Bumblebee's one of those characters that you expect to have tons of figures from every once in a while, but it was surprising that they started popping up into the Generations line rather late. I mean, while Combiner Wars had no Bumblebee to speak of, Titans Return did give us a Legends version of the character. From there, Bumblebee was absent entirely in Power of the Primes and Siege, with fans not really having much of an updated version of the character. In fact, while he was present in the movies and TV show, he wasn't present in the Prime Wars trilogy. Not that he'd improve the show's quality, but it was odd that a mainline guy like him was MIA (probably because of the fans wanting less toys of the character when they didn't include G1 Bee). After a G1 reissue and a second stab at the Masterpiece line, Bumblebee received an awesome yet hard-to-find Netflix figure for Walmart and what was initially seen as the only new mold for the Buzzworthy line at Target until the Origin Deluxe was made. Let's see how this guy turned out.
Here is Bumblebee in his never-done-by-Hasbro-before Cybertronian saucer mode. Based on the vehicle he turned into during the opening scene of More Than Meets The Eye, he is quite the surprising addition to the whole Cybertronian G1 aesthetics. After seeing the Tron-cycle cars that Bumblebee turned into during the War for Cybertron games and his own movie, it's surprising that Hasbro decided to make this into an actual toy. The way it's shaped certainly makes it impossible to have it transform while keeping the robot mode clean and intact in terms of silhouette. Not saying it's impossible but it's bound to happen. We'll see how it turns out, but I like the way it's turned out for the most part. The shape is pretty basic, and while it has no wheels underneath and lacks some of the proper sculptwork to put it on-par with the WFC trilogy, it manages to have a decent use of panel lining a la some of the Studio Series 86 figures to make up for it. The shades of yellow match up okay, and the top of the vehicle mode certainly looks nice and clean overall. It's pretty bland as far as the color layout is concerned, and while sparce, the blue from the windshield, silver for the front vents/grille, and the red Autobot insignia keep it from being too drab. The 3 5mm holes allow him to display the jetpack on the top and the pistol on either side of the toy.
For a size comparison, here he is in-between two Minibots. He's quite lower than the other two in terms of height, but then again, he is meant to be a saucer instead of a car. On top of that, he may have some honorary height in the form of levitation.
And here he is with his fellow Bumblebee counterparts, that being the Walmart Netflix Deluxe and the other Target-exclusive in the form of the Core Class figure that came with Spike! He's definitely the most unique out of the three of them, but I have to say that while Netflixbee feels solid in terms of construction (and for his price point/engineering, the same goes for the Core version), Originbee feels pretty cheap and on-par with some of the Cyberverse figures that were made in the Deluxe range. Neither feel like knockoffs, perse, but they do feel cheaper than the other WFC guys and kind of on the same range as Studio Series Ratchet and Siege Ironhide. I don't have the Worlds Collide version, but I do know that he is in a similar shade of yellow to the Target Buzzworthy bois instead of the Netflix yellow that Movie Bumblebee's associated with.
Transforming Bumblebee is surprisingly ingenious with how it manages to stray away from the issues that would plague the other transforming versions of the design while attempting to make this figure both transformable in both modes and keeping the robot silhouette intact. The legs transform uniquely for the figure, the arms and chest are all done up fairly well for the transformation, and the backpack doesn't take up too much space and doesn't quite ruin the aesthetic in some angles. That being said, he feels pretty cheap in some parts, especially with the use of ball joints in the panels and how thin the figure feels. Also, on my copy, the piece used to hinge the panel on the left leg is not a mirrored piece and is basically the right leg's piece, making it a factory error. The resulting robot mode is probably the best a transforming Cybertronian Bumblebee's ever looked in plastic form. Obviously, the figure isn't exactly clean as it has the vehicle mode parts hanging on the G1-accurate robot mode, but the execution is very admirable compared to the third-party offerings. Look at those attempts' shellformery nature and come back to this. It's not as good as the Siege Tetrajets, but it's appreciative nonetheless. I guess you can take off the pieces if you want, but I don't think they'd 100% make the figure look that good (especially if some parts are needed for integral structure purposes like the pieces on TLK Optimus). And hey, he's got the faux yet proportionate chest and some VW boots that he's even yet to have!
