If Bumblebee wasn't a big deal, how come fans were devastated his Alternators toy never got made? Why were people clamoring for a Masterpiece version?

For lack of a better term, while Optimus has always been the most iconic character and the de facto poster bot of the franchise, Bumblebee has served as a mascot of sorts.

Even then, most iterations of Transformers have had a yellow "adorable young rookie" character like Cheetor or Hot Shot.

Heck, I don't read IDW but I was pissed to find out they killed Bumblebee! He's been a favorite for many since G1, and Hasbro has had him in every franchise or toyline since the 2007 movie as a means of aggressively defending the trademark - they understand they can't lose that name again because Transformers has always been aimed at KIDS (sorry, folks, but this franchise wasn't meant to be grim and gritty until Michael Bay and James Roberts decided grim and grit make things better), and BB is the big draw for most kids.

Come on, how can you be a Transfan if you don't recognize the significance of one of the most popular characters?

 

I'm totally getting this if I can. The new Camaro TLK Bumblebee is one I've wanted since I first saw it. The '76 Camaro Bumblebee was my favorite toy as a child and when it broke, so did my heart. The TF4 Bumblebee in the set... Okay, it's not that great a figure, and I already have the original release, but I also have brothers and sisters, and I'm sure one of them would want it.

 

Already having 1967 & 2016 Camaro Bumblebee makes this set redundant and pointless for me...

But I totally need the 1977 Camaro Bumblebee, the one I had when I was a kid broke.

 

I get the impression that you yourself were literally nothing before 2007. I mean you'd have to be pretty young if you think Bumblebee wasn't popular back in G1.

 

I would consider this set but that high Octane Bee looks the same as the AOE one which I already have for the most part and unlike the Pax/WFC Prime set it isn't a mold I feel I need multiples of. For once I'm set to skip this.

Fun Fact; Hot Shot's preliminary name was also Bumblebee.

 

Indeed...but a SWING SET ruined it!

I'm considering this set because I don't have Stealth AoE 'bee and my original '76 Camaro toy has been ravaged by time.

 

Seeing as I don't have all three of those figures this is a great chance for me to get all of them at once.  

 

Send me a message and i'll send you a classic Bumblebee that is basically brand new. He's loose and i don't have the instructions anymore, but i bought one recently to do a retro style review on the figure and got the takara one along with it. I don't need the original Hasbro one. If you're willing to pay for the shipping, i'll send the Hasbro one out to ya  

 

No. I think TT intended this as a collector's piece, which was meant to stay boxed. It's surprising then, that more effort didn't go into the car mode paint jobs, such as rsut on the original BB, etc.

Personally, I'd love for Wei Jiang to make regular/OSKO's of the original and black "retro" BBs, with really nice paint jobs (as the car modes are beautiful) I would also love for both of those to receive different heads and paint so I could include them as new characters in my CHUG collection, too.

 

Minimal paint? U gotta be kidding me... first is mpm bee.. now this?! 

 

Almost preordered this on AmazonJP last night, but it came to around $110 shipped to the US, so nevermind. I noticed the face paint looked a little different for the '74 Bee, that's why I almost went with AmazonJP, but oh well. It says the release date there is September 30th.
Amazon | 【Amazon.co.jp限定】 トランスフォーマー TLK-EX バンブルビー エボリューション3パック | トランスフォーマー | おもちゃ 通販

 

The images at Amazon Japan look like they're Hasbro CG renders (TLK Bumblebee) or painted prototypes (1967 Bumblebee and 1977 Bumblebee), compared to the Amazon US and Amazon Germany images which depict near-final samples.

EDIT: The images for TLK Bumblebee are explicitly the exact same CG renders used for the wave 3 Hasbro figure!

Those are definitely not your typical Takara stock photos, like the ones from the Deluxe Optimus Prime/Orion Pax or the Leader Optimus Prime listings.

 

I've had that listing linked here and here for a while now. Did I never specifically point it out? Weird. When WEEGEE asked if it ever "arrived", I took that as meaning "in stock", which is why I didn't mention the listing.

 

So it's finally in stock???

 

If these were Platinum Edition releases with nicer paint jobs for all three, I'd consider it, but as is, meh.

 

Welp, time for me to start saving...

 

Personally I’d like to see Hasbro re-do the TF1 and AoE BB’s.

 

the packaging for this set is awesome...

 

Since I skipped High Octane, have a broken automorph on movie 1 Bee, and haven't picked up the new one, this release seems like a pretty painless way to snag all three for an ok price. Of course I will likely never transform the movie 1 Bee to avoid the risk of breaking the gimmick.