The Energon Pub

So far in these early-bird reviews for Seibertron.com, I've never had to take one for the team. Alternity Convoy, Megatron, DL Ravage...all of them great. But needless to say I was pretty worried about this figure.

As soon as I picked him up I was impressed by how small he is. And not in the most positive way. His car mode is small, around the size of RiD's X-Brawn. On the other hand, he is also cheaper than Convoy or Megatron, being closer to 3,200 yen than 4,000, though this may just be a quirk of the particular shop I bought it from. Unfortunately for importers, I don't know if this small discount is being passed along.

His box and instructions are the same palpable classiness seen in the other Alternitys. Nothing special to report.

His car mode, though small is...well...perfectly formed. Due to his light colour his transformation seams are slightly more visible than on Convoy or Megatron. Apart from that though, he's great. The distinctive Suzuki "S" is clearly visible on his grill and boot, and his headlights and side mirrors are very nicely detailed. All four doors open and reveal an interior that's pretty realistic, although there's a jointed beam reaching from the gearstick up to the roof as part of the transformation. His bonnet opens to show a small Suzuki detailed engine, and his boot opens, although opening it too far reveals Bee's face staring up at you. Thankfully his paint colour is consistant throughout, which is rare for a yellow TF.

The transformation is not too hard, although it involves my least favourite thing: pulling on a section with so much force that you're worried it'll snap in half. Essentially his front grille splits in two and his legs unfold from there. His arms are hidden behind the rear tyres and his boot and rear doors end up as back kibble. His head and legs slide down through his body like Universe Silverbolt while his windscreen and bonnet slide up into the car interior.

His robot mode...ah, his robot mode. I'll get straight to the nitty-gritty: his chest/belly. It looks bad. In person, it looks bad. Unless I'm mis-transforming him his chest juts out from under his armpits like a shelf. It's too wide, it's too sticky-out. It's impossible to defend, even if I'm feeling generous.

One thing I can defend is his back kibble. It doesn't look bad unless you're fundamentally opposed to kible. In fact, it looks a little like the Wave Crusher jetpack. Sadly, it limits his arm articulation, which is not that strong anyway. His shoulder pads are interestingly-shaped, with brakelights on the tips. His arms are pretty thin, and pose strangely. His legs are a little skinny, but well articulated. His feet are fairly movie-esque, being split up rather than blocky, with jutting heels.

This robot is not without merits. His headsculpt is really nice, looking thouroughly detailed without looking too cluttered or spoiling the G1 simplicity. His expression is neutral or determined. His light-piping is really subtle; I had to shield his head with my hand to see it. Charmingly, his horns need to be pulled out to the sides. I can't even explain why I like this, but I do. The other features I like most are his pistols. They fit onto the inside of his knees during car mode and if he's not holding them. The pistols are really small, like, barely bigger than his fists. This might annoy some fans but I have a soft spot for Transformers with little pistols rather than honking great cannons. Besides, they suit a stealthy scout type like Bumblebee or a tough-talking midget like Cliffjumper. Besides, I'm sure one of the third parties will make a foldable bazooka that can be stowed on the backseat.

The final verdict: This figure is not as huge a disaster as some (including me) feared. His car mode is great and his robot mode is passable. That said, I can't recommend him to importers. Unless you're a big Bumble/Cliff fan, you desperately want him for your Masterpiece/Alternator forces or to complete an Alternity collection, or he becomes way cheaper, he's not worth the outlay.

As usual, any particular questions or picture requests are welcomed.

EDIT: Oh, and his head is at the same height as Alternity Convoy's head. Ouch.

Diem, nice one..
Any comparison photos with any popular TF toys? Thanks

Done:

With Alternity Convoy:


Pistol close up (sorry about the quality):


Car mode, with Henkei Red Alert:


By the by, his mirrors are painted silver rather than chromed. Booo.

Okay, why are some people okay with using "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime", but use "Bumblebee" instead of "Bumble"? Isn't that a bit inconsistant?

Nice review, BTW.

Sabrblade wrote:Okay, why are some people okay with using "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime", but use "Bumblebee" instead of "Bumble"? Isn't that a bit inconsistant?

Haha thats what I do too.. Convoy sounds cool and everyone knows its Japanese's OP name.. Bumble is well.. lackluster, it needs the bee at the back to sound cool.. at least that works for me..

Sabrblade wrote:Okay, why are some people okay with using "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime", but use "Bumblebee" instead of "Bumble"? Isn't that a bit inconsistant?

