With the wave 8 deluxe figures of Studio Series available early in Malaysia at Mid Valley Megamall, I went there and decided to buy the newest SS-49 Bumblebee, which is the most recent SS Bumblebee figure and this figure is based on Bayverse Bumblebee's 2008 Concept Camaro form.

For what it is, this is a pretty decent figure of Bayverse Bumblebee. In robot mode, SS-49 Bumblebee here looks quite good with some pretty good joints for some good poses; I especially like that the door wings has some swivel joints that allows the door wings to be positioned in different ways according to preference, even through the articulation range of the shoulders will get restricted a bit when the door wings was in certain position.





For accessory, SS-49 here includes Bumblebee's signature arm cannon weapon. Unlike the previous Studio Series Bumblebee figures like SS-01 or SS-18, the way the cannon is mounted here is quite different as the cannon can just been plugged into the hands without needing to remove the arms.




Despite what the official stock photos shows, the arm cannon can actually been plugged into the left arm; But due to the way the cannon is been sculpted, the arm cannon can only been plugged into the left hand from the bottom, exposing the top of the left hand. Not the most beautiful in terms of weapon integration, but it's something you can do.

Transformation-wise, SS-49 here is a bit of a pain in the ass. I won't say it's difficult and the way this figure transforms is pretty interesting in theory, but the transformation relies more on multiple panels that needs to be pegged together with a number of tabs, and if you didn't position something in the right orientation then you won't have an easy time transforming it.




The car mode is pretty decent, and pretty well-detailed for its size. Despite what I said about the transformation is far from the easiest of process, the car mode stays well once you get everything in the way it's supposed to.



In terms of weapon storage in car mode.... you basically just peg the cannon at the back of the car mode which has 2 rectangle shaped tab hole to accommodate the cannon. To be honest, this looks kinda lame.

Overall, this figure is pretty much what I expected from a Studio Series figure. I quite like this figure and didn't regret picking it up through.

 

is the head removable?

 

Shame the face isn’t swappable and the Cannon is just a lump of black plastic. Will prolly pass on this guy until he is on sale.

 

The head is on a ball-joint, so I try to remove the head and indeed, the head is removable from the balljoint.

For what it is, I still think SS-49 is a pretty decent figure. I know some won't like the fact that the cannon being fully been molded in black plastic without any painted details, but I bet the cannon would looks pretty nice with some silver paint wash.

 

I must admit, your review changed my mind from “easy pass” to “oh, maybe.”   But Soundwave is still the deluxe I want most from this wave.

 

Im excited for this guy!

 

Maybe this is just on my own copy, but SS-49 has a bit of a similar issue as figures such as Siege Starscream with the front bot mode chest panel or Siege Ironhide with its side legs panels which tends to pops off without much resistance; the roof panel on my SS-49 likes to pops off without much resistance (But it's not as bad as SS-01). This may just as isolated QC flaw on my copy, so buyers beware.

A few ways I found that can potentially solve this issue would be either by removing the panels and using a small screwdriver to carefully widen the pegholes, which creates enough clearance to properly house the panels within the hinges, or went for a more permanent solution which is just drill a deep hole over the hinges to mount a metal pin; I really love this figure aside from the aforementioned flaw, so I went with the metal pin.

 

Would mind posting a photo of his back in robot mode?

 

Something like this?

 

Yes, thank you!

 

I know it's another BB, but hot damn I'm excite for this one.

 

Eh, 'Studio Series' is generally about trying to making figures that are as screen-accurate as possible, and an improvement on what's come before...

...this isn't that figure, this is just another iteration. There's some good parts on it for sure, but some really ugly parts - the 'wheel flaps' behind the arms are a major distraction to the overall silhouette. And the chest area is just weirdly bulbous and ugly. It just reminds me of this:



I'd be really interested to see what he looks like with the standard head, though!

 

I personally find it's like that because we have seen so many Bumblebee toys, so we just think to ourselves "just another 'Bee". Whereas some other SS figures are only the first or second incarnation of a character. This Bee at least has the door wings properly angled up.

 

Can we get a group shot with other Autobots?

 

This single-handedly undoes the figure for me. Everything else is acceptable, but I hate how Hasbro just thinks the wheels can float away from the body like that. They don’t even try to put them anywhere nea where they’re supposed to go.

 

That's a fair and true point. But in Bumblebee's case, when there have been many far superior designs over the years...why not just upgrade one of those instead? And it's a bit tricky to just sub one of the previous versions in, because it won't match the SS scale.

 

I can kinda see where you're coming from, but..... not really.

Another neat thing about SS-49 is both the door wings and front wheels are mounted on a swivel joint, allowing both the door wings and front wheels to be posed in either a more upward position or a more neutral downward position.

(Here's a GIF of one of the hinged door wing in action)



(Another GIF of the hinged door wing in action, viewed from the side)

 

Would you by any chance be able to share some vehicle mode group shots please? For scaling?

(if you have either SS Barricade, Shatter or car Dropkick, that would be awesome)

 

I do not see this as "just another bee"..I see this as the definitive Dexluxe movie 1 bee. I would say before this, Battle blade Bee was the best. Hell that figure is still like a mini MP to me.

Ive taken a long break from painting my TFs..but I really want this one to paint up the bot frame.

 

Got this today, in hand pics, and vids don’t do it justice. This is the definitive movie Bee destroys all the other versions other than the mpm, even if you just have a passing interest in the movies you should get this great figure at some point.