Dave's TF:Last Knight Rant: Deluxe Bumblebee and Cogman

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Transformers the Last Knight Rant: Deluxe Wave 3

Bumblebee (Sportscar, new mold)
Cogman (Luxury Sportscar)
Strafe (redeco, not reviewed)
Crosshairs (redeco, not reviewed)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/TFLK/DeluxeP3

Yeah, this wave barely made it into stores at all. I saw it, sans
Cogman, at one store and that was it. Ended up having to buy Cogman online,
but fortunately demand had tapered off by that time and the price was only
slightly above brick and mortar. Strafe is a blue deco, but not the same as
the Walmart exclusive from 2014-5. Crosshairs is only slightly different
from his AoE colors.

WARNING: Cogman has a serious design flaw. The codpiece needs to fold
out of the way in vehicle mode to avoid scraping on the table, but the hinge
is brittle and there's no stopping point or other indication you've pushed it
too far other than the joint cracking. And it's one of those joints that's
really not repairable, a thin ring around a pin. It'll still stay on in
robot mode, but depending on exactly where it breaks will probably not stay
on in vehicle mode when folded back. Storing the sword will keep it from
falling out, at least.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/AoE/Deluxe2 - Strafe
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/AoE/Deluxe1 - Crosshairs


CAPSULES

$20-25 price point. I got Cogman from China, probably a "fell off the
truck" lot.

Bumblebee: Well, it's an entirely new design, and there's some clever
bits to it, but the factory tolerances aren't really up to executing the
design. Mildly recommended, mostly on the strength of "ambitious design" and
the fact you might get lucky with QC.

Cogman: Once you get used to its foibles, it's actually pretty good.
Unfortunately, one of those foibles is a part pretty much designed to break,
so I can't really go beyond mildly recommended, especially since you probably
can't find this at retail without a lot of effort. I like it better than
Bumblebee, though.


RANTS

Packaging: Same as previous waves, although my Cogman has a Hasbro Far
East sticker on back. Both have licensing info, GM and Aston Martin
respectively.


AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE
Assortment: C2962
Altmode: Chevy Camaro
Transformation Difficulty: 17 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
Epithet: Courageous Scout

Packaging: Nine ties on the figure, one on the swap-in-able cannon. The
feet fell apart upon removal from the package, I suspect there's too much
mold release oil on the tab and slot holding them together. Washing did help
a little. The backpack is left hanging like coattails to better fit in the
package, you have go fold it up and lock it in place to finish transformation
to robot mode. There's a tab on the spine that goes into a slot on the
windshield.
Cosells are Strafe and Crosshairs.

