TW-03 BII - Pictorial Review

First and foremost, I would like to thank ToyWorld for giving me the chance to do advanced review of their TW-03, a big leap for my review blog. Before we start, as always, an introduction is in order.

Let us forget for awhile, about the 'all-mighty' Bumblebee post-2007 era and go back to a simpler time, Generation 1, 1984 era. Bumblebee is one of the first Autobots lineup introduced when the series aired, being a part of the crew that crashed on Earth 4 millions years ago.

Not being the toughest nor the smartest one, doesn't stop Bumblebee from being in the fight for Earth safety. Being one of the most good 'hearted' bot out there, Bumblebee befriended Spike Witwicky and acted as his closest friends and guardian till Spike's adulthood.

Pic Credit : Web

Bumblebee survived the reign of Unicron and remained in the Autobots frontliner during Rodimus Prime's time. He however, sustained fatal injuries during the outbreak of the Hate Plague and rebuilt into a new soldier, Goldbug.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Over the years, there's been an extensive version of Bumblebee, from the improved-G1 design to the reboot/new design. There's few design that roughly follows (or intended to follow) the original Bumblebee design such as G1 version (pic above), 2006's Classics Bumblebee and recently the new offering by a 3rd Party Company, Artfeather.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Pic Credit : ACToys

However, just as we went into 2014, Toyworld decided to release their version of Bumblebee, TW-03 BII.

In Package

TW-03 BII comes in black-themed box, packed similar with TW-01 Hegemon and TW-02 Orion as opposed to other TW releases of his size, TW-T01 Grindrod, TW-T02 Aurora and TW-T03 Trace. The box however, is smaller than that of Hegemon and Orion.

Side View

Back View

Both the side and the back of BII box have pictures of him in both robot mode and alt mode; with the side of the box showing both modes pictured from behind, while the back of the box showing both modes pictured from the front.

Tech Spec

Instruction sheet

Like previous TW (and most 3rd party) releases, BII comes with an instruction sheet and technical spec, aside from the figure itself.

Alt Mode

BII transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle much like G1 Bumblebee in 1984 (though, not really familiar with the model, not sure whether it is EXACTLY the same model or not), giving one of the best homage ever to the G1 character.

Despite giving BII the real alt mode of G1 Bumblebee, Toyworld decided to give BII a more animation-ish proportion to it, much like Bumblebee G1 toy. BII's windscreen, side and rear windows are made out of solid plastic instead of translucent plastic. Personally, I think this was done to 1) avoid cracking on those parts since they are involved in the transformation between modes and also, 2) BII is compacted in the alt mode and hence clear plastic will make the robot parts inside visible from the outside.

Looking at the detailing of BII alt mode, I strongly feel that the windows are done such a way intentionally to avoid problems. The detailing of BII are nicely done with the head lights and tail lights made out of clear plastics, colored rims, silver side mirrors, and car handles.

Size Comparison

BII is roughly the same size as the 2006s Classics Bumblebee which transforms into a some-sort of a hatchback sports car.

BII is bulkier compared to Classics Bumblebee, however a tad bit shorter.

Side by side with Henkei Convoy, BII does seem too big, but so did Classics Bumblebee compared to this Optimus Prime molds. However, I must say I really am not well-versed in terms of the scale of the alt mode so please use the pictures and judge yourself.

Em....maybe Henkei Convoy really is small

With Toyworld TW-02 Orion

Just in case comparison with both Optimus Primes above are not enough, lets add another one.

Personally, I think MP10 is better in scale with BII, followed by Toyworld Orion. But as I said before, I haven't had much clue about the scale of those trucks compared to Volkswagen Beetle.

BII with Optimus Prime and Spike

Robot Mode

Moving on to the best part, BII robot mode.

As G1 as it gets, that's my first impression of BII. Nicely designed, BII follows the design of Bumblebee in the 1984's G1 animation. Transformation wise, BII is pretty simple but with cleverly done transformation sequence (slightly similar to Classics Bumblebee).

Side View

Back View

As can be seen above, BII is basically kibble free, following G1 Bumblebee animation design. In general, the design does seem better than Classics Bumblebee (also Art Feather Bumblebee, re-shell of the Classics version) which has kibble hanging at both of his hands and also at the back of the car hanging on his back.

The head sculpt and face are neatly done, though at first glance, appeared to be that of Classics Bumblebee (which is actually different after closer looks).

The gap that you can see is actually due to the locking system being a bit loose but only unlocked due to excessive movement (posing the hands, etc) near the part.

Articulations of BII is one of the best features, aside from the homage. BII has a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel on the biceps, hinge on his elbows (90°), waist swivel, ball jointed thigh, and ratchet joints on the knees that allow more than 90° movement forward and backwards (due to transformation). There's a swivel joint below his knees and a really big range of articulations on his feet.

BII is a really stable figure with strong joints especially the ratchet joints on the knees.

Size Comparison

BII is a tad bit taller than Classics Bumblebee with slimmer looks; compared to the bulkiness of his Classics counterpart and slightly shorter than Art Feather Bumblebee (comparison between Art Feather Bumblebee with RTS Bumblebee can be seen here thefwoosh.com ).

With MP-10

My collecting rule has always been Official over 3rd Party releases, sold of my Warbot Defender with the release of Generations Springer, skipping Toyworld Hegemon and Orion for Classics Optimus Prime and Megatron, and few other examples.

However, I was quite surprised with how I come to like TW-03 BII. And never notice how much I dislike the design of Classics Bumblebee before. BII turns out to be my best CHURG Bumblebee and until Takara show us MP 21, BII is currently my favorite version of G1 Bumblebee.