Nice review, BTW.

Yeah, everyone know convoy = optimus prime.
But i guess no one refer BB as bumble or Cliffjumper as Cliff.... Sound retarded, although I know it is an official name for this case...

Sabrblade wrote:Okay, why are some people okay with using "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime", but use "Bumblebee" instead of "Bumble"? Isn't that a bit inconsistant?

Nice review, BTW.

Maybe because Bumble sounds sufficiently similar to Bumblebee that it makes no difference? Or becasue everyone knew that OP was called Convoy in Japan but almost no-one knew Bumblebee's J-name?

I'm pretty consistent in my own pointless way: I use the Japanese name for Japanese toys and Japan-only characters and English names for everything else. So for example: "Bumble's tiny pistols are appropriate for a sneaky scout like Bumblebee".

Newsed! Hooray!

NB: I had slightly mistransformed him first time round. His bonnet/windscreen section is directly but oppositely linked to the pillar attaching his head to his legs. It turns out his chest actually goes slightly higher so it's level with his shoulders rather than under his armpits. Not a huge difference, but slightly better.
I changed him from robot to car but didn't push his head/leg column all the way. When I tried to change him back to robot, the whole thing got jammed, so I had to push his legs in before I could pull them out. Forget what I said about easy transformation.

Oh, and as a side note, he can't hold Alternity Megatron's swords. Fail.

Okay, I'm gonna head to bed now, though I'll answer any questions or photo requests in the morning.

As a final note, I was looking at his instructions: as well as a text story called "The World Is Flat" which I'm too tired to translate, there are a couple of interesting points: his pistols are described in the Power Plans as "Chrono-venom Stinger Guns" (um...what?) and his Function is listed as..."Trickster". That's...that's pretty cool.

I'd be curious to find out more about the price...if it was just the store, a sale, or this one really is cheaper at retail. If the latter, pretty lame that the online stores don't pass those savings along.

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Okay, why are some people okay with using "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime", but use "Bumblebee" instead of "Bumble"? Isn't that a bit inconsistant?

Nice review, BTW.

Maybe because Bumble sounds sufficiently similar to Bumblebee that it makes no difference? Or becasue everyone knew that OP was called Convoy in Japan but almost no-one knew Bumblebee's J-name?

I'm pretty consistent in my own pointless way: I use the Japanese name for Japanese toys and Japan-only characters and English names for everything else. So for example: "Bumble's tiny pistols are appropriate for a sneaky scout like Bumblebee".

Newsed! Hooray!

NB: I had slightly mistransformed him first time round. His bonnet/windscreen section is directly but oppositely linked to the pillar attaching his head to his legs. It turns out his chest actually goes slightly higher so it's level with his shoulders rather than under his armpits. Not a huge difference, but slightly better.
I changed him from robot to car but didn't push his head/leg column all the way. When I tried to change him back to robot, the whole thing got jammed, so I had to push his legs in before I could pull them out. Forget what I said about easy transformation.

Oh, and as a side note, he can't hold Alternity Megatron's swords. Fail.

um . . . why does bumblebee need swords ?

Thanks for the review, Diem!

Your review gave me the info I needed to finalize my decision to purchase Alternity Bumble and perhaps Cliff.

How well does the figure pose? What would your rough estimate be for the die cast content when you compare Bumble to the hefty Convoy and less hefty Megatron figures?

Hmm, my main criticism is that Bumble is the same height as Convoy in bot mode. I was hoping it would have been a bit shorter.

The bot mode issues(mainly torso) are forgivable for me because this Alternity figure's design isn't so far removed from what I'm used to(G1 Bumblebee). I love Alternity Convoy and Megatron but it's because of the designs of the toys as figures. I'm not a big fan of the characters turning into cars(though I think the fiction of Alternity explains it well with the Auto-Avatar concept).

I'm someone who isn't a fan of the live action movie design of Bumblebee. I love the HA figure but, like with Alternity Convoy and Megatron, it's because the toy is designed so well that I can overcome my ambivalence towards the character design(HA BB is the only movie BB figure I own and plan to own). Aside from Classics Bumblebee, Alternity Bumble is the only other recently produced figure that hits my nostalgia for the G1 design. As mentioned by others in previous threads, Alternity Bumble is probably the closest thing we'll see to a Masterpiece Bumblebee/Bumble for some time.

