TF Prime RID Bumblebee

Hey guys back again and trying to get these Prime reviews out a little quicker. Today we are going to be looking at deluxe class...

Bumblebee. This is the version of Bumblebee that is part of the RID line. Unfortunately, this mode has a very tough act to follow in the form of the First Edition Bee. That said, this isn't a bad figure by any means, but its not a great figure either. As we go along ill get into the ins and out of this figure so lets get to it.

Bumblebee comes packaged in the the new PRID packaging. The front features some nice CG artwork of Bee and an Autobot emblem. You can also clearly see Bee in vehicle mode along with his arm cannons. The back has his bio and pictures of the figure and you will find tech specs on the side. Sadly I forgot to take a side view shot this time.

Bumblebee's robot mode is decent but has it's flaws. If the First Edition wasn't around I'd consider this one to be a nice representation of Bee, but as it stands, this sculpt can only be called OK. It's easy to tell its Bumblebee and the paint isn't lacking in any place you wouldn't expect, though it could be better. His light-piping is done very well but this doesn't surprise me one bit. His accessories include his twin barrel arm cannons, which fit perfectly onto not only PRID Bee's arms, but the arms of the FE version aswell.

Bumblebee has 17 points of articulation, featuring his head, two hinge joints in his shoulders, bicep swivel, ratcheting elbows, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, hinged knees and, hinged feet. His posebility feels a little bit hindered due to his body design and lack of forearm joints. The upward movement of his shoulders seems to lock in place as you get them above his head. You can get them back down again , but it takes a little more force than I like.

Vehicle mode is actually nicer looking than the robot mode, barring a few missing details that can be fixed with paint and some reprolabels. The car rolls very well too. The twin arm cannons can be posted on the engine block on the cars hood, but other than this there is no vehicle mode storage for them. The First Edition's gun can also be put on the hood and even looks a little nicer than the ones included, further justifying switching the figures weapons. Transformation is pretty easy with this guy, featuring an auto morph head reveal that can be helped by lifting the hood slightly before beginning transformation to either mode. Many thanks to YouTube reviewer Peaugh for demonstrating this in his review of the toy.

Looking at Bee with his First Edition counterparts one can see the differences between them. PRID Bee is simpler and a little less show accurate, but a little more playable. PRID Bumblebee was made to be a kids toy, and it really shows. Looking at Bee with his past incarnations gives a good idea how Bumblebee has grown over the years. It's also easy to see that Prime Bumblebee takes more after his movie look than his G1 self. I guess people prefer the sports car over the bug nowadays.

When it comes to scaling with the rest of the team, Bumblebee does a pretty good job. He fits in well with everyone and even looks good in a group shot.

All in all PRID Bumblebee is a nice figure, but the fact that we have already gotten a better version of the character in the First Edition line really made this the weakest figure of the first wave. This mold is being reused for Hotshot in the next wave so it will be interesting so see how it works with a character with no FE counterpart to hold it back. Until next time I'll catch you later.

Transformers Prime RID Deluxe Arcee

Hi guys, sorry I've been so slow with my updates, real life can be a pain. Today we are going to be looking at one of the more recent releases in the TF Prime line, who is ......

Arcee. First thing I'm going to say about her is that while her sculpt is amazing, her paint apps are so lacking that I had to customize her almost immediately out of the box. Aside from that, I really like her. She is actually an improvement over the First Edition sculpt wise, but really needs some "brush love". Now lets get a closer look at what we got.

Arcee comes in the PRID Deluxe card back with her seen in motorcycle mode in the front. There is a nice, large CG shot of Arcee on the upper right corner. This image of Arcee is actually consistant with the look of the figure but is colored different than on the show. The detailing in silver should actually be pink. The back of the card has some clear pictures of the figure in both modes, as well as a short bio for the character. The side has her tech specs and one more lovely CG pic.

The pics you see in the lion share of this review were taken after customizing the figure. The paint job just bugged me that much, sorry. Anyway, in robot mode, Arcee is beautiful. Without a doubt, Hasbro has vastly improved on their fembot sculpts and this version of Arcee is the best they have produced to date. The only nit-pick I can find on the robot mode's sculpt is the back pack is a little bit too big. This is really a forgivable flaw in an otherwise perfect sculpt. Her light piping is lovely, giving her eyes a gorgeous glow.

The major downfall of the figure is her paint job, it's really lacking. Out of the box, her color scheme is literally blue, black and silver, with a tiny dab of red on her forehead. That's all you get. Most of the silver detailing should be pink, but it appears that Hasbro intentionally omitted the pink detailing fearing that young kids wouldn't buy a figure with pink on it. Whatever the reason, it's easily fixed with a small brush and some Testor's Metallic Red model paint.

Her weapons include an arm mounted blade and a over sized gun that fits over her hand. The blade looks like it came right off the show but the gun is a bit too big. I can forgive this because the only way to give Arcee show accurate guns would be to give her interchangeable hands, which isn't something you often see in Transformers anymore.

Arcee has 15 points of articulation, with a ball jointed neck,  both hinged and ball joints in the shoulders, ball jointed elbows, ball jointed wrists, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, and hinged knees. That may not seem like a lot but she can get some really good poses in. Whether she is just looking hot or kicking the slag out of some Cons, she can hold a pose with ease.

Arcee's motorcycle mode is probably the weaker aspect of the figure. It looks nice and all, but it's a little too thick. It's very hard to see how they could fix it without hurting to robot mode though. If you wish you can fudge a 3 3/4" figure onto Arcee to ride her, but the cycle's thickness will have an affect on the look. Another nit-pick would be that the tailpipes and bike mechanics on the back wheel are unpainted, again fixable with a little "brush love".

Putting Arcee with her partners and team really shows how much better she scales with everyone else than the First Edition did. Side by side with the Fist Edition versions, you can see that RID Arcee is over a head shorter than the FE. Once again Arcee looks nothing like her previous incarnations. With the exception of Animated, every incarnation of Arcee has looked nothing like the one that came before it, leaving the only linking factors between them to be their name and the fact that they are female. Well a lot of Arcee incarnations are bikes as well, but not all.

All in all, Arcee is easy to recommend and is one of my favorites of the PRID figures we have received so far. While I heavily griped about her paint job, it shouldn't stop you from picking her up. She is a key character in the series and a true can't miss figure. Take care guys, ill see you soon.