By Loran
Love him or hate him, ever since he became a big movie start with the 2007 movie, Bumblebee’s back to being a huge part of Transformers lore. It’s a good thing, too, because Hot Shot was starting to get kind of annoying outside of being a meme generator. I was never really the biggest fan of Bumblebee (I had the G2 Hubcap as a kid), but hey, the kids love him, and that’s good for business, even if it does leave us with a slew of pointless redecos and remolds. Being yet another seemingly superfluous subline, Reveal the Shield naturally got a new Bumblebee!
This figure uses the same mold as the 2006 Classics Bumblebee, transforming into a cute little PT Cruiser-looking car. Yes, it’s not a Bug, and no, it doesn’t really matter at all to me. I like this vehicle mode for Bumblebee. It’s cute, quaint, and fitting.
Naturally, the color scheme sets this one apart from his predecessors, but in a different way. Instead of using the paint masks from the 2006 figure, RTS Bumblebee’s color scheme is based on Movie Bumblebee. The photoshopped pre-production pictures didn’t really do it for me; they made him look a bit too orange. In-person, though, it looks much better. The color schemes of most of the earlier versions of the mold didn’t do it for me; the white of the first version looked ugly, and the Henkei version was too bland. I wanted the Legacy of Bumblebee version, but I only saw that one once.
Awww, no license plate? That’s a shame.
Bumblebee’s transformation isn’t too difficult, really-he transforms just like an updated version of the original toy, with a few liberties, of course. I quite like that the seats from his vehicle mode are molded in color instead of being painted-I’ve only transformed my Classics Cliffjumper a handful of times and his are all scratched up…
Let’s face it, this robot mode is ADORABLE. He’s so pudgy and cute-just as Bumblebee should be. The stripes on his chest combined with the rubsign compliment each other pretty nicely, almost making him look like, I dunno, a bee! Yeah! The translucent blue looks fantastic, too. Unfortunately, he suffers from the “door arms” that so many Classics-style figures have. Argh.
Naturally, he’s pretty short for a Deluxe, but would you want it any other way? Yeah, okay, maybe a Scout would be cool, but it works here, and he’s got enough “girth” to make his pricepoint worth it. He’s also pretty poseable for someone with such short stature!
Not much too much to say about the head, really. It’s a great Bumblebee head, and I’d say I like it more than WFC Bumblebee’s head-sometimes, simpler is better. However, I would LOVE to see this figure remolded with the original toy’s head/battle mask.
Unsurprisingly, Bumblebee doesn’t really come with any weapons to speak of, just a little jetski that becomes his backpack/jetpack. A lot of people don’t really like this accessory, but I kinda like it. It gives him a more distinguishing silhouette! One has to wonder why Bumblebee would even want a jetski in the first place… maybe he was driving Spike and Carly to the beach?
This mold has been used 8 times in the past five years-one for Botcon Bug Bite, twice for Cliffjumper, and FIVE TIMES for Bumblebee! This mold has been used more times for Bumblebee than the Classics Seeker mold has been used for Starscream! That said, though, I think this is the best color scheme this mold has gotten for the character, with the United one in a close second. Combined with his current availability and price when compared to the United version, I’d say this is the best Classics-style Bumblebee you can get. Of course, if you’re a diehard Bumblebee fan like my friend Josh, you’d be buying him regardless. Just be warned, though-the mold’s degraded a bit, so some panels don’t fit together as well as they should. But don’t let that stop you. Now don’t go leaving this guy on the FP shelves just because he’s a repaint-he’s more than worth it!
