Transformers Studio Series Core Class Laserbeak & Rumble/Legacy Bomb Burst review

The 2022 line-up of Core Class figures ends as we complete the last set of characters worth exploring before the newest additions for Rise of the Beasts and Evolution come into play. We now have a figure representing a Transformers movie that is NEITHER Bumblebee or 1986. We get yet another Pretender character to go along with Iguanus. Still, in between them both is a new experiment Hasbro wants to test out if they're interested in seeing who'd be willing to go all in with Soundwave's minions...again...Without further ado, let's get to the review!

What a variety of alt modes. We got a rectangle that plays music, a real-world car, and a made-up jet that feels like a Lego drone. 

Here is Laserbeak in his vehicle mode. And your eyes aren't deceiving you: Laserbeak is a pink Camaro and it is not a recolored Bumblebee. I find it amusing that so many people forgot this was a look that he had in the movie at one point back when the toy was revealed. Yeah, it was brief, but that's what happens when the fanbase kept wanking at all the numerous third-party Legends and MP-esque Primes rather than looking at other parts of the franchise. Obviously, Laserbeak never transformed into a Camaro when he obtained the disguise, but it is clear that it will be reused for an actual Bumblebee later down the road. It's neat how they had so many details and paint apps throughout the toy, from the windows to the stripes and the door handles. Even the little Chevy bowtie logo is on the grille. There are some holes on the hood for some reason.

The design is generally neat, the gun can stay on top of the roof, and his wheels are snap-on for the back and pinned for the front.

Transformation is pretty similar to numerous Bumblebee figures of smaller scale, specifically, the DOTM Legion figure back when Cyberverse represented a pocket-sized line and not a full-on franchise. While the legs and chest sort of transform similarly, the doors are on actual hinges, and aren't part of the arms, said arms on this guy are separate from the doors and are independent parts, and the back of the car juts out to make the legs flow a little better. The resulting robot mode looks a little odd in terms of proportions. It's trying to look more refined than the previous Legends/Legion figures, yet it looks rather awkward by comparison. I'm not expecting the chest to break up, yet it looks pretty oversized compared to the waist and arms, and said waist has these HUGE thighs and lower legs. The backpack being pink like the rest of the body ends up making the body's silhouette look fat. And the head itself looks like it's slightly smaller than the Legends figures he had in the past.

Head sculpt is nicely done for a Core Class figure, resembling a shrunken-down version of the character back in the Studio Series line. I like that the eyes are slightly pink yet look a bit red to stand out from the pink of the head. His articulation is pretty standard for the line, with ball joints for the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips, though his knees only hinge. His gun can clip on his hand, though I wish it'd cover the hand a little mode.

For a robot mode size comparison, here he is next to the Studio Series version of the character in the same line. I kind of find it amusing how we get a normal Deluxe version of the character in one wave while the next wave gives us the Core Class equivalent for a different character. You can tell how much inspiration they took from the Studio Series version, especially for the head, though I'll admit Laserbeak is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of how his robot mode works.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Here is Rumble in his mini-cassette mode. A wee little rectangle, this guy has a much better resemblance to an Earth cassette compared to either Laserbeak or Ravage in the Netflix Soundwave set, as he has a few paint apps and fewer sculpted details that make him look as close to a cassette as he possibly can. It's got gaps and has a few parts exposed, but it gets the job done, right?

Here he is next to Gen Selects Frenzy. And yes, I'm calling the one on the left Rumble and the one on the right Frenzy. The reason being how the new SS86 guy has a cartoon-based deco, which contrasts the toy-accurate deco of the original toy found on GenSelects Frenzy. The latter toy has more sculpted details to show his alien origin in addition to not having the head on a ball joint, as it instead has the 5mm port on the center that flips down.

He can store inside Soundwave as expected, though you're going to need to get Legacy Soundwave since Hasbro refused to give fans Netflix Soundwave properly. Also, the piledrivers can have the guns on top for weapon storage..

