Dave's Transformers Buzzworthy Rant: Bumblebee and Spike Witwicky Bumblebee (compact car) Spike Witwicky (exosuit) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/CoreBB Buzzworthy is a weird line. Mostly repackaged toys with a loose Bumblebee theme, a few tweaked figures (like a recolored Trash Crash packaged with Spark Armor Bumblebee, or Studio Series #15 packed with a Mikaela minifigure), and a couple of entirely new molds. One is Studio Series #74 (if I review that, it'll go in the Studio Series directory), the other is this set. While the Buzzworthy packaging uses the "evergreen" Bumblebee design and a font taken from the Bumblebee movie, they also have trade dress appropriate to their source line (Cyberverse, Studio Series...and in this case, Kingdom). I'm not sure if this set was always intended for Buzzworthy, or if Buzzworthy was a late decision and Bumblebee was pulled from Kingdom for it. In any case, as I'll detail below, this was clearly a Bumper mold that got a new head to be Bumblebee. Spike might have been originally intended for another Kingdom toy (Ultra Magnus could certainly absorb the cost, or perhaps a Netflix exclusive Leader set, but Studio Hot Rod would be thematically appropriate). CAPSULE $15 price point. Bumblebee and Spike Witwick: If this were a $10 set, it'd definitely be worth picking up. Not great, it has some problems, and it's clearly a repurposed mold, but it's okay. But I certainly wouldn't suggest paying more than shelf price for it, and even shelf price is a bit iffy. Mildly recommended. RANT Packaging: A blister card with both figures in robot (or humanoid) modes. The blister insert has the more generic evergreen Bumblebee bust art and logo, but the cardback has the War for Cybertron logo and the "running down the side of the volcano" art seen on other Kingdom toys. The card is 7.25" (18.5cm) wide, 7.75" (19.5cm) tall, but feels wider than tall because of the blister. The blister is 6.25" (16cm) wide, leaving almost all of the "TRANSFORMERS" edge banner uncovered, 4" (10cm) tall, and 1.5" (4cm) deep. The blister insert has the evergreen head on the left and the name and Buzzworthy logo along the lower edge, with the blister raised slightly for the insert. There's no indication of class on the side. The card front is dominated by art of the two running down the volcano, with the War for Cybertron logo in the upper left and the main Transformers banner in black on yellow along the right edge. The cardback has a golden honeycomb motif behind renders of both modes of both figures, their names, the WfC logo, and a bunch of legalese. No other information. The instructions folded up under the bottom of the blister are black and white and golden yellow. Just instructions, though, again no other information. Bumblebee is held in by three plastic ties, Spike and the pistol are just held in by blister shape. AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE Assortment: F0926 Altmode: Compact Car Transformation Difficulty: 11 steps Previous Name Use: Yes Previous Mold Use: None Robot Mode: Well, it has the proper G1 Bumblebee head, and is passable as an update, although the chest isn't as rounded off (the top is flat, like the T30 Legends figure). The feet are boxier, because they don't even get close to a VW Beetle altmode (see below), but probably the most obvious new element is a set of C-shaped wings...the rear fenders just fold back rather than being part of the upper arms. The forearms have door panels on them at an askew angle. 3" (7.5cm) tall, so a little shorter than other Core Class figures, but he really shouldn't be as tall as Optimus Prime anyway. The usual mix of canary yellow and black, with some silver and metallic light blue, plus a relatively large red Autobot symbol printed on the center of the chest. Black plastic is used for the upper arms, thighs, all the wheels, and the panel that the head is attached to. The gun is also black plastic. Everything else is canary yellow plastic. There's silver paint on the face and the headlights on the toes. The front bumper and grille bits on the toes are gloss black. The windshield and side front windows on the chest are light metallic blue, as is the rear window on the back. The eyes are painted light non-metallic blue. The neck is a swivel, but if you turn it too far its liable to pop off entirely (handy if you want to resculpt it), no waist joint. The head can tilt back a little on a transformation joint before it starts to look bad. Ball joints on the shoulders, elbows, and hips. The knees are pinned hinges. The wings are hinged at their roots. The official pics have the wings out to the sides, reminiscent of movie BB's door wings. The hands can hold 3mm pegs, although the plastic around them gets awfully thin, as if the sockets were an afterthought. No other connection points. The gun is a single piece of black plastic 22mm (under an inch) long with a 3mm peg handle. The muzzle does not have a 3mm stud, but the more flexible Fire Blasts can be stuck on the end and will stay. Transformation: A lot of panel massaging for something so small. The biggest hassle involves trying to get the shoulder roots to move into their proper positions without simply popping the arms off or even breaking something. Start by clipping the boots together and pointing the toes. Then fold the back up and enclose the head in the driver's compartment. Fold the legs and pelvis back and up so that the windshield connects up to the shins. Then comes the tricky part, getting the shoulders to rotate inside to get the rear wheels in the right position so that the arms can lock onto the