I don't know...I think that a lot of people are really giving Bumble's proportions more flak than it deserves when you consider that Alternity Convoy and Megatron have similar issues with quirky proportions:

a) Convoy's lower legs are basically boxes while Megatron has almost ballerina-like feet in comparison to the rest of its body.

b) They both have pretty horrendous back kibble with basically the hood of the alt mode hanging off the back.

c) Their head sculpts are visually compromised by having the engine block stuck to the back of their skulls.

d) Convoy's upper arms/shoulders are visually compromised due to the alignment of the door wings and the panels that serve as the upper arms.

e) Megatron's lower legs have a dodgy configuration due to how the rear tires peg simply onto the sides of the legs and stick out obtrusively.

f) Both figures basically have the front portion of the car sticking out of their chests.

When you look at the bot mode details of all three Alternity figures, it's a matter of six of one and half a dozen of the other. Convoy and Megatron may look better to most people but it's not as if Bumble's design came out of left field. It's par for the course so far with respect to the Alternity bot mode design sensibilities and at least, for the G1 fans out there, it's a figure with quite a few visual nods to the original character design. Also, it's something different than Convoy and Megatron, which both are fairly similar in terms of their bot mode anatomy.

Cliff's unique head sculpt is another bonus too. We aren't just getting a repaint with this figure's variations. I'll take the little victories where I can find them.

Kibble wrote:I'd be curious to find out more about the price...if it was just the store, a sale, or this one really is cheaper at retail. If the latter, pretty lame that the online stores don't pass those savings along.

In singapore, the retail price for bee and cliffy indeed is cheaper than convoy or megatron....

cannonfodder4000 wrote:um . . . why does bumblebee need swords ?

Because all TFs need swords, DUH!


Diem, you said his arm articulation is not that strong, Can you expand on this please?

Thanks for the review Diem!

I still say that it looks like he's wearing a big, yellow nappy/diaper. Or maybe it's a loincloth...

Thanks for the review Diem, great work! Maybe could you take some more angles of the bot mode? I want to see how it looks with a regular camera as opposed to the previous gallery we saw.

Diem wrote:NB: I had slightly mistransformed him first time round. His bonnet/windscreen section is directly but oppositely linked to the pillar attaching his head to his legs. It turns out his chest actually goes slightly higher so it's level with his shoulders rather than under his armpits. Not a huge difference, but slightly better.
I changed him from robot to car but didn't push his head/leg column all the way. When I tried to change him back to robot, the whole thing got jammed, so I had to push his legs in before I could pull them out. Forget what I said about easy transformation.

Suprisingly, he almost looks better to me the way you transformed him first. But yeah, due to the size and other issues (don't like the codpiece either), I won't be picking this guy up unless I find him on sale. Not the worst BB, but certainly not the first.

Looks like the first video review has shown up on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJeQirRcRso

cannonfodder4000 wrote:
um . . . why does bumblebee need swords ?

He doesn't need swords but the Alternity line's hands are different to all other TFs. I was hoping that even if they can't hold, say, Energon weapons they could hold one another's. But no. The apertures in Megatron's hands are slightly larger than those for the 'bots So all three can hold the pistols (though Megatron holds them a little limply) but only Megsie can hold the swords.

Real Devastator wrote:

Kibble wrote:I'd be curious to find out more about the price...if it was just the store, a sale, or this one really is cheaper at retail. If the latter, pretty lame that the online stores don't pass those savings along.

In singapore, the retail price for bee and cliffy indeed is cheaper than convoy or megatron....

I guess that confirms it. Hmmm.

Mykltron wrote:
Diem, you said his arm articulation is not that strong, Can you expand on this please?

Convotron wrote:How well does the figure pose?

I'll cover these both at once. From top to bottom:

His head is on a full balljoint and unlike Convoy and Megatron he can look upwards at about 45 degrees. Also, his horns can be pulled inwards or outwards. His back kibble "wings" can be pulled back a little like G1 or MP Grimlock, and the doors can open making it look a little more jetpack-ky. The doors on the sides of his chest also open, though I'm not sure this counts as articulation. Like the other Alternities, he uses few ball-joints, instead using pairs of rotational joints. His shoulders can rotate through 360 degrees though his kibble stops them from going all the way back. His shoulders can also pivot back slightly. Inside the shoulders, his arms can fan outwards by about 90degrees. His elbows bend by 90 degrees also, and can fully rotate. He has ball-joints on his wrists, and due to his transformation his wrists can tilt back by 90 degrees into his forearms.

The articulation of his arms isn't too bad but between his shoulders hitting his wings (unless you push his wings back)and his forearm armour colliding with his tyres he lacks range compared to Convoy.

His legs have a ton of articulation. At the hip, they can pivot out until they touch the sides of his chest. They can also swing backwards and forwards on a ratchet joint so stiff that I wasn't even sure it was there. They can swing back by 90 degrees, and forwards until they hit his crotchplate. His knees (which are..um...right below his hips) have three joints which swing forward and back and his kneepads are on another joint. His legs can rotate 360 degrees just below the hips and above the knees. He has more joints at both the top and bottom of his ankles, and his heels and "toes" can be manipulated, a bit like Movie Sideways. Also as part of their transformation his pistols are jointed at the handle, meaning they can tilt up or down a little in his hands.

So yeah, posability wise he has lots of room for crouching, running, and what have you. No complaints there.

Convotron wrote: What would your rough estimate be for the die cast content when you compare Bumble to the hefty Convoy and less hefty Megatron figures?

He doesn't seem to be very die-casty. He feels only slightly heavier than if he were all plastic. I'm no expert but I'd say the die-cast is only in his hips and chassis.

lowman_x wrote:I still say that it looks like he's wearing a big, yellow nappy/diaper. Or maybe it's a loincloth...

Interstingly his Suzuki engine looks like a planned crotchplate but it's covered by the big yellow plate. I wonder if it's an artifact of an earlier design...

kirbenvost wrote: Maybe could you take some more angles of the bot mode? I want to see how it looks with a regular camera as opposed to the previous gallery we saw.

Can do:

Crouching:


Action shot. Shots from above are really unflattering for this figure.


The back kibble in all its glory. I was trying to make it look like he was blowing out the smoke from his pistol but...yeah, Alternity Bumble can put a gun to his own head.


As you can see from the angle of the stuff in the background, he can lean pretty damn far and still balance.

Cool, thanks! Darnit, still chubby as heck.

Hmm...I don't suppose there's any way whatsoever to flip or rotate the car hood/codpiece/loincloth/terribleterriblekibble up into the roof area, is there?

I know, grasping at straws, it wouldn't be like Takara to forget a step in the instructions... at least, I'd expect Hasbro to lead stuff out, but not them.

kirbenvost wrote:Hmm...I don't suppose there's any way whatsoever to flip or rotate the car hood/codpiece/loincloth/terribleterriblekibble up into the roof area, is there?

Only by breaking it off, I'm afraid.

Hmm. I did some searching around, and found this, take a look at the second pic here:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10096614a5/20/5

Seems there is a way to get the hood farther up in there, but it still doesn't help the barrel chest of course.

Or, it could just be a good angle.

It looks like his legs are well proportioned, you just can't see his thighs under his skirt.

kirbenvost wrote:Hmm. I did some searching around, and found this, take a look at the second pic here:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10096614a5/20/5

Seems there is a way to get the hood farther up in there, but it still doesn't help the barrel chest of course.

Or, it could just be a good angle.

Are you talking about the image on the front of the box?

I've tried, but I'm pretty sure the bonnet won't go any further in; the very back of the windscreen is touching the top of the inside of his chest. It's possible that there's something I'm missing: the Suzuki engine has hollows on the back that match up with pegs on his crotch...but to get them to intersect the crotchplate would have to be about a centimetre higher...or his crotch would have to be about a centimetre lower.

Diem wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:Hmm. I did some searching around, and found this, take a look at the second pic here:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10096614a5/20/5

Seems there is a way to get the hood farther up in there, but it still doesn't help the barrel chest of course.

Or, it could just be a good angle.

Are you talking about the image on the front of the box?

I've tried, but I'm pretty sure the bonnet won't go any further in; the very back of the windscreen is touching the top of the inside of his chest. It's possible that there's something I'm missing: the Suzuki engine has hollows on the back that match up with pegs on his crotch...but to get them to intersect the crotchplate would have to be about a centimetre higher...or his crotch would have to be about a centimetre lower.

Sorry, I meant this one:



It kind of looks like the hood is further up than in your pics, but it could just be the angle. Or it was your first set where he was slightly mistransformed.

kirbenvost wrote:

Sorry, I meant this one:



It kind of looks like the hood is further up than in your pics, but it could just be the angle. Or it was your first set where he was slightly mistransformed.[/quote]

I've played around with his transformation a bit now, and the bonnet isn't any further up in that picture than on the figure in front of me. Not sure how well that was reflected in my pictures...

NB: He is WAY yellower than in either my pictures or the one you posted. He's like a cartoon banana.