Yeah, the hands seem to small for ball joints... I glued beads in his eyes and took the spring out of his weapon. Now I've got his alt mode all decked out with weapons!
Hand mod I looked at Nitro Bee's hands for a while at work and didn't think I'd be able to give him good wrists. So I just chopped them off and glued them on facing a better direction. I still have to do some clean up on them to make them look nice, but the transformation isn't affected. Actually, they might fit better now...
I think I'll put this guy on my maybe/later on list of Dark of the Moon toys, alongside the Twins and a few other deluxe figures.
He is an okay figure, I more or less bought him a month or so ago because he was on sale and I hadn't bought a Transformer in awhile. The vehicle mode is neat, and the transformation has some clever parts, but overall the robot mode and Mechtech weapon are pretty boring.
I love the car mode and he looks better painted up a bit (I'll show the robot mode when I've finished tidying up a bit the yellow I added to his feet and arms needs a third coat ; I've not done a huge amount to him just painted the wheels and extended the grey on some of his trim in these pics.
Yeah, that looks great! I added some black to mine around the bottom of the car and on the stripes on top. Next time I do some painting I plan to work on him some more... Mine has some manufacturer's paint on the windshield. Anyone know a good way to remove it?
try a good, high % alcohol. worked great for any factory paint apps i need to remove The stuff I have is 91% isopropyl...like $1.50 at wallys
Does anyone know if it's possible to swap out this figure's arms with all or part of the regular DOTM Deluxe Bumble's arms without cutting or gluing? I like the look of this guy as an alternate Bumblebee, but I absolutely hate the continuing hand/wrist problems on this and other figures.
Today, the pin-hinges that let his feet fold out from the shin broke on both legs while I was transforming him. I heard that haunting "snap" both times, and now he only has one plastic bracket holding each of them on his legs. Is anyone else experiencing this? It seems like pin-hinges are breaking more and more frequently on Transformers these days....
im liking this toy much more than i thought, its amazing what a little toe articulation can do! my only complaint, and really its quite minor ... im sure someone else has likely said so ... while i like the boosters remaining on his calf, if maybe there were thrusters on his back pack too. then i could say he had flight potential.
There are so many BBs that look the same, don't begrudge us one that's actually different! I personally like the alt mode a lot. If anything, I wish it was MORE teched-up, like the wreckers! As it is though, it doesn't stand out when he's with them, which I like.
Y'know what - scratch that, yer right! I wish this one could've been all teched out in stealth-force mode!
For more pics, click on the image above My buddy Limewire wrote this review, I just did the English translation: 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-
I like how the review complains about the lack of arm weapons, namely the arm blaster, yet the main picture clearly shows the arm blaster is molded on the arm.
^ Oh hey, I never noticed that before! Win. I'd be very interested in seeing a source for this. I'm not sure where more "Stealth Force" and "MechTech" would have fit in the movie narratively. Just because something was storyboarded and not used, doesn't mean it was cut for cost.
Huh, good catch! Never noticed that before. Of course, since day one whenever I've transformed him into bot mode, I've put a spare pair of arms from the first DOTM Bee on him. Really improves the overall figure a LOT imho.
EXACTLY. I loved how the weapon is molded on the arm. if it were painted from the factory it would stick out more. I passed on this one so many times, just thinking "another BB" NOT the case. The car modes tight, Bot mode is solid. My ONLY gripe with this one, is I wish the hood halves locked better in bot mode. If it did that, I would say this is the 2nd best BB under Battle blade. Edit* this mechtek weapon is one of those that have a huge benefit of removing the spring. Its not that bad, and looks great with leader bee
