Ultimate Bumblebee

[The King]

*still waiting for Ultimate Bonecrusher*

[pdemaio]

He's 1/14th according to the info I've seen. He might fit well with some of the Roadbots. I'll probably display him with the MPs if he isn't too lame.

[DarkNarcoleptic]

:word

[Smokescreened]

Someone down in England has reported that he found Ultimate Bumblebee, it's been mentioned on the Seibertron boards. £80 though.

 

-'];/

[jaluuk]

Hello gang

Just thought I'd pop a message on here - I got an Ultimate Bumblebee from Argos, a catalogue store in the UK. They are freely selling them at the moment - no 'wait until September' thing.

 

Anyway, he came home with me today and is going back to Argos tomorrow.

 

First, the good bits. Once you manage to get him together in car mode (a mean feat in itself) he's actually quite fun. Rolling him forwards and backwards gets the right revving noises - bumping him into things makes crashes too. You can press down on his bonnet/hood for a horn and if you drive him forwards enough you get music. However, to get him working as a car you need to make sure his front wheels are locked in place - a recurring theme in the robot form.

 

Transforming him to robot is quite a task in itself, with some bits needing to be pulled harder than they feel they should be and a generally plasticy feeling all around. Once he is in a robot, you need to lock his shoulders in the same holder as the wheels, only it's much harder. This is quite hard to explain without a pic, but as I honestly haven't got the energy to take him back out the box I'll do my best.

 

The shoulders are locked in place by twisting two pieces of plastic together - a big circular section with a D bit cut out on the inside of his arm rotates into a matching recess in his body. However there is a second thin bit of plastic sticking out from his arm socket that also needs to plug into the body. To get these to line up you need to push the arm in and rotate it 360 until you feel it click. Honestly, it's quite tiring work and so not worth the payoff.

 

Once you get UB into fully ready robot form, he's supposed to 'come to life'. In reality, this means his eyes light up and his doors/wings and arms wave about a bit. Pressing the button on his side (jabbing UB in the ribs?) is supposed to get him to fire his bright red plastic missile at you - I could get him to raise his arm but the only time he fired his missile was when my head was right up close examining it. Yeah, thanks UB.

 

Final thing to say - sound. It whirs like nothing I've ever seen before. The motors are so loud as to be annoying, the 'nine songs' are played in clips and the whole audio seems to have very little from the film. The little tune that plays while he dances in front of Sam isn't there (sad I know but I thought it would be) and the voice UB speaks with ('nine phrases!') is completely different to the film version.

 

Anyway, that's my text review. Feel free to ask any questions if you like - safe to say I'm not a fan, although I might pick up a Leader class Optimus Prime instead. Less money + less fiddly = fun!

[DarkNarcoleptic]

Hmm....sounds dissapointing.

[jaluuk]

Not sure to be honest - I've never played with a deluxe one. If you muck about with his legs long enough he'll stand upright but I couldn't get him in a particularly warlike pose - damn shoulders. If it helps though he can move his legs a lot - ended up doing the splits a lot when I was trying to work on the upper body.

[Pascal]

What phrases does he say?

[DarkNarcoleptic]

"MMmmmfffmmphhh!"

[Athenor]

I forget where, but I saw a video of him being transformed by someone who wasn't exactly being gentle.

 

It was scary. Both in transformation sequence, and also in how he was being manhandled.