Bot Reviews: Bumblebee (2018 Movie Version) Trumpeter Model Kit

Longtime readers of my content over on TF Elites will doubtless know how much I enjoyed the Bumblebee movie, which I consider to be the strongest of the live-action Transformers films on multiple levels. And like any collector, this meant that I wanted as many characters from it as I could in plastic form. 

Not counting the Cybertron-set prologue, the film’s got a pretty small robot cast, yet it’s been oddly difficult to find collector-oriented merchandise of the characters, with Transformers: Studio Series (the grab-bag collector’s line of figures from the films) really taking its time to release them all, and with zero apparent interest in doing any of the Cybertron-scene characters, either.

One movie character that Studio Series did release pretty early and widely was a deluxe-class figure of Bumblebee’s VW design from the film, though it had a few issues. I never got around to reviewing it, but to sum it up: I do like the figure better than a lot of fans seem to, and consider it fun, but it’s got a few engineering and design problems, one of which is screen-accuracy. 

See, unlike the rest of the live-action movie Studio Series figures, which were based directly on ILM’s final character models, the Bumblebee movie entries in the line had to work off non-final concept art (as is common with a lot of toys tied to upcoming movies, even outside of Transformers). In Bumblebee’s case, his concept design (which made its way onto a lot of early visual merchandise) gave him wings made of his car doors on his back, whereas they fold down flat in the final film. So, the Studio Series toy has them out, as does a lot of other figures and merchandise of him (even the movie Masterpiece!). Even outside of that, though, the general need of the Studio Series figure to be able to transform into a car at a deluxe scale meant his robot mode wasn’t as screen-accurate as he could be.

So, if you were looking for one that better approximated his movie appearance, you were a bit out of luck. Premium collectible company 3A did a pair of non-transforming action figures, but they’re very big, and very expensive. Meanwhile, the unofficial Third-Party market has been working on several different more-accurate transforming versions of the design, with varying degrees of success, though they’re once again all kind of pricey and out-of-scale with mainline stuff. However, a new challenger has entered the fray, and he’s part of a little side-line that no one’s really talked about (and isn’t even covered on the Transformers Wiki).

Trumpeter is a Chinese model kit company that primarily makes military and rescue vehicle model kits. However, they’ve branched off into Transformers, and have begun a line of action figure model kits based on the Bumblebee movie, with Bee himself as their first release. There’s no plans to release this kit in the west, and I had to import a copy off of Show.Z Store (this isn’t a plug, it’s literally the only place I’ve seen it for sale). But it was all in the name of potentially having relatively cheap access to a screen-accurate Bumblebee figure. Let’s see how he came out.

Building the Kit

I’m not an advanced model builder, but I’ve put together a few Gundams, a few Kamen Riders, and a pair of IDW Transformers characters from Flame Toys. These are all easy kits to do, and this one, at least in terms of steps, was also pretty simple. No paint is required, and while it says no Gundam Clippers are needed either, I brought them along, anyway. 

In terms of what you actually have to do, while this kit is simple to figure out, with clear instructions, actually doing it can be tough, because unlike the previous kits I’ve built, there’s a lot of extremely tight connections on this guy, with some serious squeezing and force required in several places. His shoulder joints in particular were a nightmare to install, requiring a lot of force without really giving you a good grip. I dented my thumbs pretty bad getting them in. At the same time, while it didn’t cause any problems with the final figure, there were a few places where I had to bend and flex plastic in order to install parts that didn’t have clearance until they were in place, which feels a bit like bad engineering. 

There’s only two stickers needed for this kit, a pair of dome-shaped headlights that fit on his chest. Be careful applying them, though, because once they’re on, their unique shape combined with the rims around the headlights means that they’re not coming off again, so you’ll need to be extra careful to get them on straight the first time. On my end, I put one of them on a tiny bit misaligned, then scratched up the headlight rim a bit trying to remove it. And so, for symmetry, I gave him an identical set of scratches on the other one, then just left it.

I’m grousing a lot here, but really, it wasn’t a bad experience, just a bit challenging, and most of the above is there as a warning to other builders. For me, it’s more about the finished product, which is really something else

The Completed Model

Scale-wise, the finished figure is a bit on the small side, when I was expecting something in scale with Studio Series. Bumblebee is larger than a Legend (or Core Class) figure, but smaller than a Deluxe. Here he is compared to Studio Series Bumblebee. 

This kind of puts him out of scale with the mainline, I think, though you can sort of fudge it, especially since he was rather small compared to Shatter and Dropkick onscreen, anyway.

The big, important thing here, though, and something that the comparison with Studio Series Bee makes clear, is how accurate this sculpt is to his screen appearance.

Toe to tip, it’s an extremely accurate replica of Bumblebee’s character model from the film, including details like his more rounded proportions, tiny back wheels, robotic spine, and other features that tend to not translate well into official merchandise. Freed of both the need to transform, and with the benefit of being released a long time after the film, Trumpeter was able to make the most accurate Bumblebee I’ve ever seen that wasn’t one of those giant 3A ones. 

The most important thing about him is how friendly he looks. This version of Bumblebee wasn’t (usually) a threatening warrior. This was a rounded, friendly robot, and the proportions and sculpt communicate that bit of personality really well. I’m really fond of the headsculpt, and how it manages to look wide-eyed and peaceful. 

Something equally impressive about this figure, that took me entirely by surprise, is how well-painted it is. Most model kits of this scale rely on stickers for detail, and if there’s any paint on them at all, it’s the bare minimum to make the figure look complete, with the expectation that the hobbyist building it will paint it themselves. That’s not the case here. This figure is waaaayyy more painted than I expected. They still include a color guide on the box, but I’m not sure why. 

