee toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original RID2015 warrior Bumblebee here.)
Bumblebee's "Clash" toy
is meant to be representative of his appearance after a brief upgrade at
the end of Season 1, where he gets energized silver/light blue armor. The
base plastic colors are more or less the same as the original warrior class
Bumblebee toy, with the black and the light milky gray plastic in
mostly the exact same spots. (The sole exception to this is that the gray
plastic near the upper robot back has been changed to black this time around.)
The yellow plastic is also in the same spots as well, though the plastic
itself is a bit milkier and less flat in terms of the shade. Honestly a
flatter yellow works better given the RID2015 "semi-cartoony" feel, though
this is a really minor change so I can't say I mind it that much. The differences
here are with the paint apps. There's a lot of light sky blue used on Clash
'Bee-- on the chest, eyes, and central headcrest, as well as right below
the knees on the lower legs in robot mode. In vehicle mode, there's some
on the headlights and two stripes on the hood that oddly combine into one
large light blue section right before the front windshield. They should've
kept it as normal stripes, if you ask me. The front and side windows have
been painted black now, though the rear windows still are transparent blue,
along with two stripes on the top of the hood, which is kind of a weird
choice given the other color selections in vehicle mode. Silver has been
added to the lower chest, lower arms, and on most of the lower legs, with
some black on the knees and feet. It makes the robot mode as a whole look
a little better than the original, especially on the legs and chest. That
said, compared to the show, there definitely should be some silver to make
Bumblebee look more "armored up", and his head should be gray/silver as
well.
No mold changes have
been made to this toy, which is a real shame as it makes it look really
inaccurate in robot mode. In the show he gets a full-blown new head design,
extra weapons, and some minor mold detail changes akin to Optimus
Prime's look at the end of Season 1. He also got some nifty Decepticon
Hunter weapons-- but no dice here, he still has his same ol' sword.
"Clash" warrior Bumblebee
might be a buy if you like the added blue and silver on the toy or just
love this mold so much you can't get enough of it, but the lack of mold
detailing to make him actually look in robot mode like he does in the Season
1 finale sort of defeats the purpose of this redeco-- some more silver/gray
really should've been added as well. As a "variant" color scheme it's alright,
but it doesn't represent the design it's supposed to well at all.
Review by Beastbot