Transformers Movie - Ultimate Bumblebee

Well, for a start, i'm a 33 year old guy who loved the transformers show and toys when was a kid, and the movie made me rekindle that love. Anyways, the toy seemed nice in the pictures, so i bought it (at ebay, for US$ 89) and i think it's well deserved the money.

It's a huge toy, the biggest transformer toy i've seen and probably one of the most detailed. It has lots of moving pieces and articulation points, so it makes it very poseable. It makes different sounds in robot and vehicle mode, the eyes and headlights are blue and very intense, while the backlights sparkle in red as they should.

The car mode is very nice, but not as impressive as the robot mode. Bumblebee turns his head, rotates his arms, and moves his wings while speaking some random phrases or music and shooting the cannon on his right arm. If you play with it in vehicle mode it will make screeching and accelerating noises according to the movement you are giving to it, but it won't move on its own. I expected that the engines would allow it to move around on its own, but they do not engage with the wheels in vehicle mode.

I disassembled Bumblebee and found out that the mechanism is similar to that in a computer mouse; it detects if you spin the wheels backwards and forward. The most difficult part is to assemble the arms in their socket, this step is the most important to complete the robot / vehicle transformation and it is the most delicate. There are a couple of pins on every shoulder that detect if you have put the wheel or the arm in place, i had to disassemble Bumblebee because one of the pins was stuck and kept it from working in vehicle mode. Hasbro should take note on this flaw, it can render the toy useless (from the electronics point of view, not as a transformer, of course)

However, I love all the little details. The left hand has articulate fingers and an opossable thumb, so you can pose it while picking flowers or something like that : )

It would have been cooler if they'd made it with transparent windows, die cast body and two hands, but hey, you can't have everything. I have a four year old daughter and we both enjoy playing together assembling and disassembling the robot, which is, by the way, a hard task. It took me 20 minutes the first time, but you can learn with repetition. If you assemble it correctly, you'll find that it has been pretty well designed, and that no pieces are out of place. You should apply some force on assembling some pieces, but not excessive force.

This might be an expensive toy (US$ 89 is not something most people would pay for a toy) but again, i'm a fan, so i'm possible biased. I wouldn't recomend it for kids who are easily frustrated or that want to have fun inmediately or like to crash things against walls to test them. However if your kids are careful or you are a collector like me, you'll certainly enjoy this toy. I'd love it if Hasbro decided to keep making these kind of toys, they certainly make my G1 transformers (that i still keep in a shelf) look simple and dated.

Of course that there's always a market for the simple flip-and-go transformer toy, but adults with their inner child alive will love Bumblebee.

Ultimate Bumblebee is currently available for pre-order, and will be released in September. I decided to preorder my copy a few days ago.

I had a chance to experiment with Bumblebee for a bit, at a toy Fair so I'll review based on my experience. I should note from the beginning, that the picture of Bumblebee on Amazon has been mistransfromed. The chest section separates into three pieces, creating a more streamlined figure. Ultimate Bumblebee stands tall, at 14 inches in height. That's about 2 inches taller than Leader Optimus Prime!

In car mode, the toy accurately represents the Camero. The front doors can open, but unfortunately, there is no interior design. Opening the front doors (with a lot of force) will just lead you to a huge block of plastic, instead of seats, and a steering wheel, which makes the effort quite useless.

In addition to having Transforming capabilities, the toy also has some electronic features. By a push of a button on Bumblebee's chest, the toy can say certain cath phrases, and even play some songs (most noticeably, "Whip it" by Devo). The right arm canon can automatically raise and fire a plastic missile, the head automatically rotates, while the back wings flap by themselves. Bumblebee also reacts to certain environmental noises, such as hand clapping. Yeap, this is a fully automated toy.

As a person who has been collecting Transformers for years, I can honestly say that I'm not sure how to categorize toy. It seems more of an electronic toy than a Transformer.

But, while I'm not a big fan for electronics, I would say that in addition to Bumblebee's car mode, his robot mode is extremely well done (minus the face plate, and lack of a hand on the gun arm). In fact, I believe that the robot mode in Ultimate Bumblebee is more accurate and detailed than the deluxe action figures. That said, if you can afford this version of Bumblebee, definitely make sure to get it.

The toy stands great as a collector's item. Here is the breakthrough of my review:

Design: 4.5/5
EXTREMELY well detailed car and robot mode. The best that I've seen in the current Transformer line. But, having a face plate, and hand on the gun arm, would have made this toy almost perfect.

Possibility: 4/5
Arms can move somewhat, but the electronic mechanism in the shoulder joints, hinders much of the rotation about the ball-sockets.

Electronics: 4.5/5
Cool, yet somewhat annoying after a while. I might take the batteries out after getting this toy.

Overall Score (not an average): 4.5/5
If you don't like electronics - get past that. This is a pretty sweet transformer. Highly detailed. Collectors and fans of the movie will appreciate this toy.

Parents be advised. I just got this thing today for my son's 7th birthday - he's a huge transformers fan and can transform any one he has quickly. He completely gave up in utter frustration - the booklet indicates something like 30 steps to go from robot to car mode - so it was daddy's turn to try - the thing just will NOT snap together perfectly - the arms, etc do not go into the car at all, let alone easily - roughly 2 hours later it was Mom'd turn because I was seriously stressed - she gave up after trying really really hard so it was DAddy's turn again - and then Mommy's - and then Daddy's until the whole day got away from us - all this while a 7 year old waited as patiently as he could for it to be a car. WE came SO CLOSE to getting it before we had to admit that ti just didn't snap together perfectly - not to mention that there was no way we were going to let him EVER put it in Robot mode again so what's the point?

Yes, it's really really cool and the lights, etc.. are bright and it never felt like we were in danger of breaking it during all of this so it gets high marks for it's durability but this one is going back - I told my son he could have as many other transformers as he wanted to make up fo the disappointment - and I got this one at a great price from Costco (
$70.00) I would have ben so much more pissed if I spent the hundred it was originally advertised at - expect this thing to bottom out in the 50 dolalr range as we get closer to Christmas. There will be A LOT of returns after the holidays.

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