TOY REVIEW
Name: Bumblebee
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Espionage
Vehicular Mode: Volkswagen Beetle
"The least likely can be the most dangerous."
VEHICULAR MODE
Length: under 5 cm
Bumblebee is a small super-deformed Volkswagen Beetle. The colour scheme
is primarily yellow on my toy, although red variants were also available.
The windows, bumpers and lower rims of the chassis are black. The wheels
are silver with four black Dunlop tyres (the two larger back tyres have
the words "Dunlop" printed on them). A square, silver panel on the back
(which conceals the robot head) resembles the launching squares found in
Takara's Choro Q
cars, which has led some fans to speculate that the Microman cars were
based on Choro Q. The underside of the car is completely black and the
only robot kibble visible are the robot fingers/thumbs. Other than the
fact that the back wheels are larger than the front wheels, it's a fairly
good scale replica of a Volkswagen Beetle for a toy this size.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Pull out the wheels, forming robot arms. Pull bonnet forward, revealing
robot legs. Swing bonnet halves up, forming robot feet. Flip up launching
square, revealing robot head.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 7.5cm
The head is yellow and the face is completely silver. The arms and
legs are black and the rest of the body, being parts of the car, carry
on the same colour scheme. The back of the torso is completely black and
is made of die-cast metal. This toy only features two points of articulation
at the shoulders.
VARIANTS
The initial release had an Autobot insignia sticker placed on the roof
of the car. This was later replaced by a rub sticker.
In Latin America, the roof/robot chest had a different sticker which
showed an array of mechanical parts.
By far the most common colour variant is the red coloured Bumblebee.
Other rarer variants in blue, orange and white are rumoured to exist, but
so far, I've only found evidence for red and silver Bumblebees. If you
have photographic proof of a blue, white, orange or any other colour other
than yellow, red or silver Bumblebee, please Email
them to me.
Some Bumblebee cards came packaged with a completely different toy, sporting
a totally different looking robot mode and transformed not into a VW Beetle,
but a Familia 1500 XG. This toy was packaged as a factory error and fans
have come to name this toy "Bumblejumper"
or "Bumper."
OVERALL
The vehicle mode is kinda cute and a reasonable replica, despite its super
deformity. For those of you concerned with toy to show image accuracy,
you'll be disappointed to know that this toy does not look like the way
he does on the TV show. Of course, the show was made after the toy, so
it's a pretty silly argument in the first place :P
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