I don´t have really any interest in characters like Bumblebee unless they can fend of for themselves in battle or characters who aren´t hardened by battle. And what you define as "pseudo" is in fact the reality of conflict, those who don´t adapt or learn to fight are more likely to get a bullet between the eyes. I already have to suspend my suspension of disbelief for transforming robots in a lot of crap, the fact that characters like BB exist is something that nearly kills it for me.

And I really don´t care or even like the "underdog" myth that has been done in fiction ad nauseum, that dynamic is old as shit and to me is completely uninteresting. It is refreshing to see the good guys standing on equal footing or even surpassing for the bad guys.

 

I've been waiting for this design to get a toy since I read International Incident (yeah i know it's awful, but this design is cool).

The paint seems lacking though.

 

I flip between hating this toy and kinda liking it. I think Goldbug will no doubt look a ton better, assuming the gold plastic doesn't look as cheap as the yellow. Because good Lord, that yellow plastic is trash.

 

Wow, he's underwhelming, isn't he? I don't dislike to mold, but damn that paint job looks so lackluster. And the arms... Who thought painting yellow on top of BLACK would look good...?

Any japanese version of this figure?

 

Question: When this is released, would it take over Classic Bumblebee's place on your Classics shelf?

I like to have only one definitive Classics character out, and as many different molds as possible. Given that Renderform essentially gave us a wonderful Goldbug head on a Henkei body, is anyone else considering replacing Classics BB with this? That would leave Hubcap and Bumblejumper using the Classics molds on my shelf, which is not bad at all. Thoughts?

 

Classics Bumblebee is the definitive Bumblebee; this thing is so inferior it hurts.

 

I have returned to his mold, and found it not as bad the second tiime around. However this will not replace my Classics Bee.

I will still nab the Goldbug redeco, and at best this will be an expendable one on my shelf.

 

I'm sick of Yellow Menace, but I actually kinda like this mold. Car looks pretty sharp to me.

If I see the "Goldbug" redeco I might pick it up.

 

While I realize this post is pretty late in coming, I wanted to offer some input anyway.

While I have never been a huge fan, or even a mediocre fan, of Bumblebee in general, I REALLY started to hate the character more and more as numerous versions of the figure have appeared on shelves...and then STAYED there, clogging up the pegs at retail because Hasbro foolishly believed that heavy packing such a boring character was a good sales idea. I know, I know...he has kid appeal, and that IS true...but he doesn't have as much kid appeal as Hasbro wants to believe...nor as much as they want us to believe either, as adult collectors.

I loved the DotM alt style BB, but I loathe and detest ALL of the Bayformers' bot modes, pure and simple, so I didn't have to bother with any of the movie stuff, except for the occasional Generations figure that got tossed in here and there. TF Prime was an improvement over the horrible Bayformer bots by far, but still took me awhile to get warmed up to them because they carried over that stupidly inane beeping/chirping R2-D2esque non-speaking BB from the movies. I actually don't mind the new muscle car alt mode BB has gotten, as even a gimpy character would want a cool alt mode eventually...right? If for no other reason than to try and make the bad guys a little less sure about kicking his yellow @$$. Still after a few million years, he was bound to pick up at least some battle savvy along the way.

At any rate, I got so tired of seeing yellow peg warmers in every store and never being able to get new waves of figures because "PegwarmerBee" was taking up all the space and blocking reorders, I began to hate the character. It also made me feel like we never needed another BB...and ESPECIALLY in the Generations line. Besides which we already had at least 3 of them in Deluxe Class: Classics Bee Wave 1(?), (which suited him well vehicle-wise at least), then the WfCybertron version, (which I passed on for suckiness factors that also got passed along to recast WfC Cliffjumper), and then the RtS movie style repaint of Classics Bee, (which I actually liked more than the actual Classics version, because he looked like a bee with the new color scheme). So, to find out that we were getting YET another BB...well, I wasn't thrilled. I felt it was a waste of a perfectly good mold, even moreso considering that we were almost immediately getting a remolded Goldfire (aka Goldbug) out of the deal.

Now, I totally get that there are collectors and fans who have been waiting, or at least hoping for a Generations Goldbug to come along and this was (sort of) the moment that they'd been awaiting. I get it and have zero problem with that. As a matter of fact, if the Goldfire version was the initial offering of the mold and then we ended up with another character down the line...like the upcoming Nightbeat (though he should come with his companion figure instead of these stupid "intake cannons"...yet AGAIN...!), that would have been great. WE get two new figures without cheap looking Bee popping up again. Yes, we now have THREE figures rather than two, but as I said (and others as well), he looks and feels uber cheapo...just like the Animated BB did.

What makes it worse that we have this BB, is the poor design/sculpt aspects that make it feel even cheaper:
1) The issue of the rear windows not locking together properly. (Goldfire does, BB doesn't...)
2) The weirdness of the backpack...sadly too reminiscent of those shoddy Bayformers... that hangs down and really didn't need to. The little point that goes between the feet should have just been designed as part of the foot section and would have greatly improved the look.
3) The mismatched paint apps on his arms...along with the cheap looking plastic...
4) Those big stabilizers extending out the backs of his feet just look goofy...I think something else could have been done to help him stand and not look so bad.
5) Lack of hand articulation and ball jointed head is a negative also.
6) In alt mode, his chest plate drags the ground and actually prevents his front wheels from even touching the ground in vehicle mode...(This holds true for Goldfire as well, even though the rear window issue was resolved by his release). Not an easy fix to make either, so I am going to have to do some work to determine how to approach that one...


So, while the figure overall isn't exactly horrible for a BB figure, there is quite a bit about it that isn't very good either...ESPECIALLY those stupid@$$#d vehicle mounted "Intake Cannons"!! Talk about a ******ed looking weapon and totally unwieldy...it's just ridiculous and extremely lame...so I chucked every one of them in the trash and found weapons that actually LOOK like weapons. Worth picking up? Sure...especially for fans of BB and completist collectors...for everyone else, maybe skip him and go with Goldfire unless you are also sick of those movie version Bayformers, but would like a nice Generations style bot mode with the cool alt mode reminiscent of the Prime cartoon...and yes, the movies too. I do advise ditching the lame gun things though...stupid looking and a waste of plastic.

With all that being said, and yes, I am wrapping up soon, I feel that while Hasbro delivered on a pretty cool version of Goldbug for Classics fans with the new (updated?) Goldfire...flaws and all, they missed a golden opportunity (no pun intended) to give us two figures that we sort of got cheated on previously. In my opinion, I think Hasbro would have had a great opportunity to present us with Generations Tailgate and Windcharger using this mold (with some slight fixes to the mold itself)...although, I'm sure that the TFCC will take the opportunity to charge an inane amount of money for those as club figures, as they did with Runabout and Runamuck using the Wheeljack/Tracks mold, since Hasbro didn't capitalize on it initially. I can't justify paying such a hefty sum for what we should have gotten as $13.00 figures, so I picked up an extra of each for customization into those two characters. With that being said, anyone done a sculpt of a Deluxe scale Generations Tailgate head that I could buy? Already snagged a sweet Windcharger head.

My thoughts on the matter.