Bumblebee (1-Step Turbo Changer) [The Last Knight]
Vehicle ModeCyberfire Paint AppsRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Orangish "cheesy" yellow, black, glossy black, and some silver
Rating: 5.0

(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 The type of Camaro is now out-of-date, but if you squint his different Camaro alt modes in most of the movies don't look all that different anyways.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

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