Bumblebee's vehicle mode is a vaguely Camaro-esque sportscar, but a bit longer and with two little spoilers at the back end. Combined with the two black stripes going down the top, this means that this form is clearly meant to hearken to his movieverse version, while keeping it from being an out-and-out licensed car mode and keeping things a bit more streamlined and G1-ish. It certainly fits the "upgraded, semi-warrior Bumblebee" persona that he took in the IDW comics around the time this form was introduced in early 2010. The mold detailing for Bumblebee is quite sparse in this mode on the top end, though I understand it because of the aim for a streamlined mode. (Plus, Bumblebee's always had a curved, fairly smooth alt mode, anyways.) The paint detailing is decent, but not exceptional-- a bit more on the main body of the car mode besides the two stripes would've been appreciated, but the silver hubcaps, light red taillights, gunmetal gray bumpers, silver headlights, and silvery blue rear windows still break up his yellow juuust enough for this mode to not look prototypish and overly lacking. I'm not fond of the rear windows being painted blue while the side and front windows are plain clear plastic, though-- such a discrepancy in opaque-ness as well as color just doesn't work with me. Make all the windows clear or paint them, if you ask me. (At least you can't see really obvious robot bits inside Bumblebee's windows, though there isn't a detailed interior with seats in there, either.) As for the color scheme, it's Bumblebee yellow, black, and gray, you either like it by now or you don't-- this toy won't change your mind here. (I'm not a fan of yellow, and he's got a rather plain shade of the color for his plastic, though it does its job, I suppose.) What really bothers me about this mold, though, has nothing to do with the mold layout, but with the VERY obvious color difference between Bumblebee's yellow plastic and his yellow paint. His yellow paint seems to have a bit too much "water" or something in it, as the plastic color it's painted over "bleeds through" slightly, like the paint could've used another coat or two. It's also definitely paler than the yellow plastic-- this is particularly obvious on Bumblebee's guns in this mode. It just looks awful. Speaking of Bumblebee's guns, they're stored on the rear side portions of this mode. You can combine both weapons to form a larger, more solid weapon, which I think looks great-- but only in that configuration. With the weapon separated into two different pieces, the fact that they're halves of a larger weapon is entirely too obvious and particularly looks odd given the rather two-dimensional bit of "blue plasma fire" that's molded into the front of the weapons. On another side note, Bumblebee's doors CAN open by themselves in this mode, but you have to un-tab them from the lower arms inside. Thus, opening up the doors all the way not only exposes the arms and interior obviously, but tends to unhook the rear portion of this mode because of the force needed to remove the car doors from the tabs, so opening the doors, though possible, is not recommended.
    Bumblebee's robot mode again takes many of its design cues from his movieverse version, what with the car door "shoulder wings", the hood-chest (though the hood on this Bumblebee's chest is fake), having the car roof fold up behind his back, and the way his legs are formed from the back half of the car mode. However, his headsculpt is quite nice and very much an updated G1 face (with the face slightly smaller in proportion to the "helmet" and horns to give Bumblebee a slightly "stronger, older" look). His eyes' light piping also works extremely well. The detailing is simpler and on the G1 side, with simple feet that have fake head/taillights for toes. The addition of gray-- even if it's a bland, mildly light gray-- and more black helps to break up this mold's colors a lot more in this mode, and nearly all of the car mode paint apps show up here as well, so Bumblebee's definitely adequately painted, here. However, that pale bland yellow paint is also used on the outside of his lower arms, and looks even more awful there compared to its presence on his gun, given the darker background color of the plastic. For proportions, Bumblebee generally has curvy, simple proportions, with a bit more of a wide-shouldered stance that he's come to be known for in more recent years. He does have a bit of kibble, however. First, the roof on his back, though this mostly stays out of the way and is only a minor eyesore. The door wings could've stood to be a bit shorter, but they complement the silohuette, so I have no issues with those. The back fender also forms his kneecaps quite ingeniously, though they-- and one of the knees, on mine-- are a bit annoyingly floppy, so a heads up, there (though he can still stand up by himself easily, thanks to his large feet). For articulation, Bumblebee can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), waist, hips (at two points), knees, and ankles (at two points). I wish he has slightly more movement at the knees, and his roof backpack can get in the way of waist rotation a bit, but otherwise he's quite poseable. Finally, one important note about the transformation-- his lower legs shift from one side of a slider to another when transforming him. This slider often takes a fair amount of force to push from one side of the back of the leg to the other, and is easy to overlook-- however, if you DO overlook it, you'll be stuck for quite a while trying to figure out why his vehicle mode doesn't all fit together at the rear end (as I certainly did). It does put a bit of undue strain on the knees, which worries me a bit. But don't forget about it!
    Generations "IDW" Bumblebee is for fans of the "era" of IDW TF comics that this design came from, and for those who like the movie Bumblebee design, but not the movie aesthetic. Otherwise, the floppy knees, fairly bland yellow color, over-use of the character, and severe mis-matching of his yellow paint make this my least recommended release of this otherwise decent mold.

Review by Beastbot

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