This figure - the first Studio Series figure, according to their numbering - was actually something of a surprise, because the movie toylines always tended to focus on the latest model of Camaro - frequently concept versions - other than the '67 Camaro that briefly became Bumblebee's disguise in the early part of Age of Extinction. Bumblebee's first appearance in the first live action movie was treated as a joke within the story (Mikaela's question, "Why, if he's supposed to be, like, this super-advanced robot, does he transform back into this piece of crap Camaro?"), so it seemed that the old rust-bucket would never be seen again...
And yet, here we are... At least it's been a couple of years since I last had to write about the live action movies' take on Bumblebee... And it's not as if the original toy was actually any good, so why not, right?
Vehicle Mode:
Two things are immediately apparent when looking at the Studio Series take on the 2007 movie Bumblebee's original disguise. First, this is a clean, unfaded version of movie Bumblebee's original vehicle mode - molded mainly in a somewhat sparkly, bold yellow plastic rather than the washed-out tone of the original toy - so clearly it's representing the character long before the start of the film (unless the rust was part of the disguise he copied from another car). Second... this car is small - it's only 12.5cm (5") long and 4.5cm (1.85") wide versus the original's 14cm by almost 5.5cm wide (5.5" by 2.1"-ish). It may not seem like a huge difference in numbers, but it certainly got a few people up in arms about the reduced size of TransFormers toys versus the increased cost of the Studio Series line.
Still, despite the smaller size, it's a far more detailed and movie-accurate representation of the car with the exception of its cleanliness. The original was good enough for the time, but some of the finer details, like the rivets around the raised part of the bonnet, and the section of grille below the line of the bumper were absent on the original. Even simple things like the clear, colourless windows rather than the metallic blue painted windows of the original, make for a huge improvement in appearance. I was more than a little surprised that the rust is not only absent in paint form, but it's not sculpted in as it was on the original either. On the subject of paintwork, it's somewhat reduced versus the 2007 toy - both bumpers are painted, the headlights and tail lights are painted, but the tail lights no longer have their silver frames. The front grille is painted silver rather than black, and the stripes are very slightly longer, not to mention that a glossy paint has been used here, rather than the weird, easily-scratched matte paint of the older toy. Interestingly, the wheels are metallic grey plastic with the tyres painted black, where the norm would be to mold them in black and paint the hubcaps. Of course, Hasbro has developed a tendency in recent years to go without painting hubcaps, so perhaps this is the better method.
Another noteworthy point is that most of the transformation seams appear to be in slightly more logical postions - the doors are single, complete units (albeit with chunks of the roof and rear windscreen attached, in service of robot mode) and the bonnet isn't broken up into multiple smaller chunks due to an ill-judged spring-loaded Automorph gimmick. That's not to say the seams aren't prominent here - no matter what I do, there's always too much space between the side parts and the roof of the car and, while it'll happily compress down without any resistance, it pops straight up again the moment I remove the pressure.
Since this version of Bumblebee comes with an entirely separate gun forearm, they've added the option of attaching it to the rear of the car via a couple of sockets below the bumper. This accessory is one solid piece, clearly designed to resemble only Bumblebee's transformed forearm gun, so pegging it into the back doesn't seem like the best option. It'll never look like a vehicle accessory, you can't claim it's some sort of turbocharger and, either way, it doesn't resemble anything seen in the movie, except on the end of Bumblebee's arm.
Robot Mode:
Aside from being a bit of a floppy mess in robot mode, the original movie's '76 Camaro Bumblebee toy suffered in two significant ways. First and foremost, it's spring-loaded Automorph gimmick resulted in the bulk of the car's bonnet simply sagging down his chest, with the headlights pushed further down and inward. Secondly, the transformation scheme seemed to be based too firmly on existing - and comparatively simple - TransFormers toys, so it ended up looking not very much like the movie's CGI at all. This new version is an improvement in that most, if not all of the parts are in more or less the right position... Though it's just possible that the chest has gone a little too far in the other direction. The CGI had it laying at a steeper angle - versus this toy, where the top half is similar in overall feel to the Diaclone-derived G1 cars whose bonnets became the robot's chest/shoulder span, albeit with the bonnet here extending backward more than it does forward - but this toy is essentially based on the structure/engineering of the 2017 Camaro version of Bumblebee released as part of The Last Knight's toyline.
More than that, though, this toy actually appears to share a lot of common parts - the feet, much of the legs, the forearms, the central torso section, the hinges for the smaller 'wings' and, of course, the head are identical in terms of their sculpted detail. Of course, this means that this toy, in some respects, is actually less CGI accurate than the 11-year-old '76 Camaro toy, not least in the look of the hips and thighs.
Aside from the aesthetic angle, there's the matter of cost. All the Deluxe class Studio Series toys have been retailing for about £20-£25, which is much the same as The Last Knight's brief run of toys (which also included a shoddy repaint of the Age of Extinction 2014 Camaro Bumblebee, just for good measure). Since this is essentially a reshell of an existing toy, Hasbro must have saved huge amounts of time and money in development and production of this toy... meaning a greater profit margin on its sales.
