Another Bumblebee toy? Wonderful.

Now, that heading may make me sound like I hate this toy.

I don’t.

Normally you don’t need to care about Bee variants because they’re pointless repaints with barely any difference in deco. This guy is different.

Literally.

Vehicle Mode

This ain’t a robot in disguise anymore. Look at it. It’s pleasing to the childish part of my brain. It looks cool.

To some people, it looks stupider than a principal trying to use rap music to connect with his students. To others, it looks as cool as a Mcflurry at the North Pole in Winter.

I am in the latter camp.

He rolls nicely and is nicely painted. Not much else going on for this mode, but it does what it does well.

Transformation (Gimmick)

This guy is a 3-Step Changer, which means his gimmick is that you can go back and forth between modes nice and quick.

3 steps though? If you want to be nitpicky maybe not, but they can be summarised in 3 steps, like so:

i) Pull the hood assembly down.

ii) Twist the hood assembly around.

iii) Push the hood assembly back up.

Less addictive than a One-step changer, but only very slightly less.

Robot Mode

Now it’s a really good thing this guy looks cool, because there really is nothing much else going for him.

He stands up and looks pretty. Which is more than you can say for most people.

His only posability is in his elbows, which can bend 90°. They have 5mm holes so you can arm him up with other standard weapons. Which is good because he doesn’t come with any.

Toy or collectible?

Toy all the way. He’s a big, simple Transformer that can be changed quickly and can be bought on the cheap. Seriously. He’s new Leader size but costs less than a Voyager. For the price, he feels chunky and solid.
He’s cheap, durable and fun. He’s Perfect for his target demographic. Perfect for kids.

He’s only a collectible if you collect Bumblebee figures, but if you’re an adult collector this is a safe pass.

Closing

He’s a good toy. Keyword here being toy. A kid would get a lot of enjoyment out of him, but an adult would probably not see the fun of him.

That being said, I had a ball of a time messing around with him. So what does that make me?