Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Deluxe Class Bumblebee Part 2

Jurassic Park taxi

More images of "Transformers: Prime - Beast Hunters" Deluxe Class Bumblebee in vehicle mode after the introduction in the previous posting.

Before that, let's have a look at the weapons included for Bumblebee, and the flexibility of their configuration on the figure first. ^^



Eagleshot Bow, two of the six missiles, and Bumblebee's original pair of twin blasters come as detached components in the package.



The limbs of the crossbow can be retracted to show the weapon in storage mode.


Bottom view of the weapon.


One of the six bolts for Eagleshot.
The bolts, especially the two pairs on Bumblebee's wings can be regarded as just his body mounted missiles. ^^


Special gimmick of Eagleshot: the limbs automatically expand as a bolt is being loaded into the launcher.
The limbs can be folded outward normally, but the auto-expand feature is definitely more fun to play with. ^^


The expanded Eagleshot Bow, which looks like a yellow Laserbeak. XD


(Left) The lever behind the body to fire the bolt.
(Right) Two mount latches to hold additional bolts on the weapon.




The expanded and bolt-equipped Eagleshot. ^^


Bottom view of the weapon.


With its limbs expanded, the weapon is about 11cm in length.


The connector pin near the rear edge beneath the weapon's body.



Said connector allows the weapon to be equipped to either the figure's hand, or its forearm.



The same connector also allows the weapon to be mounted on the back of Bumblebee. This is the position for the weapon on the vehicle mode as well.



The twin blasters inherited from the previous version of Bumblebee.


The molded details on the two small parts are very well done.


The connector-slot pair on the two parts allow them to be connected to one another. ^^


Unlike similar parts on most other Transformers figures reviewed in the past, the muzzles are actually molded on Bumblebee's twin blasters. ^^


Much like Eagleshot Bow shown earlier on, the blasters can be configured as either handheld or forearm-mounted weapons.


The idle slot on the top blaster after it's connected to the first one can be used to mount Eagleshot Bow to form a massive combo weapon. ^^


The blasters can also be mounted on Bumblebee's back.


In vehicle mode, Eagleshot Bow is designated to be on top of the roof, while the stacked blasters are to be mounted on top of the hood.


The respective ports to hold the two weapons in vehicle mode.

More images of Bumblebee as a spiky car: ^^












Closeups on the details:














Bottom view:








The "plain" mode - with all the weapons removed:










Pretty cool-looking camouflage pattern on the car. ^^
The pattern is produced during the molding process I believe, as the effect seems to be random on different figures of Bumblebee. Also, for some reasons, the effect is only for the roof and right door. ^^;


The empty slots on the doors after their missiles are removed.

While the overall silhouette is very close to that of the "Robots in Disguise" Deluxe Class version, especially when all the weapons are detached, the radical redesign features are unmistakable on this version of Bumblebee, and that certainly gives the character a very different feel. ^^ The spikes next to the headlights, and on the rear bumper of the car are not removable, so even in "plain" mode, the vehicle mode looks pretty well-armed. The heavy arms design and look reminds me of the Autobots Wreckers who appeared in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". ^^

In terms of detailing, the molded details on various parts are more impressive than the overall paint work in my opinion. The details on the crossbow and blasters are very well done, almost excessively so when compared to the rest of the vehicle mode. ^^; They are certainly my pick as the more visually impressive details on Bumblebee in vehicle mode. In terms of paint work, the rather "minimalist" approach focused only on forward-facing parts, so the headlights, bumper grille, details on the hood, windshield, and side windows are all painted, but on the rear end of the car, everything is so plainly yellow. ^^; There's no taillight of any sort, not even the rear window is painted, which is rather disappointing. ^^; For the rear bumper, the molded details given to the figure impress again with the inclusion of additional rows of small spikes and "teeth", which aren't available on the the "Robots in Disguise" Deluxe Class version. Given that the taillights were also not painted on that older version, I would say this new Bumblebee actually wins in terms of detailing on that area, even though the lack of paint work is obviously still a flaw shared by the two. ^^;

The random camouflage pattern on the roof is something new as compared to the "Robots in Disguise" Deluxe Class version, but its application is too little to make an impression on the overall vehicle. I think it should be applied to either the entire car, not just the hood and right door as mentioned earlier on, or not at all. Personally, I still prefer the usual black stripes as seen on the older versions of Bumblebee. ^^

Given that this new Bumblebee and the previous Deluxe Class version share the same price, it's obvious that most of the production cost went into designing the revamped details and new weapon. Since it's aimed at children, who are generally more interested in playing with the figure rather than admiring its details, I suppose the tradeoff between cost and details is justifiable.

A bit of not-so-special weapon gimmick in vehicle mode: by swiveling the blasters and Eagleshot Bow around the parts they are connected to, the weapons can be shown aiming at different targets simultaneously. ^^


"Fire in all directions!" ^^






Comparison with Deluxe Class Cliffjumper:





Bumblebee is a bit shorter than Cliffjumper, but is definitely taller, and bulkier.


Top view


Bottom view



With Cliffjumper in robot mode.

Transformation design of Bumblebee coming up next. ^^

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