I found one of these guys for $13 at a Bargain Hunt today. He looks like a store return. The box appeared to be factory sealed, but the figure was not tied down to the inner tray. Go figure. I'm not a big fan of Camaros from this era, but this was a good deal on this figure. I have no complaints about him. He TFs perfectly. And, I'm impressed he clicked together as well as he did...there's a lot of bot stuffed into that alt mode. The only reason I can see that would prompt someone to return him is how loose the right forearm is...it doesn't take much at all to make it fall off...nothing some Future can't fix...

 

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-

Source: Transformers-Universe.com

 

How much pressure to put on the bits

 

Not much, just a gentle squeeze.

 

You just want the hinge pieces to be as parallel to each other as possible & almost exactly perpendicular to the hood - but like I said, dipping it in microwaved water (30s on high) was enough to push my pieces & now it's a pretty solid joint.

 

Any tips on getting the ankle assemblies to stay pegged in? Every time I pick this figure up I'm reminded of hot terrible it is. I wonder if the new rusty Camaro mold will be the same?

 

Considering how the garage kit one was reported to also have mixed QC I don't think the rusty one will be much better.

 

Just bumping this to confirm that the rusty “clunker” version has a pin holding the roof on. Mine has near perfect QC; the only thing that occasionally pops off is the removable right forearm.

 

I love this figure, strange that my copy doesn't have any QC issues.

 

So I hated my SS01 bee, but I can happily report that the ss27 clunker bee is an excellent figure that feels solid in every way the original didn’t! I have a brand new appreciation for the mold. I always thought the sculpt was really nice and detailed and accurate, but couldn’t appreciate it cause he literally fell apart no matter how much future I used and other things. I did keep the blaster from SS01 bee since it’s much better painted.

 

We're so in synch dude.  

I just picked up Clunker today too. Yep, all is fine with this rendition and it sure allows for the figure to shine finally without parts falling off continuously .

The paint apps are like those of a custom, I'm super impressed and more than happy to spend $20 to replace the initial release.

 

Did anybody get this BB? is this just a direct reissue of SS 01 or is this the FIXED Pin Clunker BB but without the weathering?