Dark of the Moon Nitro Bumblebee

Review by LimeWire:

Prelude: The first pictures of this figure hit the Internet 4 to 6 weeks before the movie premiered, leading to lots of speculation regarding an appearance of the so-called Stealth Force modes. They were planned, actually, but Paramount and Dreamworks ultimately decided against showing Stealth Force modes and Mechtech weapons on screen due to cost issues. Only the three Wreckers, as well as Bumblebee and Sideswipe, appeared in these modes. Though Bumblebee looked quite a bit different than this toy here.

Alternate Mode: Nitro Bumblebee shows the conceptual idea of Bumblebee’s third mode. He appears as a pumped-up Chevrolet Camaro with rocket engines and strange lines along the chassis, maybe some kind of power cords like the Doc’s famous DeLorean in “Back to the Fugure”. Takes some getting used to look-wise, but it’s interesting. I don’t want to speculate on how this could have looked in the movie, because honestly: I have no idea.

Robot Mode: This robot mode here somehow doesn’t look like Bumblebee at all. It looks powerful, brutish, and just a bit deformed. This figure could easily be a completely new character, but the head and colouring leave but one conclusion: it’s Bumblebee on steroids! I do like the general appearance, but the figure does have quite a few issues when compared to its predecessors:

1. Its balance is pretty miserable, thanks to the new (and generally very cool and interesting) new transformation. It seems unfinished somehow. And the figure tends to be knock-kneed.

2. The rocket boosters end up on the knees rather than the back, where they’d make more sense.

3. The arms seem rather short and rudimentary, are barely articulated and too small in general. The hands are fixed and no arm weapons (not even Bumblebees trusty arm blaster)

Gimmick: Bumblebee’s Mechtech weapon is pretty much the same one that Skids carried, basically an engine block where the air intakes become a blaster. Sounds stupid, looks stupid!

Conclusion: Let me say that this figure is far from a must-have. Completists and Brute Mode / Stealth Force fanatics will enjoy him, as will customizers. Me being one of the latter, as I plan to make a new character out of this figure. Because to me, this isn’t what Bumblebee looks like. Nice try, but no dice… meh...

Rating: C-