Review of Transformers Animated Bumblebee
Vehicle Mode
Off all the characters in Transformers Animated, Bumblebee is best served by the animated design; in both car and robot mode he just looks so cute and fun. Spunky, even.
Bumblebee’s vehicle mode is a sporty, black-striped yellow police car. In his vehicle design, Bumblebee has more in common with Classics Bumblebee than his G1 or his Movie representation. Unlike Classics Bumblebee, if you flip animated Bumblebee upside-down, you can see he has no bottom and you can see his face and stingers. As a car, he has elements of silver on the hubcaps and black on the wheels and the stripe, but he is primarily yellow although the yellow of his roof is darker than that of the rest of the car. The front and side windshields are cast in translucent plastic, although the back window is painted on. In addition, Bumblebee’s booster rockets can be attached to either side of his car mode.
Transformation
I found Bumblebee’s transformation slightly confusing. I felt that the instructions did not give a clear indication on how to unfold him and where to twist. Once you have transformed him, however, subsequent transformations becomes incredibly simple.
Robot Mode
In robot mode, Bumblebee has a lot of personality. His face is sculpted with wide eyes and a clear smirk. In addition, the light piping gives his large blue eyes a hint of life when they catch the light. He is articulated at the base of the head (ball-joint) neck (pin joint), shoulders (pint joint attached to ball-joint), bicep (pin joint), elbow (pin joint), waist (peg joint), hips (ball-joint), knees (pint joint), mid-leg (peg joint) and feet/toes (pin joint ending in ball-joints). His articulation affords him a fairly expressive range of motion although it is limited at the shoulders due to the fact that his shoulders are wheel-wells that get in the way. Unlike Prowl, Bumblebee has heels that allow him to stand in a variety of poses.
I wish that the designers could have found a way to give Bumblebee some articulation at the wrist. I know that wrist articulation is not traditionally a staple of Transformers figures, but I think the figure would be even more expressive in its poses if its hands could move in some form.
Accessories / Features
As in the cartoon, Bumblebee comes with stingers that flip out at his wrists to form a shocking weapon. Also, he comes with his boosters that can double as rockets.
I think Bumblebee’s design is one of the best in the show, and it is captured with skill in this figure. More elbow and wrist articulation would be nice, but overall I can only recommend this figure.
Bumblebee: 5/5
