Dave's Transformers Rant Cyber Stompin' Bumblebee Cyber Stompin' Optimus Prime Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Stompin1 Well, the movie is going to spawn a LOT of toys, so I have to decide when to try for completion and when to not...and the Cyber Stompin' toys are a "not" case. They don't transform, they're big, and kinda expensive, so I'm not going to shoot for the entire line of them. If there are further waves, I may get toys from them, I may not. Optimus Prime is the other toy in this wave, and has similar gimmicks and design philosophy. Update 2/8/08: I picked up Prime a few months ago while it was briefly on clearance, finally getting around to reviewing it. CAPSULE Cyber Stompin' Bumblebee: Big. Loud. Made to survive small children. Think of it as a non-transforming giant Go-Bot, and you'll have the right idea. Mildly recommended. $21.99 at K-Mart. Cyber Stompin' Optimus Prime: Same basic idea as Bumblebee, but a few differences in execution and generally not as good. Neutral unless you can get it cheap. $20 price point, although I paid $13 on clearance at Wal-Mart (they're back at full price again now). RANT Packaging: This is essentially an open half-box. Full back and bottom, triangular sides, and just a lip at the front. It's folded over double-thick corrugated cardboard, with the figure twist-tied down with the help of some small plastic blisters, leaving several buttons accessible for "Try Me" features. The box is 12.5" (32cm) tall, 9" (23cm) wide and 4.25" (11cm) deep, with the front lip being about 3" (7cm) tall. The dominant color is bright red, with yellow as the most obvious secondary color. Behind the figure, most of the card is actually a very light cool gray in an "upper left quadrant" circle swoop, something more obvious on the back where the pattern is repeated. The movie TF logo is up at the top, partly obscured by the figure, but the character logo is on the lip in front, and looks more Playskool-ish. The top inside of the box also has a yellow box with "Stomping Sounds! Car Noises! Light Up Eyes!" proclaimed. On the lip, to the left of the character logo, is a yellow arrow swooping up towads the figure with "TRY ME! Push chest button!" Below that is the statement that 3 AA batteries are included (and will be removed once I need to put this in storage!). In the lower right of the lip are the warnings that this is for ages 4+, and that it's a "Non-Converting Figure". Makes sense to warn that last bit, all things considered. The sides are pretty much the same, a kid's hand holding the toy with motion blurs around it, the character logo, and "Robot Stomping Sounds!" in a yellow circle. There's also a tab on the right side (your right, as it faces you) with "TRY ME! Robot punch!" and an arrow pointing down to a button on the left forearm. The two chest buttons and the two arm buttons will work in package. The bottom has the same stuff as the sides, minus the yellow circle, but plus legalese. On the back is another photo of the toy, with blur effects all around, and call-outs pointing to the various features: "Light up eyes and chest!" "Robot punch!" "Launching robot fist!" and "Battle sounds and music!" The movie logo is in the upper left, and "Transformers, more than meets the eye!" in the upper right. Below the logo in a blue circle is the phrase, "Tough, poseable action figure!" Along the bottom are the character logo again, "Cyber Stompin' Action! Every step triggers electronic crashing and crushing sounds!" and what passes for a bio note (see below). Along the very bottom edge are all the ownership marks, including Dreamworks and Paramount. You pretty much have to open up the folded over box sides and invert it to get at the twist-ties. Some can be cut from outside, but others are a bit trickier. Besides, you have to open it all up to get at the instructions and catalog. :) The toes are under blisters behind the figure, letting it fit in a slimmer box than would be needed if the toes were attached. Also, the instructions reveal a VERY important feature: the OFF switch (which also goes to ON and TRY ME). Plus it shows some of the less intuitive functions of the buttons. Seven twist-ties hold the figure into the box (5 thick, 2 medium). The right fist is also sealed within a raised blister, to keep it from launching away. The catalog is not exhaustive, it's more of a sampler, with one item representing each class where there's more than one thing of a type. So, here's the types, and the shown representative of each: Voyager Class: Autobot Ratchet Leader Class: Optimus Prime Optimus Prime Voice Changer Deluxe Class: Bumblebee (classic) Optimash Prime (Mr. Potato Head) Cyber Stompin': Optimus Prime Converting blasters: Optimus Prime Battle Rig Cyber Slammers: Bumblebee (classic, these are the throttlebot-like things with scary