Robot Mode: To paraphrase Zippy the Pinhead, the last decade's been a
blur of Bumblebees and meat. Still, there's enough distinctive differences
to make it really clear this is a new mold, and I don't just mean the feet.
For one thing, the rear side windows are actually attached via struts and in
robot mode are folded down in such a way that Bumblebee has butterfly-like
wings (actual bumblebees do have four wings, but they tend to angle up while
the new winglets on this toy point down more like the trailing bits of a
fancy butterfly wing). The front wheels are on hinged panels between the
door main wings and the arms, and the rear fenders hang off the thighs, but
otherwise this is a fairly standard movie Bumblebee in terms of the limbs and
head. Very leggy, with the waist being less than 1/3 of the way down from
the top of the figure.
5" (13cm) tall, in the usual Bumblebee colors of yellow and black with
light gray and silver on some of the robot bits. The door wings (upper and
lower) and much of the backpack bits are made of clear colorless plastic.
The wheels, spine, collar area, shoulder struts, lower thighs, and the elbow
peg on the cannon are black plastic. The hands, elbow joints, pelvis, hips,
abdomen front, feet, shin "bones," the struts holding the lower wings, and
the bulk of the cannon are light gray plastic. The rest is golden yellow
plastic.
There's silver paint on the face, the tech greebles on the arms
(somewhat indifferent airbrushing on these), and the shin fronts. There's
yellow paint on the arm armor bit on the cannon (the central line is not
painted silver, it's left gray), and most of the clear plastic pieces. The
eyes are bright blue, and a tiny red Autobot symbol is printed on the helmet
crest front. In addition to vehicle-specific apps mentioned below, there's
black paint on the sunken sternum section, which is molded to look like the
center of the chest receded instead of simply being pulled out. The Chevy
logo on the chest is not painted, unlike the one on the actual grille
center.
Ball joint neck, swivel waist. The shoulders are ball joints on the
ends of struts, but the strut joints need to be all the way up for robot
mode, the extra degree of freedom is only useful for transformation. Hinge
and swivel elbows, and the wrists bend inward. Ball joint hips, mid-thigh
swivels, hinge knees and ankles. The ankle joints are a bit loose despite
the fact I washed the mold release oil off, leading the figure to fall over
easily.
The hands can hold 5mm pegs, and there's a 3mm peg hole in the back of
the pelvis. The cannon has a 3mm peg on one side that's meant to let it
store on the back of the pelvis and a thin tab on the same side but pointed
at a different angle. The elbow peg (one of those snap-in disks) is smaller
than 5mm.
The arm cannon is meant to replace the forearm (a feature also used in
the Studio Series 1974-Camaro BB), but in addition to the official storage on
his butt, the thin tab can be inserted into the stress gap on either
shoulder. While the cannon is on the left arm, the regular left forearm can
store on the butt using the same 3mm peg hole. (Swapping the cannon for the
right forearm doesn't work well for two reasons: the right forearm lacks the
storage peg, and the elbow doesn't bend the correct way so only a straight
arm pose would work.) The cannon can also sort of be held in either hand by
putting the disk-peg in the hand and folding the elbow joint until it locks
in place, the joint is fairly stiff.

Transformation: Well, it's very fiddly and has lots of panels and
hinges. I was able to get it figured out without the instructions, but you
really should follow the ORDER of the instructions because doing things out
of order can make it very hard to get panels pegged into place. I still have
yet to get everything firmly attached at the same time AND get all four
wheels to rest on a flat surface. The hardest bits to get to stay in place
are the rear side window spine parts, because the tabs on them go into
slots that aren't fully enclosed (about a third of one long side is open),
and this seems to reduce their gripping strength.
The designers definitely wrote a check that the factories couldn't cash.
Like, it's very clever, but 0.01mm errors in pretty much any part of
manufacturing seem to lead to popped seams. I had both doors and several
other pieces pop off during transformation...and frankly that made it easier,
because trying to get all the parts in place at once is very frustrating.
With the doors removed, I was at least able to get the roof in place
properly.
Going back to robot mode is no picnic either. For instance, to unpeg
the fronts of the rear fenders requires enough force that odds are really
good the piece will pop off the toy entirely. So many "oops, leverage"
situations.

Vehicle Mode: Normally I transform back and forth a few times before
reviewing a toy, but I'm going to review the car mode after the first
transformation because I'm not 100% certain I have the patience to try it
again.
A 2018 Camaro with a spoiler and plenty of vents on the hood and sides.
While missing a few of the black paint apps, it's pretty close to the actual
color scheme used for the movie. Rather than stripes, there's solid black on
most of the hood (sort of a "Hot Rod hood" but all black and smoothly
connected together at the edges), the roof, and the trunk/spoiler piece. As
often happens, the yellow paint and the yellow plastic don't quite match.
5.25" (13.5cm) long, in the usual colors as noted. Most of the vehicle
shell is golden yellow plastic. All the windows are clear plastic, and the
doors are also clear plastic. The wheels are snap-on black plastic. There's
matte black plastic on the roof, hood, spoiler, side mirrors, grille, edge of
the air dam, bottom edges of the doors, vent details on the rear corners, and
license plate area. There is not any black paint on the rest of the lower
edge (front corners, sides ahead of and behind the doors), nor on the front
fender vents, hence not perfectly matching the movie model. There's yellow
paint on the doors and the various window boarders that aren't black. The
headlights are metallic medium blue, and the Chevy insignia on the grille is
yellow paint over black paint. The taillights are red, and you know how rare
painted taillights are these days. No Autobot symbol in this mode, and no
paint on the wheel hubs.
No intentional articulation, rolls poorly on whatever three wheels are
touching the surface at the moment.
Took a while, but I found the vehicle mode storage for the cannon,
something not mentioned in the instructions. The thin tab that fits into the
shoulder stress slot in robot mode goes into a thin slot ahead of either
front wheel. There almost looks to be enough space in the front seats for
the cannon, but there isn't.

