Sentinel_Primal wrote:I will say though: I'm 99% convinced after handling him that he was designed for Siege. He's not as greebled, but I'm convinced that HasTak were so confident that Wheeljack and Spinister were going to win the poll and decided to also draw up a Bumblebee to go with Wheeljack before realizing that Impactor and Mirage were going to win. And my theory is kind of supported by Wheeljack and Bee being in the Netflix show and being bigger roles, despite not showing up in plastic till Earthrise (and in Bee's case, the Netflix line). I've got no evidence other than that though, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised since I still think POTP was similar where HasTak thought Star Saber would win and went with the evolution gimmick so he'd fit in, only for Primal to win.
If he had literally been designed for Siege, they could have used his assets in the cartoon. Maybe it just took them that long to get him right.
I've never understood the instinct to try figure out how figures are created and how that affects their release, as in Earthrise vs. Netflix and Kingdom versus SS86. I've always seen this branding as being a product of marketing at least as much as a driver of design. I mean, look at Buzzworthy Bumblebee itself, which is a mashup of G1 Generations, SS, Cyberverse, and other new molds and reissues. I'm not saying Origin wasn't a holdover, just that I have no idea how you would prove it or what difference it would make.