cute eyes) Robot Heroes: Prime and Ravage Combat Fighters: Prime vs. Megatron Titanium, Super Soaker, Tiger, Attacktix logos are shown, but no products depicted Activision computer game KiDesigns electronic game Mead school supplies: Bumblebee and Prime folders, Bumblebee pad Party Supplies: Prime, mainly Publishing & Activity Sets: various books and stuff Shoes: mainly logos, sneakers and sandals shown Watches: by Seiko, I've seen more of the designs online and none thrill me overmuch Clothing: t-shirts, hoodies, goats, pants, various characters Backpacks: several styles shown, some logo, some character Hats: baseball caps with logos, Prime Bedding: Full set shown (available at K-Mart now) Phone: TransformersMobile.com will supposedly have downloadables for your cellphone, it's not active last I checked Update: Prime's packaging is similar, but not the same. A few different call-outs, mainly to show the different gimmicks, and the bio text I list below in his entry. Only five twist-ties, but you still need to remove the inner blister piece to get at the toes and launching fist. AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE The most awesome spy in the universe is here, and needs your help to stomp some DECEPTICONS! Whether he's hidden in disguise on Earth, or traveling through space with the AUTOBOTS, BUMBLEBEE is always ready for some rough, tough action! As advertised, this is a non-converting figure, so there obviously won't be the usual breakdown on this review. Instead, I'll cover appearance, articulation, and gimmicks as the sections. Appearance: Big and chunky. 11" (28cm) tall at the head, with a more "movie accurate" sculpt than a transforming toy is going to be able to manage. I think this is the later version of Bumblebee, after he upgrades to the new model Camaro. Lots of tech greebles and pointless details. Mostly made of a slate gray plastic, with yellow plastic arm shields, clear plastic eyes and headlights, and black rubberized plastic tires on his back. Yeah, he doesn't even transform, and he has two rubber tires (the other two are just molded at his ankles). There's extensive yellow paint all over the body, a bit darker than the arm shield color, but otherwise a decent match. I think the head is also yellow plastic with slate gray paint parts that match the plastic very well. The face has silver paint on it in a pattern that looks kinda like a spade beard, which I suppose makes this the "grown up" Bumblebee. Or the Mirror Universe Bumblebee. Whatever. There's a few other silver bits, on the arm shields and the ankles, back of the head, rims on the back-mounted tires, the bumper molding on the chest, some bolts on the backs of the upper arms, and the joints where the car doors attach as wings. The tires molded into the ankles are painted black. There's a small red Autobot symbol on the forehead, and the chest buttons are painted red (unlike the picture on the package). A license plate is molded on the belt buckle, bent into a chevron shape, with the plate number 4NZZ454 and no state (just a red bar across the top). The windows of the door-wings are painted metallic slate blue-gray. Articulation: minimal, as you'd expect from something claimed to be durable. Ratcheting swivel shoulders and hips, smooth angled swivel at the elbows, smooth swivel neck. The door wings on back are on swivels, and the tires can be rotated, but don't spin freely. The right fist extends about a centimeter when the forearm button is pushed, the left fist launches when its forearm button is pushed (and can be turned while loaded). It can be a bit tricky to get the fist to lock in place. The toes flex up a little, but that's just to press the buttons. Gimmicks: This is all about the sound and light. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get mine into "battle mode" to experience the full range of sounds... but this doesn't bother me enough to exchange the figure. There are six buttons on the toy: right forearm, left forearm, right toe, left toe, right chest ("Button 1" in the instructions), left chest ("Button 2"). The toe buttons are inside the foot, and triggered by the toes being pushed up a little. The arm buttons also trigger hand-based gimmicks mentioned up in Articulation. The power switch has three positions: ON, OFF, and TRY ME. Button 1 only does one thing, either in ON or TRY ME. It starts with an engine revving and a car peeling out and burning rubber (which triggered when I was pulling out of the parking lot onto the highway as the figure pitched forward a bit, freaking me out slightly) and then segues into a somewhat tinny rendition of the classic Transformers theme song. Button 2 is supposed to switch the toy between regular and battle mode when the switch is ON. All it seems to do for me is negate the toe buttons while it's held down. In