Geek Pick: Transformers Generations Studio Series 18 Bumblebee

I have a confession. I haven’t watched the last three Transformers movies. I might see Bumblebee, though, because it looks like they’re using sick G1 designs instead of Bayformers garbage. That means Soundwave, Shockwave looking like actual Cybertronians that become devices instead of weird piles of metal twisting into other piles of metal. It also means Bumblebee becoming a Volkswagen Beetle, which is just a better look for him than a Camaro.

Anyway, this is the new Bumblebee action figure, for the movie, in the Transformers Generations line. Hasbro’s newest, for the movie. And it looks great.

This is a deluxe-class Transformer, so it’s about the size of a six-inch Marvel Legends or Star Wars Black Series action figure. Which is pretty standard for Bumblebee. As a robot, he looks pretty much in line with his other movie versions, but with more rounded chest parts. He can be posed in a lot of different stances, and fairly reliably stands up in most of them.

Bumblebee doesn’t come with a lot of accessories, but he gets a few. His face pops off for replacing it with a goofy battle mask, his right hand can be switched with a gatling gun, and a chainsaw sword thing snaps onto his left hand. Not a bad combination of extras for making Bumblebee look fearsome. Well, as fearsome as a robot named Bumblebee can look.

None of that matters, because his robot form isn’t the best part of this figure. His vehicle form is a Volkswagen Beetle. That’s all you need to know. He becomes a cute little yellow Beetle! Just like G1 Bumblebee! He looks downright adorable as a Beetle.

I’ll level with you, this isn’t a great figure. His plastic seems to have two slightly different shades of yellow, his leg and hand joints pop out easily, and he just feels like fairly cheap plastic (which has been a problem for Hasbro’s Transformers, even their Generations ones, for a while). He’s no Binaltech or Masterpiece Bumblebee, but that’s fine, because at $20 he costs a fraction of either of those. So he’s a good choice if you want a Beetle robot on your desk and don’t want to spend much money! He’s the Funko Pop version of Bumblebee to the much more expensive Nendoroids of import and MP Bumblebees.

For more geek stuff you can buy, check out an unwieldy-but-necessary Nintendo Switch Online subscription, or the Legend of Zelda Hyrule Shield Backpack. And remember, Bowsette is a thing.