I mean, it's not as if they really went to town on the paint job. Certainly, it's better than that of the 2017 Camaro Bumblebee from The Last Knight, with additional yellow and black paint on the torso in an attempt to improve its likeness to the older version of Bumblebee despite using the newer parts. The feet, too, have a decent coating of silver paint on the fronts which was entirely lacking on the version from TLK's 'Premier Edition' toy... but the armour panels on his shoulders only have the outer surface painted (the fronts and backs are conspicuously left as plain, metallic grey plastic), none of the black linework has been added to the yellow panels, and there's plenty of tech detail (some of which should have been copper, gold, or dark gunmetal) that has been left as bare metallic grey or black plastic... and the inconsistency of plastic colours is bad enough. Why are the thighs black if the groin and arms are grey?
On the upside, after a little over ten years, they did finally figure out a good way of giving a Deluxe class movie Bumblebee his forearm cannon without sacrificing the hand entirely or just making the accessory ridiculously large in his hands. It comes here packaged as an entirely separate right forearm, which can be swapped with the standard forarm via a peg just below the elbow. Whichever one is not in use can then peg into the socket on his backside, though neither fit especially well and both will clash with his hips, his waist and/or his backpack to varying degrees. It doesn't help that the elbow joint on mine is especially weak, but the forearms themselves are fairly effective and well-detailed. It does seem a little strange than the gun forearm is features extensive silver paint as well as the yellow armour panel, when the only silver other on Bumblebee's body is on his feet... but then, it was molded in yellow plastic so I guess their options were a little limited...
The head sculpt, while seeming comparatively small, is easily one of the best in the movie line. The Deluxe class movie toys all started out with horrific and inaccurate head sculpts due to being based on early concept art, but they have improved in leaps and bounds with each new toyline. All the necessary detail has been crammed in here, and the overall shape of the head is nigh on perfect... it just seems so small, making him appear hunched due to his massive, squared-off shoulder span. The face is painted entirely silver, with the eyes picked out in the usual cyan, and he does feature a tiny Autobot insignia on his central crest... but there's none of the black/metallic detail work on the helmet - such as the blunt 'horns' sticking up on top of his head - and the back of the head is bare yellow plastic, despite featuring all the expected tech detailing. There's also a set of three arrows/chevrons on the top of his central crest, which appears to be a new feature. I never quite liked movie Bumblebee's face, but it's nice to see it done right... If only they'd squeezed in the battlemask feature as well, this could have been one of the best.
This figure has a bit of a reputation for falling apart during transformation. It's true that the windscreen would benefit by being pinned in place rather than relying on the two tiny plastic nubs on the inside of a seemingly warped clip that attaches to the underside of the bonnet. With care, it's just about possible to transform him without the windscreen and roof flying off, but I have to admit that I've rarely managed it. More frustrating than that, though, is the way the bonnet transforms - having to wedge in between the two headlight sections, or pop out from between them, depending on which way it's going - because it's such a ridiculously tight fit. The transformation of the legs is essentially the same as the version from TLK (which I didn't pick up because it was yet another goddamned Bumblebee in a toyline already saturated with 'em), so it's at least different from the last Deluxe I bought, but there's still something very familiar about all the steps.
For the most part, you get the expected level of articulation out of this incarnation of Bumblebee. I do find that the protrusions from the tops of the shoulders get in the way of some movement because the notches cut out of the car's wings are very square and very close to the shoulder ball joint but, with a bit of thinking, it's generally possible to get the arms arranged how you want them, even if the upper arm isn't in the most natural-looking orientation. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the flimsy construction of the right arm, which is as likely to separate at the elbow joint as it is to simply move, and it's a good thing he's not expected to hold any accessories, because I'm pretty sure the elbow wouldn't be strong enough to support anything held in the hand. Switching out the right forearm is similarly affected by the flimsy joint, as the pressure required to peg the new forearm in can easily pop the elbow apart. The legs benefit by a greater range of ankle movement than most previous figures, though this does come at the sacrifice of a separately-hinged toe. Given the new-style feet offer greater stability, though, this is hardly a problem. The waist articulation is good, and positioned in such a way that it - thankfully - won't accidentally dislodge the car parts folded up into the back... unless, of course, Bumblebee's 'spare' arms is pegged in to his backside.
While this is far better than the '07 movie toy, that's actually a staggeringly low bar to clear. The original toy was clearly rushed through and based on early concept art, ending up looking almost nothing like the CGI character from the movie. With all subsequent figures, it's clear to see that Hasbro's designers settled on a particular transformation pattern for Bumblebee and have simply refined and reworked it over the years. This particular figure is essentially a re-shelling of the latest Camaro version produced for The Last Knight's toyline - the size and proportions are much the same, the transformation of the legs is identical, and even the arm-swap gimmick is the same, albeit applied to the right arm rather than the left. The flimsy joints - in particular that damned windscreen hinge - really harm one's enjoyment of this as a toy but, treated with similar caution to a Third Party figure, it at least displays nicely... Which makes it a bit of a failure as a mainline toy.
I'm definitely more than a little fed up of Bumblebee toys that transform in much the same way, so it's unlikely I'll ever pick up another version of him based on the CGI from the Michael Bay films - I already have nine others, and felt that they reached the pinnacle with the Battle Blade version, about eight years ago. Each one subsequently has been a step backward in one way or another, so this figure - I hope - draws a very firm line under my collection of that portion of the toyline, and I'll have to wait and see how the new VW Beetle toys turn out... Though I'm pretty sure - based on early photos - that I'll get the Deluxe class toy, and possibly the Power Charge version as well...
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