Bot Reviews: Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy Deluxe Bumblebee

When it comes to exposure and merchandising, Bumblebee’s gone through his share of highs and lows. Bumblebee may have been the Transformers franchise’s first kid-appeal character, but thanks to copyright problems around his name, he was missing from Transformers itself throughout most of the 90s and early 2000s. It’s hard to imagine now, but when he started getting new figures in 2006 during the leadup to the first new movie, his return was seen as a novelty. In fact, after the film, his 2007 Movie Deluxe Concept Camaro figure was sought after to the point of being scalped heavily and priced crazily on the aftermarket (I know, I was there).

But then, as often happens when a company realizes people like a thing, HasTak went too hard in the other direction, and by the time of 2011’s Dark of the Moon, people were sick of the guy, largely thanks to waves upon waves of marginally-different figures in every single toyline.

Since then, we’ve settled into a bit of a more comfortable level. Bumblebee still shows up in most Transformers media and toylines, but he’s a bit less omnipresent. Now, it’s 2021, and people are once again actually clamoring for a Bumblebee toy, for slightly different reasons.

It’s hard to believe, but there actually hasn’t been a plain-jane G1 Bumblebee in the Generations line since Titans Return in 2016, with the character mostly limited to showing up in Movie and TV show tie-in lines. So, this new Deluxe release in the War for Cybertron Trilogy line is in demand in that respect. But it’s ALSO in demand because it’s the first time since G1 that there’s been a mainline, non-movie, non-Masterpiece, G1 Bumblebee that’s actually changed into his original VW Bug alternate mode, thanks to Volkswagon typically not wanting to license it out, not to mention the fact that a mainline figure actually getting an officially-licensed alternate mode isn’t really a thing that happens outside of movie lines. On my end, I was personally interested, too, because this figure’s also an extensive retooling of the mold used for Earthrise Cliffjumper, Generations Selects Bug Bite, and most importantly, Generations Selects Hubcap, who was my favorite figure released in 2020.

So, here’s the rub. On top of already being particularly sought-after by collectors, this Bumblebee is rare. Like, really rare. Like, “getting scalped for insane prices online” rare, just like that Camaro in 2007. In this case, it’s that lethal combination of a figure being heavily in demand, but also poorly distributed. In Canada, the Walmart-only War for Cybertron Trilogy toyline tends to barely show up on shelves, and it feels like stores stock each wave once, and then basically never again. Plus, the fact that it’s Walmart-exclusive means you can’t order it off of Hasbro Pulse, or EB Games, or any other reliable distribution channel, so you’re stuck hoping it shows up on local shelves (in the middle of a pandemic, no less!) long enough to grab one before someone else snatches it, or figuring out if you can get it off Walmart’s not-meant-for-toy-buying website. I have enough perspective in life that I’m not going to grouse too hard about toys being hard to find in the middle of everything, but I am going to lament the fact that this guy’s just not going to be accessible to a lot of people, unless he’s somehow given a more wider release. I got lucky, and had an American friend hook me up (apparently he’s a bit more common down there), so I get this chance to take a look on behalf of the toy-buying public.

Robot Mode

I didn’t realize this until I had Bee in person and stood him next to Hubcap, but they made an interesting choice with his primary color: Bumblebee is usually yellow, but for this release, they opted for an extremely orange, almost cheddar-like coloration as his main shade.

It doesn’t look bad at all, and I kind of like the sunset-y hues of it, it’s just a curious decision. Maybe it was a VW mandate (I believe the original Masterpiece was similarly orange-ish, but it’s hard to find a good comparison), or they just wanted to differentiate him from the also-yellow Hubcap. Speaking of Hubcap, while the core body of this figure is the same as him, Bee’s got a new head (naturally), and retooled car parts, meaning his chest, feet, and backpack are all shaped a bit differently. But he still has the same impressively dense feeling in your hand, making up for his small size through engineering and parts count.

And then, speaking of engineering, I’d mentioned that Hubcap resembled a scaled-down version of the older Masterpiece Bumblebee, and this version’s even more directly a downscaling of that figure in terms of general aesthetics, which, considering the larger figure’s a premium collector’s piece, is exceptional to see. Once again, it’s not a 100 percent direct copy, his torso works differently, but all the same things are in the same places, and the legs are an almost-direct swipe.

