Generations Legends-scaled Bombshell (2015) Pictorial Review

Hi all! Ever since I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and build of Legends Skrapnel
earlier this year, I was very much looking forward to his insecticon brother.
Finally managed to get one in hand and here are my thoughts!




Packaging

Bombshell comes in a small tidy package with a pretty nice portrait and big bold letters and logos.
'Combiner Wars' and 'Generations' were obviously marked. They seem pretty set on establishing
several distinct toylines here.

Lots of words on the back of the package in multiple languages.
Eight transformation steps.






Bot mode and Scale

This is a really handsome figure with great paint apps and a suitably creepy face. He stands 9.5cm
or 3 3/4" at the top of his head which makes him slightly taller than Skrapnel.

I'm really digging his paint scheme especially the rich yellow used. Makes Skrapnel's chest look
comparatively pasty. His purple is darker too and looks almost silvery. There's some paint wear out of package
on his lower leg, however.

I do find those 5mm pegs on his knees annoying, though.









He does have 5mm peg holes on his forearms with molded finger details.
He has gun muzzles in front of his fists, not sure if those can be used in his targetmaster mode or
they are just thrusters in bug mode.




Articulation

Bombshell has articulation in the shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees. His head cannon can point up and down.
His insect legs can get in the way of his knee movement but you can swivel them out of the way.
The insect legs on his biceps can be rotated front and back.

No head articulation. No ankle tilts.






Bug mode

Transformation is straightforward: hide his head, fold his arms pack, rotate his waist 180º and flip his legs up.
Lastly, splay his insect legs outwards. You can choose to point his 2 rear 5mm pegs backwards or fold them down
for neatness. His scheme much, much simpler than Skrapnel's. To some this maybe a detraction,
but I guess for this figure it works.

The thing that bugs me (haha.) is that he has no 5mm ports in bug mode to mount anything. I'll love to have one
at least to store stuff like that on Skrapnel. I suppose you can drill out those two rounded details on his shins for makeshift ports.

His arms don't peg together as tightly as I would like. Maybe it an individual thing and you might be luckier for yours.

His bug mode is compact and adorable. Very G1 in appearance. It was surprising in fact that his alt mode is much smaller than Skrapnel's even though his bot is taller.











It's not mentioned in the instructions but I think you can fold his bug legs down and use his pegs as handles to
form a cerebro-shell launcher or something. Those pegs are not as tight as I would like, so in combination
with his weight he ended up flopping around when held by other figures.
Even Dragstrip with his closed fists can't hold him steady.





Update 12 December:

Okie, here's an update.
After fiddling a bit more I think I hit upon a way to have him in targetmaster mode.
By orienting his front insect legs (downwards in the case of the photos) and using them to brace against the sides of his torso,
you can hold the forearms close enough to peg them together pointing front.

After thinking about it somemore, you don't really need the insect legs in that position but it helps hold the arms more securely.






Conclusion

I admit I'm biased towards this figure as I was waiting for him a long time and I can ignore a few minor flaws.
Besides, I want to have a modern, well articulated insecticon trio and he is almost perfect for this role.
However, he does have issues so it's understandable if you're on the fence about him.

Pros:
Nice G1 homage
Good articulation
Sweet, sweet, nuggety bug mode

Cons:
Weird peg knees
Knee movement obstructed
Thruster hands
Arms don't peg well in bug mode
No accessories storage (in bug mode)
Targetmaster mode can be improved


Let me know if you have anymore questions!
O, he comes with a sweet card.


​

 

Awesome.

Can his beetle thingy be pointed forwards a bit in bot mode like he is firing from it?

 

Awesomeness...I'm more in a hurry to get my hands on him and Powerglide than I am the actual combiners...he seems alot taller than Skrapnel...does the card have tech specs or anything on back...

 

Looks good, drives me nuts when these guys have no neck joints though  

 

Hmm not really, unless you want to give him a gun face. The joint for his face cover is actually attached to the back of his head.

No tech specs. All these cards seem to have the same graphic on the back.

Agree...Like legends Starscream, his articulation was sacrificed for transformation.

 

Any chance of a size comparison with some more widely available figures?

Great pics by the way!!

 

Great review! I wish they could have used the same yellow paint for both he and Skrapnel.

 

Needs an extra section to be inserted between head and gun but I'm sure somebody will 3P that.

YAY for Targetmaster mode  

 

Thanks for the review FB.

Can his arms be folded out and pointed forwards in targetmaster-mode? (I'm wondering if the thrusters/blasters in his arms are intended to be part of a gun-mode...)

If not, then the decision to give him thrusters instead of hands is a big bummer. They look dumb in bot mode.

 

Is the difference in yellow that apparent in person? I know Skrapnel looks paler obviously, but do they still look nice together?

 

No head movement?


That sucks, but hey, it's Bombshell, so come to daddy!  

 

Awesome job, Fakebuster!!
Any chance you can snap a pic next to his G1 counterpart?

 

Do you have any suggestion for figures? I'll see if I have them.
Basically he's an average modern legends scale fig. Same height as legends Starscream.

I tried fiddling around; they can point forward but they don't lock or anything so it's kinda pointless. There might be hidden interaction with other CW gimmicks but I don't know yet.

The difference don't bug me, but it's very obvious. You might want to repaint one of them to match.
Let see how the third insecticon is like.

Oops I don't own a G1 Bombshell...

 

Looks cool, however, my FP insecticons will do just fine.

 

Nice!  
Coming up next: Kickback  

 

*fingers crossed*

 

Those hands, or lack thereof, drives me crazy.

Otherwise, a solid looking figure.

 

He looks really great. Wish he was a deluxe though but that's just me being fussy

 

He's got nipples on his knees...

...Kneeples?

Kind of unfortunate design choice if the reason they're there is a target master mode that equates to just holding the bug up like a gun, and if it does have a better gun mode and they didn't put it in the instructions, then wtf Hasbro?

That said I can't wait to get him, as I missed out on hard shell think you could compare him with one of the gold standards? (Mp-10, any version of a seeker, or a coke can)

 

Great looking little figure!  

It's a shame Hasbro didn't try to colour match the yellow with Shrapnel, though...