When a cartoon marketed for kids is about giant warring robots from space, it’s important to have an element, most effectively a character, that will serve as a tether and emotional stepping stone for the young audience to latch on to and to serve in the capacity of a guide to help make sense of the world in which the cartoon’s narrative exists. In the case of The Transformers, that character was Bumblebee. He was frequently paired-up with the human characters, he was the smallest and most vulnerable (two very humanizing elements for the character), and he served as an example of the importance of striving to make a meaningful contribution to a cause regardless of physical shortcomings. As a result, Bumblebee often topped the list of favorite Transformers characters from the cartoon among the kids at school in 1984, and that foundational relatability has helped the character remain relevant 30 years later.
Given the importance of the character from the G1 years, the inevitable Masterpiece figure was bound to be saddled with a great many expectations since, for many, this was the character the entire Transformers universe revolved around, so Takara really needed to knock this one out of the park in order to satisfy the character’s legion of fans.
So did they succeed?
ibentmyman-thing, Disthunder, and I are here to weigh in with our thoughts, so let’s find out!
But first, packaged pics courtesy of ibentmyman-thing:
ibentmyman-thing:
I’ve never had a “good” Bumblebee. I had the first Bumblebee more years ago than I care to think about, and that’s the last one I had. Despite the Bumblebee figures that have come since, either official or third party, either movie styled or quasi-G1 styled, a new Bumblebee never made it into my collection. Some looked good, but there was something… off about them. So I waited. Masterpiece would do him eventually, I thought. I’ll wait.
So I waited. And I was rewarded.
As I’ve said elsewhere, I expect a Masterpiece Transformer to be a great composite of the best of all worlds of each character. I want the original toy to be given proper respect while benefiting from all the updated engineering, I want some streamlining from the toy and comic to smooth out some of the less aesthetically pleasing aspects of the original toys, and I want them to be as fully articulated as those original toys never were. I expected a lot, but they haven’t failed me yet. Bumblebee, I think, may be the best execution yet.
Bumblebee’s original figure was a very odd little toy. He was very static, very stylized, and very small, so he was characterized as the Autobot “little brother.” The Masterpiece carries that theme along, as he is dwarfed by every other Masterpiece made so far. And that’s great. There’s a lot of similarly sized robots in the line to date, so a smaller one gives some diversity.
The vehicle mode is an actual Volkswagen Bug. It looks great from every angle despite the obvious segmenting caused by the necessary transforming. He has a fairly simple transformation once you run through it a few times. It’s not as simple as his original toy, but I was able to shift him back from car to robot in less than a minute after putting him back into car mode for the photo shoot, so you get the hang of it pretty quickly.
But the robot mode is what everybody comes for, and this is finally Bumblebee. He’s got the large feet just like his original toy, which I love, mainly because of my newfound affection for the original Transformers art. This figure does away with the wheels on the arms in favor of the cartoon streamlining, which is a welcome change. He’s got a big, barrel chest due to his vehicle mode, but I like to think that it gives him appearance of puffing out his chest in order to seem larger because he’s the smallest ‘bot in the crowd most of the time. It’s actually not that noticeable unless you turn him sideways and stare at his chest, so don’t do that. Because it makes him uncomfortable.
He comes with two swappable faces that pop in and out easily once you do it the first time. One is happy, because he was a pretty happy little dude, and the other is a slightly more serious look. Because despite his size, he’s been through some nasty crap. There’s a third battle mask face that was available if you bought him from Amazon Japan, but, unfortunately, I don’t have that one. That’s going to be a project post-haste, though, because I would love to have that be his permanent face as a nod to his original figure. Not that the heads he comes with are bad by any means; they both capture his appearance very well. Which one is “your” Bumblebee is up to you.
Articulation-wise he’s got a full complement, even with a decent amount of ankle movement, which allows him to get into some really decent poses. His big feet means he has a good balance as well. His chest prevents him from two-handing his gun, but otherwise he’s comparable or better than almost all the Masterpiece figures so far.
His paint job is that very familiar yellow, which is as perky as can be and really makes him stand out.
Bumblebee isn’t necessarily my favorite Autobot, but I’ve always had a soft spot for him due to a lot of good work done with his character in the comics over the years. Finally, I have a good one, and I’ve been fiddling with him off and on ever since I got him. Sometimes it takes a great figure to make you appreciate a character even more than you might have before.
Bumblebee wasn’t the only figure, though; we also got an Exo-suit version of… well it seems a lot of places say Spike, but I’m going with Daniel, since he wore the suit in the only good Transformers movie. Of course, it was Spike’s originally, so unless I’m missing something, color me confused. Yeah, I’m going with Daniel.
It’s a neat extra since Bumblebee is small, so it feels like you get more of your money’s worth. His transformation is as simple as it was on screen, and I wanted one when I was a kid. A real one, not the toy. The figure itself is pretty good, his legs are a bit awkward in the knees but otherwise it’s a nice thing to have.
Disthunder:
As one of the true icons of Transformer-dom, Bumblebee absolutely had to be one of the hardest figures to “nail” for Masterpiece. The Volkswagon question was bad enough alone, but add to that trying to hit the right scale, style, comic/cartoon/toy hybrid note that Masterpiece is known for is especially difficult for a star character based on a Penny Racer.
I think Takara far exceeded expectations with this figure, where those issues are concerned. His vehicle mode is flawless, lining up perfectly with not just Masterpiece, but any other smaller mode cars you might have among your troops, including third-party ones. Hell, if you were determined enough, he doesn’t even look half-bad with the Classics deluxe figures. His Beetle mode reminds me of the bigger-than-Matchbox die-cast cars you occasionally see at a little drug store or something. The optional spare tire cover and concealable roof logo are touches that show just how much love went into this mode.
His ‘bot mode is simply outstanding, and, not surprisingly, it outshines even the top-notch efforts of the vehicle mode. Some of that is certainly directly attributed, like the great color choice and details of the Beetle, but the immense amount of playability and poseability Bumblebee has as a robot are so out of proportion with his teeny size, it’s almost silly. The optional head choices are a great touch, but almost unnecessary. This is G1 Bumblebee, not some Paramount Snake Eyes ripoff. He smiles, and that’s all the option I need. It will be cool to see what companies come up with for accessories using this gimmick, though. I’m hoping for a battle mask to replace the Amazon one I missed out on. The articulation is simply some of the best in the line, and his clean transformation makes his limbs and parts secure nicely, so he can do more than just pose pretty, he can put in sneaky espionage work. His scale is just right for my needs, and, like the Beetle mode, he can fit with a decent range of other lines and not look terribly out of place. I especially like him taking point among my other various mini-bots from Mech Ideas and ToyWorld.
But I especially like him… period. For not being a diehard fan of any of the little yellow ‘bot’s incarnations, I am very taken with what an excellent toy he’s been turned into this time around.
canonball:
Bumblebee can still be purchased from the following shops:
