COLLECTION SPACE Red Bumblebee Review: A Stunning Repaint of the Iconic Transformers Toy
Last Updated on July 2, 2024 by xmiaonline.com
Today, I am bringing you a review of the Transformers G1 COLLECTION SPACE Red Bumblebee figure. Previously, I reviewed the Yellow Bumblebee from CS, which left a strong impression on me with its excellent design. How will this differently colored Red Bumblebee perform? Follow this review to find out.
The packaging box follows CS’s consistent style. The center of the box features an illustration of Red Bumblebee and the product name. Below, you can see the COLLECTION SPACE name and logo, with a background showing a side profile of Red Bumblebee’s head sculpt.
The sides of the box display some of Red Bumblebee’s accessories, and the back showcases the list of contents, a picture of the figure, and the interchangeable face options.
The contents include the Red Bumblebee figure, wings, skirt armor, display stand base, display stand rod, dual guns, shield, three pairs of interchangeable hands, three interchangeable faces, and the instruction manual. All parts except the manual are packed in two layers of plastic trays.
I assembled Red Bumblebee with the wings and skirt armor and placed it on the stand for display. The aesthetics of this Transformers toy are truly outstanding. The figure’s body proportions are nearly perfect, with most of the car shell used for transformation becoming the bee wings connected to the back, and the car shell of the car’s front becoming the bee abdomen fixed at Red Bumblebee’s lower back.
Red Bumblebee’s head sculpt has a brand-new design, with a helmet shape closer to Cliffjumper. The expression on the head sculpt is perfectly captured, with a default normal smile that can be replaced with a serious face, an angry face, or a playful tongue-out face.
The paint on Red Bumblebee looks quite beautiful, with a pearlescent effect added to the red paint, giving it a texture that seems even better than the yellow. The paint issues seen with Yellow Bumblebee did not occur this time.
Red Bumblebee’s forearm armor is one of the significant retooling areas compared to the original mold. While Yellow Bumblebee’s arm armor was relatively flat, Red Bumblebee’s has a stronger mechanical feel.
The default hand shape is an open hand, which can be replaced with a fist, a weapon-holding hand, and a peace sign hand, allowing for various display options.
The leg design retains a beautiful humanoid contour, with partially retracted wheels on the back of the thighs. The blue striped paint on the side leg armor is similar to Yellow Bumblebee’s, extending downward. The designer’s aesthetic is certainly on point.
This CS Red Bumblebee figure’s aesthetics are taken to the extreme, even ensuring the back looks good. The bee wing part on the back shows a clear bionic wing pattern, and the car shell turned wings and skirt armor do not look out of place, instead giving Red Bumblebee a stronger bionic appearance.
In terms of articulation, Red Bumblebee has a two-segment neck joint, allowing the head to tilt up and down and rotate horizontally. The shoulders have butterfly joints, and the arms can swing back and forth. The arms can rotate vertically and lift over 90 degrees horizontally. The upper arm can rotate, the elbows bend far beyond 90 degrees, and the wrists can rotate. The waist and abdomen have two joints, allowing for waist rotation and bending forward and backward.
By unlocking specific joints, the legs can kick forward far beyond 90 degrees. The side kick angle exceeds 45 degrees, with an inward-folding joint on the thighs useful for posing. The knees bend far beyond 90 degrees, and the ankles can rotate, with adjustable direction joints allowing the feet to touch the ground. Overall, Red Bumblebee’s articulation is quite good, surpassing regular transformable Transformers series toys and enabling many dynamic poses with the stand.
Red Bumblebee’s weapons include dual guns and a shield, identical to Yellow Bumblebee’s. The size fits well in Red Bumblebee’s hands, suiting its agile appearance.
The shield can be held in Red Bumblebee’s hand, creating a pose with one hand holding a gun and the other a shield. However, the shield’s size is rather small, seeming to protect only the arm, likely because the designer thought a large shield would make Red Bumblebee less agile.
The dual guns and shield can combine, transforming into an arm cannon, adding a live-action movie character style.
Red Bumblebee’s stand base also serves as a storage box, holding unused parts to prevent loss. This attention to player experience, while minor, makes playing more convenient.
The transformation process is not difficult, and by looking at the robot mode, you can guess how it transforms. The general idea is to unfold and assemble the car shell. Notably, all weapons can be perfectly stored in vehicle mode. Red Bumblebee’s vehicle mode is a red Volkswagen Beetle, which looks better than the yellow version. The car body is smooth, and the seam sizes are reasonable. If the manufacturer could retool the car shell into a Cliffjumper vehicle, Red Bumblebee’s performance would be even better.
The car body shows almost no robot parts, with the rear also well-concealed. Despite the transformation logic of the car shell wrapping around the robot, the final appearance of both modes is impressive.
In conclusion, this CS Red Bumblebee is a repaint and retool of Yellow Bumblebee. It maximizes the aesthetics of robot mode, includes multiple expressions and hand shapes, and various weapon accessories, ensuring playability. The transformation process is not complicated, and the resulting vehicle mode is highly completed. If you value the appearance of Transformers G1 figures and like high-aesthetic toys, I highly recommend this Red Bumblebee.
That concludes this review. Thank you for watching. Please leave your opinions and suggestions in the comments. Your support is my greatest motivation.