The plastic colors on him are yellow, and shiny silvery grey. In terms of details, he has tons of stuff picked out in silver, yellow, red, and blue, including faction symbols, headlights, lines on both of his head sculpts, and more. My favorite “they went above and beyond for no reason” details are that his doors have painted door handles, and painted brown interiors. That, and the bits of yellow on his grey hands. I guess when you don’t need to budget for transformation or assembly, that money can go to the deco. 

So, remember how I said this was a pain to build with all of its ultra-tight connections? That difficulty came with the payoff of this figure being incredibly sturdy in-hand. With Gundam and Flame Toys kits, there’s an understanding that they’re going to be a bit fragile, prone to parts coming loose or falling off, with the idea that you’ll glue anything that’s particularly pesky. That’s not the case here. Bumblebee is very solid and stable in-hand, with no fragility, and nothing threatening to come loose. The little grey rims above his feet do kind of rattle around loosely, but that seems to be intentional, to let them fall around his feet as you pose him. If anything, some parts of him feel too tight, namely his head, though it seems to have loosened over time. 

Now, onto his articulation. Essentially, he’s got the same poseability as a modern Generations Deluxe, including ankle tilts, knees, hips, a waist, wrist swivels, elbows, shoulders, and a ball jointed head. He’s also got cuts in his thighs and upper arms to make his limbs even more expressive.

And that tight construction on him means there’s no worry about anything popping off. It combines with his expressive sculpt to communicate a really great sense of personality. He can be a warrior, but he can also hang out and be curious. Also, his large, stompy feet means he’s very stable in whatever pose you put him in. 

For accessories, Bumblebee comes with a good amount of option parts. Firstly, he’s got a second head, replicating his masked-up appearance. It’s a bit difficult to remove thanks to the tight balljoint the head is on, compared to the Studio Series figure’s easy to swap mask. On the other hand, having a fully swappable head means this new face gets to replicate details like how Bee’s antenna change shape with the mask on.

I’ll admit, part of me wishes he came with two more heads, replicating his red-eyed berserker look from when he had an Iron Giant moment in the film, but that’s only because this is such a complete-feeling set otherwise. 

Secondly, he’s got swappable hands that change between closed fists and open palms, which are much easier to exchange than the head. One qualm I have here is that I wish the fists had holes in them to let him hold accessories, but that’s me wishing for Generations cross-compatibility the designers never intended him to have. 

Thirdly, he has his weapons, in the form of a gun-arm that replaces one of his hands, and a wrist blade that clips into his other forearm. The gun-arm’s actually one of the few inaccurate things about him, in that it’s overly-long compared to its screen design, where about half of his forearm changes into it, instead of it coming out of his wrist like on the figure. But this was done to make swapping it out easier, so it’s pretty forgivable. Meanwhile, his wrist blade is made of soft plastic, strangely matching western safety standards, and is also much pointier and mean-looking than the Studio Series one. 

His last set of swappable parts are the most interesting ones. When we first saw unpainted grey prototypes of the model kit, it still included the sticking-out doors on his back from the concept art, to my dismay. However, the final kit included his proper screen-accurate folded-back doors. However, it ALSO still includes the concept art doors, too, and you can swap them out, if you like the look, and how it evokes classic Autobot carformers.

It’s a funky choice, and a neat extra. 

His last accessory is a multi-part black figure stand, with an arm that can plug into his backside. It features a swappable Autobot or Decepticon faction symbol, so I suspect other Trumpeter releases will include the same generic stand. One issue I do have with it, though, is that the pegged-together joints that make up the arm aren’t really secure, and have a tendency to come apart when you position and move it around. 

A different, little thing I like about it is there’s seven different connection points for the arm on the stand, giving you more options for where he’s placed on the stand.

The funny thing about it is that he definitely doesn’t need a stand to stay up, since he’s so stable thanks to his giant feet. Still, you can pose him flying through the air if you want.

 

Here’s another benefit of this stand: Most current Transformers Generations figures have pegs in their back, and sometimes the bottom of their vehicle modes if they can fly, that are designed to interact with stands like this.

So if Bumblebee doesn’t need it, you can find a mainline Transformer that can use it, instead. 

Overall 

If you can’t tell, I’m pretty enamored by this kit. It’s tough to build, but at the end of it, you get a really good toy, faithfully replicating a really good design from a really good Transformers movie. They could have sold it pre-built, and I’d have recommended it, and it certainly feels like a proper action figure, and not a typical model kit. They really went above and beyond in terms of sculpting, details, paint, poseability, and features, and if you’re a fan of the character or film, and don’t mind that he doesn’t transform, I highly recommend tracking this guy down. I just wish it was more accessible to people in the west, the way Flame Toys kits get sold at EB Games in Canada, or Borders in the US. The only thing I can really complain about is how undersized he is compared to mainline Studio Series and Generations, but it does fit his character, and does connect to another important thing: This is supposed to be the first of a whole line of Bumblebee Movie Kits from Trumpeter, all in the same scale.

Trumpeter has shown off prototypes for Shatter, Optimus, and Blitzwing, and more excitingly, Soundwave, Shockwave, Ravage, Arcee, Wheeljack and Brawn (have a look at all of the prototypes on Weibo right here). Soundwave’s getting a big 3A figure, but outside of that, none of that latter set of designs have gotten any merchandise before (and the fact that that last batch don’t even have altmodes means there’s a good chance they never will outside of this, unless RED Series decides to do them). Outside of those prototypes, this kit’s packaging (shown above) has also shown off a clear intention to do the entire Autobot lineup, which I welcome, because if they’re all as well-done as this first kit, this is going to be a heck of a line. 

For over 100 Bot, Non-Bot, and Retro Bot Reviews, click here to view my archive.