In short: Fail. Falls way short of the existing deluxe 'bee mold.


In depth:

I can't review this toy without asking "What needed improvement in the '07 toy design?". The biggest problems the '07 'Bee had were the roof kibble on the arms and an inability to swivel the legs at all.

Cannon Blast 'Bee straight-up reuses the old legs (unprecedented in the history of Transformer toys unless I'm missing something obscure). So his toes still point straight forward at all times.

As for the arm kibble- Yeah. They fixed that. Then they went and froze his wrists in the "curling" position. Normally you can at least pull off a nice "I'll get you next time!" pose with "curling wrist" figures.

But 'Bee doesn't have a fist to shake. His hands are molded open. When you combine open hands with curling wrists you are limited to two main poses:
*Ready pardner? Draw!
and
*Would you like a stick of gum?

So despite fixing the kibble, the arms come out worse than before.



The giant elephant hanging out in this review is the 'bot chest that can no longer deform. It bugs me worse than I thought it would and almost makes the toy look like a FAB.

Finally, the choice of windows is inexplicable. They went out of their way to design this 'Bee with seats and a dashboard. The resulting new transformation sacrifices any waist movement. That's an acceptable trade-off for a nice car interior, but then they went and put metal flakes in the window plastic! Metal flakes! In otherwise transparent plastic! Molded right in there! The result is that you can see through the windows if light is shining from the back, but when light shines from the front the windows almost resemble blue metal foil. So there is no possible way to actually see the inside of the car without putting a tiny LED in the drivers seat and keeping it turned on.


It's a good toy outside of the context of the '07 Bee. The thing is, this toy does not exist outside of that context. An '07 remold is on the shelves right now, so even people who missed the first toy can get the remold and pass up Cannon Blast.

 

I actually kinda dig this one, but not as a replacement for the 07/preview bee, just in addition to it. I like the torso much better than the 07 one, and the lack of arm kibble is a major step forward imo. Plus the shoulders are all sculpted as opposed to those little yellow pieces that CONSTANTLY fall off. Another cool thing with this one is they added some seats in deluxe mode, but of course they cover them up by having the painted windows. I also like the transformation better, it's quick and fun to do during play...that's right...play.

If they added a wrist/forearm cut, gave him an interchangable arm cannon, and added the front grill/chest movesment it would be the ultimate deluxe size BB IMO. Having said all that, If you can only get 1, get the preview.

 

I think Stealth Bee has the best paint job except the yellow bits. 07 Bee is next. Premium Bee on the other hand had little improvements.

 

Whoa! From the reviews looks like I will be giving this fella amiss. Dang, I was quite interested in pickin him up.

 

If you don't mind the chest not spliting, I'd suggust him. He's still an excellent figure.

 

His chest not splitting just looks too weird for me to even CONSIDER picking him up. 

 

not as a BB. if they repaint him as a seperate character that isnt CJ then maybe.

 

Honestly, I really like this figure. I own the premium deluxe from 07 as well. Sure the chest doesn't split and the hands are molded different but it really doesn't detract from the look. if I had to choose from the 07 and this one, I would pick this one because he can pose better and doesn't have all that roof crap on his arms. The torso is much better, the head is the right size, the arms aren't stuck in a curved position and the cannons are a nice touch.

 

That is nice to hear. I haven't bought one yet.

Well, I did want to see if the arms kibble can be folded down making it half of what its size is. But I wasn't paying attention into that.

That is not good...

Nice review even without picture.

I bought the TFTM1 70s bb, then concept bb, stealth mode bb, cliffjumper repaint bb, premium bb, and I have not bought one single BB in ROTFs. The new head sculpt is movie accurate but it looks alot dumberer ..

 

I was actually pretty suprised with how much I like this figure. I was bored and decided to pick him up. I don't think the chest looks as "FABish" in person, and the window color pops pretty nicely in Bot mode. I am also a fan of the new arms and the lack of wrist flexability isn't a terrible tradeoff for a little more hand detail.

I do not like the shape of the back kibble on this guy though. Although there are a few ways to fold it up behind his back and it is just a matter of finding the one that looks best. Other than that, the chest being blocky is the only thing that will hold this figure back for some people, but if you are a fan of BB, I say go for it.

 

Anyone try to swap the cannon arm from the preview bee onto this guy? It looks like it might fit since the shoulder cuts where the upper and lower arms meet seem to be in the same place (tho the grays would not match).

 

This is the exact same order I rate the 1st movie molds.

There is nothing wow about the ROTF Preview, and this Cannon Blast just dosen't add as much as it does subtract to the figure. I would've personally liked them to have save the expenditure of the retooling for the Incinerator mold, to giive him and hand and a new head so we could get a Voyager Springer.

 

I just picked up CB Bee and I actually like him much more than the 2007 Bee. Simpler and more enjoyable transformation, better proportions (in my eyes), better arms, and I even prefer the look of the non-splitting chest. The flip-out cannons are pretty cool too, and don't get in the way of anything. I love the semi-translucent blue windows, too.

 

Cool. Thank you for the pics.

 

It's kind of unfortunate - The preview Bumblebee toy shows the wear on the mold, making the car mode not fit together well, looking a bit like it was hit with a hammer. Cannon 'Bee improves the fit and takes a new approach (on the front half of the car/ top half of the robot), better in some ways, worse in others. I rather like the looks of the new arms (rotating wrists would be nice, but the poses you can get out of the arms seem to fit a Bumblebee personality in my eyes), but the all-one-chunk chest really brings it down.

In a bit of experimentation, I turned two transforming toys into two more or less non-transforming ones. By giving the arms of Cannon to Preview, I got a very nice looking robot, which doesn't transform into a decent car anymore (but car mode had issues anyway). Since Cannon's arms have no car kibble, Cannon can stay in car mode, with or witthout guns deployed.

If I want to transform it, I can drag out one of my 2007 Bumblebee toys.  

 

LOFL!!!  

 

This mould is ok, but the only thig I prefer over the existing delux is the fact that it has a right hand and not the gun arm.

 

I picked up mine yesterday. Not sure about everyone else but mine had the heel spurs on backwards. Other than that he is pretty awesome. I like the added molded detail like the hint at seats and a dashboard

 

hmmmm I almost got this guy today but I decided on Mudflap instead to get BB another day.

but now idk I might just get the Preview and HA and maybe get Cannon for a quick fix