This first wave, or the “First Edition” set of toys consists of the main characters during the first season of the show. Since the November 12 launch of the line, Toy Kingdom and Toys ‘R’ Us have been shelving the Deluxe toys, including singles Arcee, Bumbleebee, with Starscream representing the Decepticons. There’s also an “Entertainment Pack” which includes Optimus Prime and Megatron (both Deluxe Class) and non-poseable figurines of the 3 human children.
At first I was going to pass on these until after the holidays, but hearing how Cliffjumper (Wave 2) was already disappearing from stores, I figured it was better now than never. Since Bumblebee came 4 to a case (with 2 each of the others), let’s start with him.
Hasbro solicitation photo of case assortment, Wave 1 |
The packaging of these First Editions is some of the best on the shelf today. Primarily blue, each one is emblazoned with large character portrait on the face of the card, above the blister, a large faction symbol next to that, and “first edition” stamped in silver foil down the right side. The brand identity is represented by a nice “Transformers: Prime” card insert inside the blister, across the bottom of the package, with “Bumblebee” right under that.
The back of the card is dominated a big product photo of the toy in robot mode. It’s a nice enough hero shot that shows off the figure nicely. The “also available” shots are a smidgen shorter than the main one, but still give you a good view of what your collection is still missing. There’s also a nice team portrait at the bottom. They’ve done away with the blurb that every line seems to have, which leaves a lot of space to play around with the layout. It’s a welcome change, though I doubt it will last.
Most of the toys I saw had circular purple stickers over round “Watch Transformers on TV!” badge on the back. I guess it’s because these were for international distribution and The Hub isn’t a channel we get out here in the boondocks.
Inside the blister are the figure, one weapon, instructions, and the “display stand”. That last one is little more than a paperboard box with a rounded front which has the logo printed on it. It’s not really that deep, so one side of Bee’s car mode hangs off the side. It really only works if the toy is in robot mode. Each one of the Deluxe figures comes with an identical stand.
The beautiful thing about the Prime toys is how satisfying each of their transformations are. Of the 5 I bought, I was only disappointed with Optimus’ change since neither the vehicle nor the resulting robot look as impressive as any of the other figures. The rest of the crew’s transformations are involved, logical, and just the right amount of complicated, leaving behind very little in the way of kibble in either form.
There are commonalities among the figures. One is that a lot of their joints are ball and socket. That gives them a good range of articulation and allows the extremities to fold up smaller. The figures in vehicle mode are unbelievable compact and if you turn one over, you can see how the designers used every inch of space under the chassis to store robot parts.
Two, they are to a certain degree, shell-formers. In order to look bigger once they change into robots, the engineers designed them to have parts that lock together to form their bodies. Both Bumblebee’s and Cliffjumper’s chests are hollow, and I hear that so is the Bulkhead’s. I know I’ve said that shell-formers aren’t that great, but in this case, it works. That’s largely because the designers have cut the pieces of armor down to small overlapping parts that don’t look like the side of a panel truck. It’s an elegant solution and they’ve executed it well.
In the show, Bumblebee has a pair of twin blaster cannons that pop out of his forearms. Since the toy’s forearms aren’t that big, Hasbro has included an accessory that plugs into a hole on his gauntlets. It’s a nice piece, and proportional, but I do feel gyped a bit at not getting two. I’ve read that they’ll be releasing another version next year with a pair of guns, but I haven’t seen any confirmation of that. So far Wave 3 is a re-tooled Cliffjumper and the generic Decepticon Vehicon. Other announced toys are Soundwave, Knock Out, Wheeljack, and Skyquake. Starscream gets an upgrade, but no Bumblebee.
I’m sorely tempted to get a second figure and keep the accessory just to complete the look. Idiotic, I know, especially considering that these are Php 700.00 ($15.50 US) a pop, but that’s the life of a toy collector.
I am really glad I took the time to hunt these figures down. Seeing how fast they’ve been flying from shelves, I doubt I would have been able to get them at retail if I’d waited until after the holidays. If they do get re-stocks, well and good, but I’ve learned it’s better to get them while they’re hot or risk having to visit Greenhills and pay double.
Though, after my assessment of this figure, it might still have been worth it.