Well, look who rocked up.
I've only really been able to mess with him for a bout an hour so this is more of a first impressions type thing than a serious review.
From my limited time I can say that I like him quite a bit. He's a marked step up from ss01 despite their similarities. As WJ has already pointed out, the engineering is fundamentally very similar. He is going to feel familiar to anyone who has picked up any of the previous Bumblebees from TLK onward.
That being said,he's still great. Everything that I have a problem with on ss01 had been rectified for me. He doesn't look like he's drowning in his own chest any more, and his backpack flattens down so much more cleanly. His build is better too, he feels bulkier but still lean, and not gangling and clunky like his previous Bayverse figures. Nothing falls off him at the slightest breath (hooray) especially not his roof or his right arm, the latter of which is more annoying than the former.
His deco looks fine, but limited. Or at least it looks it. There's actually quite a lot of yellow paint that being thrown around here. The problem is it's yellow, like the rest of him. There's a decent amount of clear plastic here, (which does make me wary) and I wish that maybe the paint and budget that was used painting out those clear sections could have been used somewhere else. The gun as WJ mentioned is unfortunately just all black plastic, and looks a little odd. However, my major deco gripe is with his feet. Why are they black? It just looks like he's wearing loafers.
As an aside, I do prefer the weapon storage and usage here though. The swappable arm is interesting, but at least on my ss01 copy; the arm is a little looser than I'd like, plus storing the gun tends to just limit his backwards leg mobility. It is unfortunate that there isn't really a better way to store the weapon when in alt mode, other than just slapping it on the back bumper and calling it a day, but I guess that's a limitation of the mold.
It is arguably the best Bumblebee that exists outside of Masterpiece. But the idea of being burnt out on this mold is fair and vaild. For me, the jump from 01 to this is large enough that it doesn't bother me, in fact I think this may well be one of the better deluxes in Studio Series as a whole. Jazz takes the crown for best, imo, and I can't decide whether Dropkick ekes out just a little. But he is very solid, and well worth the extra couple £s I paid to get him early.
Pre order is cancelled, I’ll be waiting for a sale or discount. I can’t justify full price for that.
Still gonna get him for my movie bumblebee "timeline" display.