The new headsculpt is a lovely G1 Bee, and arguably captures the character better than the older MP did, though he’s got a frowny-face instead of a smile (probably because this head is also being used for the evil mercenary Bug Bite.) He also doesn’t have removable faces, but hey, this ain’t a Masterpiece.

On top of his black plastic and yellow paint, he’s got a bit of nice silver on his face, and light blue on his eyes. There’s one missing bit of deco I’m actually thankful for: His shoulders are now unpainted black, fixing a design problem present on all three previous versions: He has transformation tabs on his shoulders that, thanks to the paint on previous copies, would acquire paint chips and wear over time. Not so for this sweet boy, though!

Like Hubcap, Bee’s still incredibly poseable for his size, outdoing the old Masterpiece thanks to wrist swivels, and wild 90-degree ankle tilts, plus big feet for extra stability.

He’s very agile for a little round boy. For an extra tip I didn’t know when I first got Hubcap: You can, by pulling the tooling’s head up and forward a bit, undo his neck joint with a click, lifting it up a tiny amount from his shoulders, and adding some extra up-and-down motion.

One slight tolerance change on my copy is curious: Bee’s below-the-shoulder arm swivels are strangely tight on my copy, requiring a bit of force to move. They seem to be loosening with time, though, so it’s probably some mold flash getting worn away.

For accessories, his backpack is, again, removable for use as a shield. It’s still a bit doofy, but I think it actually works better for Bee than Hubcap, because the VW’s curves mmean it looks almost like a riot shield, to my eyes.

He still looks a bit insubstantial from the back without anything there, though.

He also still has Cliffjumper’s big, deconstructable canon from the show’s pilot miniseries, and it’s almost less suitable for the much friendlier Bumblebee, than the triggerhappy Cliffjumper, the mercenary Bug Bite, and the empty cipher of Hubcap.

It’s still fun though. This version relplaces the grey paint with silver, and actually has slightly better parts-fit. Specifically, the little black bracket pieces fit into its sides way easier.

The fun of it is still taking it apart and assembling the bits in different configurations across his body, and the instructions suggest a few odd configurations that seem unworkable (how am I supposed to attach it to the top of his shoulder?)

But there’s plenty you can do with all the pieces, and it’s, again, satisfying to have a full suite of War for Cybertron accessories for a figure right out of the box.

Of course, you can always set that stuff aside and give him his little pistol from the Centurion Accessory Pack, instead, like I’ve done in a lot of these pictures.

Transformation

There’s some problems here, and they’re all a result of Bumblebee’s retooled car parts. The Hubcap version of the tooling could be a bit challenging when it came to fitting his car’s body shell together, but it was something you could get right after a few tries, and once you lined everything up, it mostly fit like a glove. On Bumblebee, the new car body just doesn’t fit together nearly as well or as tightly, so it’s a struggle to line everything up, and I constantly find myself undoing parts and trying again, and experimenting with a better order of operations. It’s not impossible, and it doesn’t even take very long, but the fun factor is definitely diminished.

There’s a couple more things to watch out for on this version: There’s a pair of long tabs beneath bee’s windshield that were shaped differently on Hubcap, and are now an incredibly tight fit when it comes to settling them into his car mode. I’ve heard reports that they can snap (especially considering they’re painted-over translucent plastic), and so I find myself gingerly squeezing them in when I transform him. Once they’re settled, they feel sturdy enough, but fit them in with caution.

Transforming him back to robot is much easier, but has a couple unique challenges of its own, related to his partsforming back shield: Firstly, it’s now a much tighter fit into his robot fists, so, while it doesn’t feel like it’s going to break, it’s a bit of a struggle to pry it back out for re-mounting on his robot mode back. Secondly, the shield has a little flip-out black tab for the robot’s back, which I had no trouble unfolding on Hubcap, but which absolutely doesn’t want to come out on Bumblebee without a prying tool (or long fingernails)

Vehicle Mode 

I’ve got to admit, even after all of that, seeing Bumblebee change into a fully-licensed VW, in realistic proportions at this scale is still cool. The sculpt is extremely detailed for the size, including small details like the VW logo up front, wipers on the windshield, and a single tiny side-view mirror.