Transformation is similar to the Siege Micromaster, but the hands fold all the way when turning him in tape mode rather than 75%, while the head can flip up and rotate like on Kingdom Eject, and the feet can flip down, which is not the same for the other characters. Oh and the guns peg on the back. The robot mode is much leaner like on the cartoon, especially with the proportions not being as wide as on the Siege toy. The figure's got a few paint apps on the legs to break up the lavender and baby blue, and looks nicely filled in from the front but hollow on the backs of the legs, torso, and thighs. 

Head sculpt is pretty faithful to the cartoon, especially with the red visor and silver face. His articulation consists of ball joints for the neck, shoulders, and knees, while the hips can swivel front and back as well as hinge in and out. He has no elbows, which is concerning since Kingdom Eject has elbows. I can understand the Micromasters not having elbows, but why not this guy? The guns can peg on the forearms, and the piledrivers can slide onto the arms if the hands are folded away. I like that you can pose him to make him look ready to crack the shell and bomb the nuts.

 

For a size comparison, here he is in-between GenSelects Frenzy and Kingdom Eject. Here, you can see just how different the media colorizations of each version of the blue partner of Soundwave looks, but we can also observe how inconsistent the benefits are for each type of Deployer. The Siege mold has no knees and accessories. Okay, that's understandable as a Micromaster. Kingdom Eject is made out of clear plastic likely as a part of the Legacy line since most of the earlier figures had clear weapons. He also lacks weapons yet has elbow joints. Rumble is sold on his own and has accessories of his own, yet he lacks elbows yet has feet. So there's that if you wanted to know how inconsistent these characters are. I honestly think that the Core Class cassettes will be irritating if they're going to continue being smaller than normal and justifying the prices with the extra accessories while not having elbow joints.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here we have Bomb-Burst, the sole Legacy character in the review. A re-release of Soundwave is out there, but I already have him so expect him to be back in black next time! Anyways, Bomb-Burst is a little jet that sort of looks VTOL in design and more like a drone made out of Lego pieces if I'm being honest. It's just a trend I notice with the Pretenders' inner robots and how their alt modes feel sort of like after thoughts. He's light blue, has a raspberry cockpit, and has gray here and there. That's pretty much it. Oh and be sure to not lose the gun on the front.

For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is next to Iguanus. I guess we can say that if Igguanus would work well for a motorbike that would be ridden by a spy or a footsoldier, then Bomb-Burst can be a glider for a Green Goblin type of character.

Transformation is very simple; guns rotate down, cockpit hinges back, legs flip down and rotate, that's it. Not as cool as Iguanus's transformation. As for the robot mode, it definitely has more identity going for it, what with the combination of the shell and the inner robot details that we've seen with Skullgrin and Iguanus, but it began much earlier and in an entirely different toyline with Bludgeon back in Revenge of the Fallen. I like that concept a lot more than trying to make some dumbass updates to equally dumbass Pretender shells with shitty inner robots. But yeah, Bomb-Burst has a more mechanized take on the Pretender shell design, and while he does seem initially wide from the front with the wingspan(?) on the arms, he at least has a bit of a reasonable backpack. You can remove the guns, but he can't hold them as axes (you can peg them on the back and the weapon, but I haven't done that, sorry).

Head sculpt is looks wicked, with an ugly badass Man-Bat face with big ears and gnarly nostrils complimented with gold eyes and slightly painted teeth. If the face had a wash, it'd look even cooler. His articulation has a neck swivel, ball joints for the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and the feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot. His weapon looks like a monkey wrench.

For a robot mode size comparison, you can see he is shorter than Iguanus, and I still think that Iguanus is the better and cooler Core Class Pretender than Iguanus, making Bomb-Burst feel like a cool yet not-quite-there addition to the Legacy line's Core Clas roster, especially with how he doesn't feel as refined as his earlier partner.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And that covers the trio of Core Class figures! Everyone feels like a mixed bag here. One feels a bit clunky for a Core Class figure, another feels like it's trying a little too hard to mimic the smaller Deluxes like Cliffjumper with how they try to rework their role in a size class to justify the price they're going for, and another feels a bit meh. Let's see how Evolution works!