Studio Series Bumblebee (SS-01)

Prelude: Bumblebee is the star of a multi-billion dollar movie franchise, so you might have heard of him. As a consequence of said stardom he has quite a few toys to his name by now, well over a hundred. The first time we ever saw this particular version of Bumblebee, though, was in the 2007 Transformers movie, where he originally took the shape of a yellow 1976 Camaro (or as Mikaela phrased it in the movie, a “piece of crap Camaro”). This form has now been recreated in the Studio Series.

Robot Mode: Putting this toy of Bumblebee right next to the original 2007 Movie Bumblebee, one can easily see how much has changed in Transformers toys in the eleven years since then. For one thing the Deluxe-class robots have gotten quite a bit smaller. On the plus side, though, he is far more detailed and far more closely resembles the robot we saw on the big screen. In terms of screen resemblance, Bumblebee leaves almost nothing to be desired.

Now technically speaking this isn’t quite a new robot, but rather a very, very extensive retool of the Premier Edition Bumblebee from The Last Knight, but so much has changed that I personally count it as a (mostly) new figure. Bumblebee looks really good here and while he does carry quite a bit of kibble on his back, it doesn’t really get in the way of posing. In order to replicate the (technically impossible) transformation of his robot arm into a blaster, this figure comes with a detachable lower right arm that can be swapped with a blaster. The arm comes off quite easily and the gun looks very much like it did in the movie, so no complaints. If you don’t need the blaster, it can be clipped to the figure’s back.

All in All I must say that this is a very nice recreation of the Bumblebee we were originally introduced to in the 2007 movie. Just about the only downside I can think of is that we have seen so many of these Deluxe-class Bumblebee robots, that it’s kind of hard to get excited about a new one. Otherwise, though, a good robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Now I’ve heard that quite a few people had quality control issues with their Studio Series Bumblebees that were especially noticeable in the transformation into vehicle mode, where parts tended to pop off and even paint was scratched while transforming. I cannot personally confirm any of that, though, as my Bumblebee has transformed nicely and the only part popping off was the arm, which is supposed to do that (though many not QUITE that easily).

The transformed car is clearly recognizable as the classic 1976 Camaro (which I always liked far more than any of the more modern versions Bumblebee used in the movies). All the parts fit together nicely and while you can see the robot feet inside the driver’s cabin, these are not really recognizable as robot parts. Of course you can see Bumblebee’s head on the underside, but as the new Bumblebee movie is about to show us, that is actually screen accurate. Anyway, a good car mode. Just one downside here, too: there is no good way to store the blaster here. You can clip it to the rear bumper, but that looks very bad.

Remarks: Most people know that I’m not exactly a big fan of Movie Bumblebee, especially considering how many versions of him we’ve had on the toy shelves. So I didn’t originally intend to buy this figure here, but then I ended up winning it at the raffle at CONS X and brought it home with me. Overall I must say it’s a good figure. It recreates BB in his original movie form, which I like, and it gives us a nice backdrop of the scene where he first fought Barricade. So if you are actually looking for yet another Movie Bumblebee Deluxe-class figure, this one here is a decent choice. Don’t expect to see anything really new here, though.

Rating: B-