Head sculpt is very much based on the design that was designed by legendary Transformers artist Ken Christiansen, which is pretty much used in the 2019 IDW series and the Netflix series. It's certainly got less of a rounded design since the sides of the helmet are certainly bigger (moreso than the Classic head), and while the silver paint on the face is as nice as the sculpting, the eyes are pretty much sunken in and don't have the right amount of paint app sizing added into the mix. If anything, it's as cheap as the rest of the figure in areas. The articulation is at least consistent with the WFC Deluxes, with a ball-jointed neck, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and feet that hinge somewhat as well as pivot.
As far as his accessories are concerned, he has his traditional blaster molded in pretty durable plastic and a jetpack that feels cheaper than it. I'm not expecting it to have die-cast, and I understand that adding more density may weigh the figure back than it needs to, but you do get the difference in quality between the two accessories. At least they're both able to give Bumblebee some added display options. You can probably add some fire pieces onto the jetpack to make him look like he's flying with a flight stand!
If you thought the figure's accessories are done, he's got some energon rods that are cast in orange plastic. 5 of them, surprisingly. There are some slots on the undersides, but I don't think they're meant for any method of storage on this toy specifically. Maybe on some PulseCon exclusive with a Vacuum Wheeljack!
Speaking of, small size comparison with Earthrise Wheeljack! I'd probably use the Netflix version, but whatever. While there is no proper way to hold them, you can at least display them with Bumblebee hugging onto them with his left arm and making sure they're stable on there. It's even mentioned in the instructions, believe it or not, so I guess it's alright.
For a size comparison, here he is with the same Minibots we covered before. He's shorter than both of them, as expected, and once again, he feels cheaper than both of the two figures. Not saying that Huffer and Warpath were given the same quality as the Cybertron Scouts of a decade and a half before, but they felt pretty solid in hand while he feels cheaper by comparison. That really shouldn't be the case, but it's maybe from the design of the figure (budget is a different story even if he is one of the two new molds of the Buzzworthy line).
And for a size comparison with his other counterparts in the Generations line, here he is with the Netflix version and the Core Class counterpart. I guess if we ignore the kibble, his robot mode is definitely the most proportionate to the G1 character model, and it is funny how he has the smirk while Netflix Bee has the neutral face. They're definitely each in different flavors of Bumblebee, with one having the more VW approach, one being Cybertronian, and the other having his own design at the cost of being more like Bumper. He's interestingly taller than the Netflix version, which I guess can be explained by him being a newer mold (and maybe from the way he's designed).
If you want, you can give the Netflix figure a more appropriate weapon for his character and even give Sideswipe the jetpack if you don't have the Centurion Drone accessory pack. Two problems for each accessory: the gun will not store anywhere since the vehicle mode has no 5mm ports, and the jetpack sits too low on Sideswipe. But overall, Origin Bumblebee is a very interesting figure to go over. I like that he's the best version of the character that turns into the flying saucer, but that doesn't mean he's perfect. He feels cheaper than the Deluxe Minibots, including his previous versions from the Netflix line or the Worlds Collide version using the Cliffjumper tooling. I like that he fills in the gap of a Siege-type Bumblebee, especially given how prominent his role was, but he's definitely got a cheaper feel I would expect on the Warrior Class figures from RID 2015 and Cyberverse. I got him to have a completion feel of the new molds for the WFC lines, and while he is a unique mold overall in the line, I still think he's not 100% perfect, and unless you want to have him in your Cybertronian display or to endorse the new molds of the Buzzworthy line, you may prefer getting the Netflix or Worlds Collide version, that is unless you're not ready for either paying scalper prices or are uninterested in Nemesis Primal, Fangry, and Blackarachnia. So in short - not great, don't hate.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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