Transformers Studio Series 49 Bumblebee is a Mini Masterpiece

Hasbro and Takara's Transfomers Studio Series line of action figures are notable in that they're accurate to their movie counterparts, are affordable, and they include characters that either had a terrible toy previously or none at all. Listen here, ya'll, this particular figure based on Bumblebee from the 2007 Transformers movie is the best version of him yet. That's partly because his original design is pretty baller to begin with, but also because...

Modern Toy Design Rocks

Like other figures in the Studio Series line, Bumblebee looks wonderfully accurate to his movie counterpart from in robot mode. The overall proportions and how his body tapers to a triangular shape starting at his legs and ending at his chest achieves a level of attention to detail usually reserved for more expensive figures. He even looks better proportioned than his more expensive counterpart, which is something I shouldn't be able to say about any mass produced Studio Series toy in comparison to a collector's toy, but here we are. This is all thanks to modern toy design techniques built on decades of progress. Hooray for awesome toys!

Bumblebee is so awesome that it's easy to forget misshapen, trashy iterations of movie Bumblebee toys like the Bumblebee Movie Bumblebee figure on the far left in the photo. The one in the middle is also a Bumblebee Movie Bumblebee, but a Jeep instead. He's also an extremely good figure. You can throw the abomination turtle on the far left into the trash if you have it.

I often find myself just staring at SS49 Bumblebee like a leery eyed bar patron eyeing a lonely twink in a Cowboy themed gay bar. Mm-mm-mm, I want to eat you up, Bumblebee. He has a very streamlined backpack, a gun accessory that makes it look like his hand transforms into the weapon, and he even comes with a cool battle mask head! How cool is that? "Very," is the answer. 

His vehicle mode is just as cool, in that it’s accuracy to the Chevy Camaro concept car is as close as it’s ever been. Transforming him into this mode is mostly uneventful, by the way, but I will say plastic pieces will scrape against one another sometimes which isn't a great feeling. Nothing has broken on mine yet and I fiddle with him pretty much all day, so there’s that. 

Also, to be fair, Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee has this guy beat in vehicle mode as his panels line up much more cleanly, but the fact that I can make a reasonable comparison between the two figures is testament to how good the Studio Series line has gotten.

I won’t fault Hasbro here for the obvious panel gaps in the Camaro mode; the fact that this is one of the most complicated Transformer designs ever that doesn’t fall to pieces in either mode for $20 is an achievement in of itself. I really like this figure, can you tell?

Another achievement is that Bumblebee has ball and swivel joints for days, allowing him to strike poses previous toys could only dream of. Yeah, that’s right, I said it: toys dream, and Toy Story is real. Although I must mention how his shoulder kibble limits shoulder articulation, and Bee’s molded in, non-articulating ankle tilts are pain points, he is still a joy to pose, play, and display. Here he is borrowing WWII Bumblebee's impossibly cool murder-hammer.

A Couple of Medium Sized Oofs

You knew this was coming. Much like the car Bumblebee is based on, part of his problems lie in quality. This figure won’t literally fall to pieces in your hand like another toy that shall go unnamed, but his door wings and shoulder wheels are wee floppy in robot mode. The doors use a lot of friction to stay in place in vehicle mode, so ya’ gotta use real force to get them where they need to be in robot mode. Over time, this has loosened the hinge joint and my confidence when posing my Bee. Hello stress marks my old friend.

The same goes for the piece holding the front wheels on his back, as they’re attached to the same joint, which brings me to my next sour point: the wheels. 

I appreciate that designing toys is hard when your subject is basically 2 toys in 1, and your audience demands accuracy and playability with both modes. However I fail to understand why the wheels on Bee’s back stick out so much in robot mode or why the wheels on his feet aren’t on the inside as they should be on a figure where movie accuracy is key.

We haven’t seen any Bumbleebee figures properly place his back wheels closer to the middle of his back, but just looking at him, all it would take is an armature similar to ones used to swing the wings on his back down and over.

As for the wheels on his feet, but both Studio Series WWII Bumblebee and Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee use clever tricks to place the wheel inside of his feet, so why was this excluded on this particular Bumblebee? 

Still Good Though

But see, nothing in life is perfect except for pets, chocolate chip cookies, the Lone Twink quietly shuffling away from your lustful eyes at the bar (I gave him a name now), and powerful sneezes. His movie accuracy and articulation make the small nitpicks super easy to forgive. If you’re a fan of Bumblebee’s movie design already, then you should already have this iteration of Bee in your collection. If you’re on the fence, then you can still grab him for around $20 bucks and a have a good ol' time with him.

Fun Facts

• This is the first mass retail movie Bumblebee figure to not look like a gangly mess. 

• The door wings are on a swivel so you can position them however you want. Yay!

• Bumblebee’s blaster accessory is not compatible with effects parts from the War for Cybertron: Siege and Earthrise toy lines. Womp womp. :(