Given how there's not much else to say about Bumblebee at this point, I can at least say that Cyberverse Bee was cool to have him be a little different from the Evergreen design. While he did have voice problems twice in Season 1, he was at least able to speak in full sentences in Season 2 and 3. He was pretty prominent in the first two seasons, yet Season 3, despite having the late moniker of "Transformers Bumblebee: Cyberverse Adventures", didn't show Bumblebee as much given how the Quintesson story mostly focused on the likes of Hot Rod, Clobber, and Maccadam. Still, I'm content to see Bumblebee return, but with plenty of releases being gimmick toys with mixed results, how does the Deluxe version fare?
Here is Bumblebee in his vehicle mode. As always, he's in a car reminiscent of a Camaro that he's taken the form of since 2007, but it's a fitting idea given how neat it was to see Bumblebee go from Minibot to being part of the main team even more. That being said, compared to the Camaro, the Urbana 500, and the Windblazer (the latter two being fictional vehicles BTW), this feels a little less aggressive than the other two in terms of design. Bumblebee's vehicle mode just feels less badass and more casual if you ask me thanks to the rounded edges, and it's got more of a Hot Shot vibe to him, but the difference between Bumblebee and Hot Shot is that Bumblebee is usually experienced and knows how to get himself out of sticky situations whereas Hot Shot generally wants to show the older Autobots that he can be as tough as he is, though the eventually learns how to be more responsible over time.
It's overall a decent vehicle mode, though aside from the design not being a little rounder than the norm, I feel that there are some missing details for this guy. The blue for the rear part of the window is one, but the most striking aspect of this car mode is the coloring used for the rims or lack thereof on this toy. They should have light blue paint like with the windows, and it sucks how they're not painted. Some may find the lack of a spoiler jarring, but he didn't come with one in the show despite a few toys saying otherwise.
One of his weapons can be stored underneath the vehicle mode, which is neat since it is out of sight and out of mind. This is his regular pistol, BTW.
His other weapon can be placed near one of the hindquarters of the car, which is kind of jarring since it feels like it's hanging out there randomly and isn't integrated properly. It is useful with stinging someone in their vehicle mode, though.
The transformation is somewhat reminiscent of the Thrilling 30 Bumblebee figure from the Generations line. Notable aspects include the shoulders, the leg transformation (which is now accompanied by a waist swivel), and the placement of the wings. The chest is faux as well, but instead of his hood, it's the roof like with G1 Bumblebee. The tabs used for the shins feel a little thin, and I worry the tabs will snap off from repeated transformations, but everything else is more or less fine. As for his robot mode, it's certainly more distinct among the G1 character designs because this guy is based on the Evergreen look. This guy has plenty of stylistic tweaks compared to the normal design, which isn't a bad thing as the Cyberverse line. He's got a few details missing in terms of paint, but I do wish his shoulders don't have the hinges visible from the front; they make the figure's anatomy look a little odd and kind of reminiscent of how weird the shoulders were for Combiner Wars Megatron. Another problem is how thin the wings look, what with the paint being visible from the side. Otherwise, this figure's design is perfectly fine in robot mode.
Head sculpt is pretty good, though both the eyes and the rest of the head could use better paint applications. There's a lot of nicely sculpted detail that could benefit from decent use of paint apps, especially his head's stripes and the outlines all around it. As for the articulation, it's about the same as Optimus Prime, but he lacks forward ankle movement, his shoulders are a little limited in movement, and the head doesn't move as much.
Bumblebee's accessories are pretty neat, what with his pistol being a small yet nifty gun and a stinger that has a nice use of silver paint. The latter weapon is especially neat to have a version of as it's a sweet inclusion to his design like how Animated Bee has his own stinger. This weapon was also noteworthy for freezing his opponents! You can even complete that look by attaching the effect piece! What's not to love?
I didn't do a size comparison with Optimus Prime last time, but here is Bumblebee next to a few other Deluxe Class Transformers I own, which include Roadbuster and Prowl. I'd say he's in-between them in terms of height, though his plastic's a little thin compared to both of them.
As part of the Maccadam build-a-figure line, he's got the lower torso for the character. It's got some silver paint to contrast the orange of the character. Note the ball joint in the middle. As for Bumblebee himself, if you fix the plastic tolerances and add a bit more paint he might be better than Optimus. As it stands, they're on equal footing. Then again, I established Optimus needed to be bigger and have some improvements. If you want to get Bumblebee, take note of the figure's distribution; he may or may not be available at your place given the restock some olaces may or may not have.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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