Phil's
Universe Legend Bumblebee
Henkei Minibot Cliffjumper
and
Reveal The Shield Gold Bumblebee
Review

Universe Legends Bumblebee

This is a quite blocky version of G1 Bumblebee - very square head - with the sides of the arms being covered by the sides of the car in robot mode. The figure has ball jointed hip, bending ankles as part of the TF and shoulders that move up & down as well as bend inwards.

TF: Fold Bumblebee's back up so it covers the head. Fold the waist back. Bring the feet together and fold them down. Fold the legs up so the feet becomes the car's bonnet. Fold the arms round to the sides of the car and press in so they lock over clips projecting back from the front of the car.

Car could be a VW Beetle - one that had been stretched out and had the bottom level of the windows raised.

I think I'm feeling poorly disposed towards BB because he was done so well, almost definitively in the first run of Universe Deluxe toys. This is too flawed even for a legends version for my tastes.

Later note: I've discovered that Bumblebee's head is a separate piece. Given age the glue holding it in place weakens and it can be popped off & swapped with the various repaints of this toy.

Bumblebee is a Universe Legends Wave 4 toy.

Henkei Cliffjumper

Henkei Cliffjumper is the Legends Bumblebee toy with the yellow swapped for red. He appears as Cliff in Henkei set C-18 the Minibot Attack team with Gong(Brawn) and Beachcomber.

Reveal The Shield Legends Gold Bumblebee

The only real repaint amongst the RTS Legends, Gold Bumblebee uses the Universe Legends Bumblebee mould repainting the yellow with a bronzey gold and painting a dark blue over most of the black and the yellow of the head. Inspired by Throttlebot Goldug this repaint doesn't quite work: the gold paint used on United Bumblebee is much better than the nearly brown plastic used here.

Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Evolutions Bumblebee

Towards the end of the original Transformers Movie range a three pack of deluxe Transformers toys was released: The Legacy of Bumblebee contained Classics Bumblebee, Animated Bumblebee & Premium Movie Bumblebee. The Classics Bumblebee in that set, my favourite version of that mould, puts the Movie design's markings onto the Classic mould. This year's Reveal The Shield Bumblebee tries the same thing again but mucks it up by painting him orange. Then this four pack came out, pairing scanning versions of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Bumblebee and Starscream with repaints of Universe Legends Bumblebee and Legends of Cybertron Starscream (why not RTS Legends Starscream, which is closer to the original 1984 Starscream?)

In fact now I think of it Animated Legends Bumblebee and Starscream exist so it might have been nice to see two different Cyberverse Evolutions packs..... and an Optimus 3-pack would have been nice too.

This Bumblebee is now a more orangey yellow than most Bumblebees, but it's not as badly orange as the RTS version. We get black stripes on the bonnet, framed with thin red lines which also go round the grill. The roof features a large Autobot symbol. I like the look of this Bumblebee, and essentially it was the reason I bought the set for another Legends Bumblebee plastic crack fix.

My one complaint is that Bumblebee, like the Legends of Cybertron Starscream, hasn't had his hands retooled to hold the extra weapons that come with the set. Both are sourced from Robotmasters toy: We have the 2-part gun, previously seen with Wingstun, and before that Machine Wars Thundercracker & Skywarp, Beast Wars II Dirge & Robots in Disguise Skyfire. The other weapon is the original gun, formerly cast in clear green and then chromed silver that came with R-Blade, the Jetfire coloured repaint of Cyberjet Hooligan. Interestingly the Bumblebee vs Megatron Target exclusive Cyberverse set also comes with a recoloured Robotmasters gun, that held by Ligier, previously Machine Wars Mirage & Prowl and Robots in Disguise Skid-Z.

EZ Collection Bumblebee

Bumblebee has a third repaint this year as part of Takara's EZ Collection. Very similar to the original Legends Bumblebee, but with light blue windows & lights.

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