Here we have Bumblebee in his Volkswagen Beetle mode. The altmode is generally the same as before, so we'll save the comparisons for when we bring out the old figure. The Beetle mode is generally good, from the shade of yellow fitting the altmode to the use of paint apps for the windshield wipers and blinkers. I like that we have a mirror on the driver side only, and the silver paint for the rims is nice, even if I wish that the wheels didn't have the holes on the front as well as there being a desperate amount of paint needed for the bumpers. The figure still has some issues regarding keeping things flush, but it's slightly better than the old version. The rear windows being opaque not only adds some unnecessary inconsistency, but wouldn't it hurt to make them either all opaque or have the clear plastic cast in a darker tint? It's not as bad as Universe Ironhide and Ratchet, but it could have been better handled.
Weapon storage is almost similar to the MPM version, where the gun and blade peg into the rear bumper. No battle mask is included, though we'll get to that later for the robot mode.
For a comparison with his prior counterpart, I'm using the Rusty version which isn't 100% fair but bear with me. Major differences include the rims being dark gray on the original, a richer yellow commonly used on Movie Bumblebee toys is found in the 2018 figure, and darker gray plastics are used for the bumpers. The more faded shade of yellow on the new version is meant to match the way he appeared in the movie, though the Premium Finish version has an even closer deco based on the scene in the beach (it's mostly due to the color grading in the Bumblebee movie being worse than in prior movies and Rise of the Beasts).
Transformation is mostly the same as the original figure, thought while the upper body has a few changes with the doors and the wheels now stuck on the back of the shoulders instead of a separate assembly, the hands are no longer separate pieces, there is no longer a waist swivel used, and the smaller door wings are removed. The lower half is almost entirely new, with a less involved leg transformation that results in his larger feet and chunkier lower legs than what the final model has. Now his rear wheels are under the feet instead of near the knees! The robot mode better resembles the character model used in the final movie, though the lanky proportions are still there, and the door wings are now more prominent thanks to the rotation that makes them angle like with the CG models of the Camaro iterations of Bumblebee. You can move them around to hide them, but I'm #TeemDoorWings any day. A big issue I have with the mold has to the mismatched yellows in the shoulders, hips, and shins; if a second coat was added to those parts, it would have looked a bit better. In general, the retooled parts make the bot mode mostly better than before, though the door wings and legs make him look like he stole G1 Jazz's toy transformation.
His head sculpt is either a new sculpt meant for this version of the character or is a reuse of the one that came with the ROTB version. Could be the latter since the head was the same for both movies, only with a little extra yellow and better expressiveness than the constant sad eyes that Bayverse haters suddenly gooned over for the solo movie after hating his look in the past 5 movies. Anyways, his articulation consists of ball joints at the neck, shoulders, hips, and lower areas of the ankles, swivels for rotation at the elbows and thighs, and hinges for the elbows proper as well as the knees. The removal of a waist swivel is the worst part of this figure; in what world is removing a point of articulation like that considered an improvement?! At least the cannon and arm blade are more accurate.
For a comparison with his 2018 counterpart, you can see how different the proportions and engineering are between releases. It's amusing seeing that the future is taller and has longer arms than the old version, though I think some rust deco could have helped make the figure pop better. As far as I can tell, the doors and the headlight pecs are the same from the old toy. The head being larger on the new version means that doing a swap with the 2018 version for that battle mask look is likely impossible.
The gun on the new version is bulked up closer to the CG model than the old version, though I once again have to mention the inconsistency between shades of yellow.
The same goes for the forearm blade, which thankfully had some paint applied to it unlike the ROTB version. It also has some different tabs and weapon storage slots than the aforementioned counterpart.
The worst part about the retooling is that they left the clips for the mini wing hinges intact, making them a reminder of the cost-cutting that parts of this figure went through. Would it hurt Hasbro to do an ROTBee window tooling approach to make the doors opaque plastic? Despite that issue, the new Bumblebee is better than the original in terms of looks department. The mask gimmick could have been replaced with a full head swap like on the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Creatures Collide set, and the doors should have been replaced with better versions, but the fact that this feels like a new toy altogether makes it worth replacing the 2018 version. Even still, this isn't the best version of the character based on his look in the movie. It's better than the Cybertronian version but nowhere near as good as the Offroad version. The figure is still fiddly and the clear plastic may be fragile, plus the lack of a waist swivel is inexcusable. As it stands, it is still mid overall in terms of Studio Series offerings...much like the movie it's associated with.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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