(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 AoE 1-Step Changer Bumblebee toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original AoE 1-Step Changer Bumblebee toy here.)
Bumblebee gets a pretty
similar "redeco" for The Last Knight as Optimus
Prime does, though for 'Bee it makes less sense. The type of Camaro
is now out-of-date, but if you squint his different Camaro alt modes in
most of the movies don't look all that different anyways. No, the reason
is that Bumblebee's robot mode design is very much like his TF1-TF3 robot
modes, and not at all like his more stylized, pointed AoE design. Instead,
Hasbro just hopes you'll ignore that because, hey, it's Bumblebee! You
like Bumblebee, right? Everyone likes Bumblebee! Beep beep boop! Eh, in
all seriousness, the audience the 1-step changer difficulty is aimed at
probably don't care. The shade of yellow used for this version of Bumblebee
is certainly more yellow-ish (though still orangish-yellow) than his AoE
version, where the plastic on the latter was tinted a bit towards the orange
side. Black makes up almost all of the rest of his color scheme-- on the
AoE 1-step changer his windows were at least blue, but here they're black
like almost all of the rest of his paint apps. (At least the rear window
is actually painted this time, as it's often neglected.) Beyond the windows,
there's also glossy black paint on the lower rim of the sides, on the grill,
and on a large portion of his front hood. There's also a bit of black plastic
on his wheels and some small connector pieces. Nearly all of the TLK redecoes
of AoE toys have less paint than their originals, and Bumblebee isn't an
exception in this regard, though he's at least close. The paint on his
alt mode is at least used a bit more, though he pays for it in his robot
mode-- there's no paint on his robot mode parts at all, minus the silver
on his face. Not even blue eyes this time. Like the other mass-release
TLK 1-step changers, though, he does have some cool Cyberfire paint apps,
revealed by shining Mega 1-Step Dragonstorm's "fire light bulb" (or a UV
flashlight) on his car hood. Like with most of the others with these paint
apps, it's a flame deco paint app outlining his allegiance symbol.
No mold changes have
been made to this version of Bumblebee.
The TLK mass-release
1-step Bumblebee is an easy pass for all but the biggest Bumblebee completists/fans.
The mold's robot mode is just plain bad (and now inaccurate to boot), and
the color scheme is a bit simpler and not as varied as on the initial AoE
release of this toy. The Cyberfire paint app on the hood is the only thing
really unique about it-- and even among the 3 releases of this mold in
the TLK line, this is the weakest, with the other redecoes being more visually
interesting.
Review by Beastbot