Price: $35 (CDN) (comes with a DVD w/ Prime episodes on it)
Overall Rating: 8.1

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the original Prime First Edition Bumblebee toy, go here. For a review on the original Prime First Edition Starscream toy, go here.)
 

Bumblebee

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Dull orangish yellow, swirly metallic gunmetal gray, and some black, very light gray, light electric blue, silver, translucent blue, dark metallic gunmetal gray, and red
Individual Rating: 8.2

    Like most Bumblebee redecos these days, Bumblebee retains most of the core colors that he had on his original toy. The main plastic color-- though still yellow-- has been switched out for a "movie-esque" orangish yellow, pretty much the exact shade seen on the NYCC 2011 exclusive Bumblebee toy. However, in contrast, the transparent blue plastic is still the same shade (maybe slightly brigher) on this toy that it was on the original First Edition Bumblebee mold, and the placement of the vehicle paint apps are also the same as on that original release. The most obvious difference is that the front portion of the stripes is now a bright, electric blue, which fades in a pretty cool manner to Bumblebee's usual black stripes about halfway down his sides in vehicle mode. This makes it look like he's souped up on "regular Energon", which is a pretty decent effect for an exclusive repaint. That said, the blue doesn't quite "fit in" with the dull orangish yellow as well as regular black does. The orange on the side of the headlights has also been replaced with more of this electric blue shade. The robot mode-specific paint apps and colors, in contrast, are all identical to his NYCC 2011 version, making this a weird sort of mix of both of the other versions of this mold with bright blue highlights.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Bumblebee.
 

Starscream w/ Leland "Silas" Bishop & MECH Soldier

Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Light brownish gray, dark purple, and some black, moderately light purple, silver, light pale gray, and light pinkish purple
Individual Rating: 8.0

    Starscream, on the other hand, has a fairly substantially different color scheme for this vs. pack. His main color is still gray, but it's more of a brownish gray instead of a bluish gray. Generally, I think this particular shade is just generally duller and not as unique as the original First Edition Starscream's main color, and is more on the blah side. What DOES interest me about Starscream's new scheme are his more secondary colors-- namely, his different shades of purple, which I assume are meant to be him doped up on "Dark Energon" just like Bumblebee has "regular Energon" paint apps. The darker shades reveal themselves a bit more on the wings, arms, and legs of the robot mode, while a much lighter, almost pink shade of the color is used on his cockpit and missile tips. It's an interesting contrast, but the darker purple looks considerably better against the brownish gray; with the pink, you've got a light color next to a light color, and it doesn't look as good as it could've been. There's also a few silver and black paint apps in his robot mode on appropriate places like his knee spikes, head, and shoulders to help round things out a bit more (though I wish some more black paint had been used). They look pretty nice, but I think a few too many paint apps were "saved" for the robot mode at the expense of the vehicle mode-- the main body in particular just looks way too bland in jet mode, being all brownish-gray. The original First Edition mold just seems to have a few more paint apps in general, as well.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Starscream.
    This set also comes with two minifigures-- namely, of the terrorist human organization MECH, consisting of a random MECH trooper and their leader, Silas. Both are detailed quite well (except for Silas' sometimes-wonky eyes)-- both in terms of their mold detailing and their paint apps, which blend the various details together in a nice military-esque deco that is, of course, show-accurate. Their proportions are also pretty good, but, unfortunately, they can't really move, so they're very much just little figurine accessories, and not nearly enough of a draw for someone to consider getting the set just for them. They DO fit in size-wise perfectly with the figurines of the kids, however.

    The "Ultimate Opponents" giftset is mostly recommended for those who either A. are completists or B. can't find both First Edition Starscream AND Bumblebee for a reasonable price, and also like MECH on top of that. Bumblebee's color scheme is alright enough, but too similar to his other color schemes to be much of a draw itself. Starscream has a nice "Skywarp-lite" deco, but all the brownish gray plastic on him is a bit of a turnoff. The MECH figurines are nice little accessories, but little plastic statues and nothing more. If you've already got the original versions of either of the TFs in this set, this is otherwise an easy pass, despite both of them being good molds.

Reviews by Beastbot

*In addition to being a Toys "R" Us exclusive, this set was not released in the U.S.-- only in Canada and in some Asian markets. (Hence why the given price is in Canadian dollars.)

(Pics from Seibertron.com.)

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