They even found the budget to make his rear windows translucent like the rest of them, something the previous version of the tooling hadn’t managed.

In fact, the lines of the car are basically dead-on to the old Masterpiece Bumblebee, just shrunken down a bit, to the point of even sharing the same transformation seams on the shell.

However, that parts-fit issue rears its head when it comes to those seams, because they’re really gappy, and noticeably break up the alt mode, even after multiple transformations where I made sure everything fit as well as it could. As a result, it’s the kind of alternate mode where every time I pick it up, I find myself squeezing down the roof, or the doors, or the hood, vaguely hoping to close some of those gaps a bit more. They were there on Hubcap, but are noticeably more visible here.

It wouldn’t stick out as much if the Hubcap version of the tooling hadn’t managed to avoid this problem, with all of its seams holding together a lot tighter. Still, it’s a visual problem, and not a stability problem, as Bumblebee still feels solid and holds together just fine in-hand, and looks great next to other recent Generations G1 characters.

Speaking of Hubcap, this mode is where all the new tooling really shines, since every visible part (save for the underside) of Bumblebee is totally new, even, surprisingly, the wheels. Once again, the cheddar-cheese orange is an odd choice, but not an unwelcome one, and makes me feel like I’m looking at a VW as illuminated by an orange sunset.

The car body is still almost totally painted orange, like Hubcap, which brings concerns about scratches and smearing, but my sample seems to have come out okay. In fact, while we’re talking about paint, they really went the extra mile here on the painted details, in a way that reminds me of Chevrolet Aveo Swerve. By that, I mean his windshield wipers, doorknobs, wheel hubcaps, headlights, taillights are all colored in, plus an autobrand on the front, and even a small silver vw logo on the hood. They paid for the license, I guess they wanted to use it. Oh, and for some reason (probably safety), his car’s bumpers are actually semi-flexible rubbery plastic.

For features, firstly, Bee still rolls just fine, but the real interest is in that big disassembling cannon again

Likely thanks to the desire for clean, unbroken lines on their licensed VW form, there’s no longer a peg uptop to mount the fully-formed cannon, but the instructions properly suggest an alternate configuration where you transform the arms, and raise up the car mode’s detachable back chunk, plugging in the cannon to look like it somehow emerged from the car’s interior.

It’s just silly-looking enough to work, and even gives the cannon a bit of up-and-down motion along the joint it’s set up on. One issue that rears its head when doing this, though, is that it’s really difficult to pry the little black peg the cannon fits into out of its recessed spot, and I needed to get some tweezers to get at it.

As with all previous versions of the figure, you can take it apart and apply all of the pieces to his underside, to create Cliffjumper’s water-skiing mode from “Dinobot Island.”

For some reason, on my copy, the central rail underneath him that’s formed from part of his cannon in this ski mode doesn’t fit as well as on Hubcap, and bends upwards when connected to the center of the car’s underside. Still, it works, and looks just as charming.

Overall

While he’s not bad, this version of the tooling’s a bit of a step down from Hubcap. He’s got a great robot mode, and it’s really nice to have a good, accurate G1 Bee to scale with other modern Generations Cartoon-style figures.

On the other hand, his transformation and vehicle mode are a definite downgrade thanks to the poor partsfit on the new tooling, in a way that brings the whole package down. Still, after all that, I’d say he’s worth getting, just be prepared for those frustrating bits.

However, I have to factor in how rare he is. Thanks to a friend, I got him for American retail plus shipping to Canada, and while I like what I’ve got, that price is about where my recommendation tops out. Straight up: Don’t pay scalper markup for this guy, he’s got just enough problems to not be worth any price-gouging. Given how stingy VW is with the license to their iconic car (which is probably why Bug Bite, the famous White Bumblebee, didn’t get to also be a VW), I almost wonder if we won’t see a version of Bumblebee at some point in the future that uses the unaltered version of this tooling, with this figure’s head, and adds some stripes to the car as a Movie/Prime/Cyberverse homage. While that would lose the cool novelty of the VW alternate mode, I think the figure as a whole would come out stronger.

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