battle mode, moving the ratcheting limbs should generate various sounds, according to the instructions, but.... In TRY ME mode, pressing this button will give one of three sounds at random: the stomping sound, a honking horn, or a whooshing energy blast effect. Toe buttons do not work in TRY ME mode, and are supposed to be negated in battle mode. In ON mode, either one results in a crashing, clanking sound. The right arm button works in either ON or TRY ME modes, providing a launching sound. The left arm button works in either mode, making a slamming metal sound as the fist jabs forward. Most sounds are punctuated by yellow lights flashing in the headlights on the chest, and the eyes lighting up blue. The eyes also light up for a while after some sounds are over, flashing on and off slowly 4 times over the course of 20 seconds before stopping. Switching to ON also triggers this series of four flashes, but switching to TRY ME does not do this. All sounds come from a speaker in the left foot, which is also where the batteries are. [Correction: batteries are in the right foot.] They are... loud. Remember the bit I said about being freaked out while pulling onto the highway? The screeching tires sound was loud enough that I actually thought it might be my own car, and my windows were rolled down. This is definitely what I call a "grandparent gift," the sort of thing you get from your grandparents who are trying to get back at your parents for all the years of noise. :) OPTIMUS PRIME The greatest hero in the universe is here and ready for action. Huge and powerful, OPTIMUS PRIME is ready to battle MEGATRON and the evil DECEPTICONS to the finish. With some of the most incredible battle technology the world has ever seen, nothing can stop OPTIMUS PRIME! Appearance: At 11.25" (28.5cm) tall, he stands just as tall as Bumblebee. But his shoulders are significantly lower, and he looks kinda wimpy next to Bumblebee. Most of the toy is a medium slightly metallic gray plastic, with slightly metallic red plastic on the shoulders, forearms, and part of the boots. The right chest window, eyes and the barrel of his left arm cannon are clear colorless plastic. The tires on his thighs are black rubberized plastic. His eye LEDs are blue, and his cannon LED is yellow. There's extensive dark blue and red paint where relevant, and some silver details as well. The ankle tires are painted black, and there's a little bit of gold detail on the small of the back and the insides of the elbows. His Buttons 1 and 2 are headlights, and blend in well. Articulation: Identical to Bumblebee, except he has no wing doors. His hip wheels can turn, though. Gimmicks: Right fist launches, accompanied by blast sound when the toy is turned on. Left arm cannon lights up yellow and makes a burst noise. When the switch is in ON position, the toes trigger stomping sounds, Button 1 cycles through phrases, and Button 2 locks out the toe stomping sounds while held down, but does NOT trigger the alternate sound mode promised. I've heard from enough other owners now, and tried enough toys in the store, to say with confidence that Button 2's listed function of switching modes does not work on ANY Cyber Stompin' toy. As with Bumblebee, the eyes light up when any sound or light gimmick is triggered. In ON position, the A button cycles through these phrases, voiced by Peter Cullen: "I am OPTIMUS PRIME!" "Autobots, transform, and roll out!" "Blasters at the ready!" "FIRE!" "It's time to stop some Decepticons." In TRY ME position, the feet are disabled, the arms continue to make their regular sounds, and Button 1 cycles through the same phrases. However, now Button 2 runs through a number of sounds that should have been available in battle mode: various clanks and swooshes, a truck horn, and the stomping sounds. Prime has one other gimmick that he doesn't share with Bumblebee. If you look through a hole in his back, you can see out his right chest window (the left one is just painted dark blue). Pushing one of his upper torso details inward slides a picture of Megatron into the way, although you have to catch indirect light...looking straight through it at a light source washes out the Megatron. Overall: Eh, putting both together makes Prime look pretty bad. If you want both, don't display them together! But even on his own, Prime has problems. His launching fist doesn't look as good, and his scope gimmick is pertty weak. If you only get one Cyber Stompin' toy, get Bumblebee, not this one. Dave Van Domelen, really glad there is an off switch, or shipping this thing after forgetting to remove the batteries would result in Homeland Security seizing the box (seriously, back in 2000 I had a mailed box of TFs stopped by the Post Office because of strange sounds coming from inside, and this baby is a LOT louder than any previous TF).