Bumblebee's vehicle mode is a Chevrolet Camaro, as you no doubt know by now. So the overall look of the vehicle mode and color scheme should come as no surprise-- you've seen it many times before. It's replicated quite well at this scale, with even small details like the door handles and gas tank nozzle painted silver. There really isn't any single major detail that isn't painted on this figure, which is good considering its price. What's exceptional about this Bumblebee compared to the others is that this one actually has seats inside and a steering wheel (as is pretty much a prerequisite given the Human Alliance gimmick). The little Sam Witwicky figure he comes with fits quite well in his seat, with the peg-hole in his back fitting in snugly on the peg on Bumblebee's seat. (As a side-note, like other Human Alliance human figures, Sam Witwicky is sort of like a mini-G.I. JOE figure, with great articulation at all the relevant points-- though because of his realistic proportions, his small feet mean he doesn't stand up very well by himself. His paint detailing is quite good for such a small figure.) There's no real robot mode extras at all in this mode, with one exception-- the back of the feet stick out somewhat obviously from the rear end of the vehicle, but that's a moderate complaint at best. Overall, a very solid mode.
    Like almost any other Human Alliance toy, Bumblebee's transformation is rather involved and a bit complex, but you get a big payoff with a great robot mode as well. The proportions for the most part are quite well-done and very movie-accurate. The only exceptions to this are the seats on the sides of his arms-- part of the whole Human Alliance gimmick-- and his lower legs. The lower legs are made up of the the rear sides and back panels of his car mode flattened out into more leg-shaped "blocks" than anything else, and as far as design goes is my only real sore spot about this mode. Panels of his front bumper come forward and angle a bit to provide the more movie-accurate "fractured" look of the chest, but unfortunately they're on some kinda spring, as they pop back into their default vehicle position way too easily and are honestly kind of annoying. All of the necessary mold detailing is here, and then some-- Bumblebee's "robot parts" have a ton of little details over them, especially near the midsection. For articulation, Bumblebee's got ya covered-- he can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two points), at the base of his thumb and his three fingers (the latter all as one piece) on his right hand, the wrists (at two points) on his right hand, the waist, hips (at two points), knees (at three points), and ankles. So given his two-pronged rear feet, which gives him a fairly stable stance, you can really get him into some great poses. The panels on his upper legs and the chairs on his lower arms are really the only bits that hinder any sort of movement at all-- the roof, in particular, accordions up quite nicely onto his back. As for gimmicks, Bumblebee's got many, and for the most part they don't really interfere with other aspects of the figure. For one, Sam can peg into holes either on the seats on the back of either of his lower arms or stand on a small platform in an alcove in his back. On his arms, Sam can "man" either a shoulder-mounted twin-cannon assembly that swings over his shoulders or just sorta sit on Bumblebee's lower right arm, which is in a perma-convert to his cannon-arm, which can be stocked with one of two missiles that can be fired out of the spring-loaded launcher in said cannon. (The missiles are stored on the undersides in car mode, by the by.) As for the pedestal in Bumblbeee's back, there's a small extra gun and pod missile launcher that pop out above Bumblebee's head, so one could imagine this is what Sam "mans" back there. In addition, Bumblebee also his battle-mask feature, allowing you to slide down his forehead over his face to give him the "mask" look or leave it up for his more traditional look. When it's down the mask does tend to "stick out" a bit much from the rest of the face, but this is pretty much unavoidable, really.
    Human Alliance Bumblebee, while expensive, is a great, incredibly well-designed figure with a lot of fun features that really don't get in the way of the "essentials" like articulation and proportions. If you want the most "'Bee for your buck", I'd still recommend one of the many deluxe versions of this character, but if you want a good, quintessential version of the character with a lot of features, this will make a great "centerpiece" to any Bumblebee shelf. Highly recommended.

Review by Beastbot

(NOTE: This figure was also re-released for the yellow-box "Autobot Alliance" toyline in fall 2010. The only difference between that later release and this one is that Sam's shirt is white on the yellow-box version.)

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