front fenders and the wings can fold down to make the rear fenders. Finally, store the pistol on the underside. I've done this a few times, and I still can't get the rear wheels lined up well enough to spin freely. I suspect that this is an assembly issue rather than a transformation issue. Altmode: Oddly, this isn't any version of Bumblebee seen in recent years, it's essentially Bumper's altmode. Maybe we'll get Bumper in an as- yet unannounced Kingdom wave? It even has the weird backplate that the Minibots had, a reference to the Choro-Q "Penny Racer" vehicles. Like Core Class Optimus Prime, there's a lot more seams than is usual for a figure this size, owing to the complexity of the transformation. Some of the seams and joints make it impossible to really paint the rear side windows, but they do paint the rest. The front two wheels are pinned and spin well, the rear wheels are snap-ons and at least on mine rub up against the front of the wheel well. 2.5" (6cm) long, about the size of the original Minibots (they tended to be about 2"/5cm), and mostly yellow. The only black plastic visible is in the wheels, all the other plastic is yellow, including the back end panel which was not visible in robot mode. All the windows that were visible in robot mode are painted, as noted the remaining windows (side back) are partly molded but unpainted. The Autobot symbol is now on the roof, and the toe paint connects up as the bumper and headlights. No paint on the back panel, although it is molded in a pattern based on Bumper's G1 back panel sticker (thanks to Ben Yee's review for pictures, no one ever shows pictures of Minibots from behind). As noted earlier, it doesn't roll well. There's a 3mm socket on the underside, but it's for storing the pistol. Overall: While it doesn't have the stability issues the first wave Core Class are prone to, transformation does make it feel like some bits may break, and the rear wheels are highly sensitive to how the fenders are set up. If this were sold on its own as a Core Class figure under the Kingdom imprint, it'd probably be mildly recommended as Bumblebee, or the low end of Recommended if they give it Bumper's head and admit that's what it was supposed to be in the first place. AUTOBOT: SPIKE WITWICKY Assortment: F0926 Altmode: Sort of. Transformation Difficulty: 1 step Previous Name Use: Sort of (as an accessory) Previous Mold Use: None Robot Mode: This is based on the exosuit from the 1986 movie, but altered to make the arms more human-like and shift the shoulder thrusters onto a backpack. In terms of other details and coloration, it's a decent match, only missing a handful of paint apps and of course making the dome helmet opaque silver rather than trying for a clear helmet over a painted head (as the SCF version did). The backpack has a pair of little thrusters molded into it, presumably for zero-g maneuvering rather than a proper flight system. There's little weapon barrels on the wrists, and copies of them on the backpack pointed down. The forearms are hollow on their inward facings, and the backs of the boots are hollow. 2" (5cm) tall in white and light blue. All the plastic is white. The dome of the helmet is painted silver. There's light blue paint on the shoulders, upper arms, thighs, and shins. The paint goes all the way around on the arms and thighs. The circle details on the chest have yellow paint in the center. The shoulders are swivel joints, that's it. It looks like there's hip hinges, but the hole shot through the centers of the hips (and which goes all the way through) is not used for anything. I suppose it could have been intended to have a second pin, but they found glue was enough to hold the section together. There's a 3mm stud on the upper corners of the backpack, but the molded weapon barrels on the wrists are much smaller than 3mm in diameter. Transformation: Starting from "standing straight with arms at the sides: pose, the backpack swings down and then you lay the figure down on tis face. That's it. If you want to actually use the 3mm studs to attach thrust-style Fire Blasts, though, you can't fold it all the way down, or there won't be enough clearance around the studs. Altmode: While I think it would look better with some paint on the wheels, the white wheels are true to the animation design (although some light blue-gray on the wheel hubs would bring it closer to the animation model). The folded down backpack has bits that look like the forearms, possibly meant to suggest a transformation of the arms. There's another pair of little thrusters on the smaller backpack revealed by folding down the outer pack, although their thrust is aimed at the backpack hinge and is as such not too useful. The backpack covers up most of the hollowness of the backs of the boots. Same dimensions as robot mode, no new paints and the yellow paint is on the underside now. It does look kinda like a futuristic ground vehicle, I guess. There's no connection sockets, although the gap between the robot thighs is just right for a 4mm peg. Overall: It compares unfavorably to the Mini-Cons that came with Thrilling 30's Legends class figures, but for what it tries to be I guess it does an okay job. Set Overall: $15 is too much for this as a percentage, but probably only a few dollars overpriced, so if you see it on the peg (my local Target got one case and it vanished in a week) it might be worth picking up. Or wait for the inevitable Core Class Bumper and don't worry about Spike. Dave Van Domelen, might've gotten more reviewing done over the unwanted week off from the snow/cold event if his internet hadn't also gotten flaky.