Overall: Clever, but needed way better manufacturing tolerance and
plastic quality than it got. On the one hand, I'm glad to see something that
isn't just another tweak on the 2007 design...but on the other hand, at least
those tweaks physically work. I suppose if I kept trying I might eventually
get everything aligned correctly in vehicle mode, but I'm not sure the effort
would be worth it.


AUTOBOT: COGMAN
Assortment: C2960
Altmodes: Titan Master (head), Aston Martin DB11 (Transtector)
Transformation Difficulty: 16 steps
Previous Name Use: TLK
Previous Mold Use: None
Epithet: Intrepid Protector

I was not aware "intrepid" was a synonym for "psychotic"....

Packaging: 7 ties holding the robot into the tray, and a rubber band
securing the head. Two ties on the sword. The arms are incompletely
transformed, with the shoulders locked down in car configuration.
Cosell is Nitro, oddly. The instructions have Nitro and Bumblebee as
cosells.

Robot Mode: Back in the 70s, one of the home decor fads was fake
antiqued metal stuff, often spraypainted a metallic color and then gone over
sloppily with black paint to look like tarnish somehow. That's kind of the
effect the painted parts of this toy are shooting for, but like the "dirty"
or "corroded" look on some of the dragon Knights, the effect is diminished by
the fact it's only applied to SOME parts. So you have nice antiqued metal
gears and stuff on the torso, shoulders, face, and shins, but then the
unpainted thighs and upper arms, break up the look. The molded details are
based on the human-sized version from the movie, who was reportedly
originally planned to be a Headmaster/Titanmaster but never actually did it.
(TFWiki says there was a scripted but unfilmed scene where Cogman removed
Nitro Zeus's head and used his body as a transtector, explaining why Nitro
has a removable head that can't transform.)
5.25" (13.5cm) tall, mostly shades of gray and gunmetal with some gold
and black accents. Other than the clear roof/window pieces on the backpack
and the black used on the tires (and sword), it's all made of light gray
plastic. A blotchy gunmetal paint is used on the head, shoulder fronts,
torso front, pelvis front, shines, and toes. There's gold on the face,
shoulders, the tops of the forearms, and the shins. There seems to be a
little on the gear details of the abdomen too. A black wash is used on the
head, shoulder fronts, torso and pelvis front, shins and toes. Some matte
black from the vehicle mode is also visible on the forearms, boots, and
backpack. The wheel hub spokes are painted silver.
Interestingly, there's molded gear details with full painting on the
part of the chest under the front panel, normally only visible on the
underside of vehicle mode.
The neck is a standard Titan Master connection, although it doesn't stay
on very well on mine, might just be an assembly issue. No waist joint. The
shoulders are ball joints on the ends of shrugging struts, with the front
fender shoulderpads hinged to get out of the way as needed. Swivels just
above the hinge elbows. The wrist hinges are transformation only, but if you
open up the arm panel the hand holding the sword can point down in a credible
fencing grip. Ball joint hips, swivels just above the hinge knees, fairly
limited ankle hinge front-to-back (the back of calf vehicle kibble can be
folded to stay in place, but is not locked). The lack of heel spurs makes it
tricky to keep him standing, and the rounded toes mean that while you can
pose him in a fencing lunge it's very very hard to keep him standing in that
pose without using a Tamashii-style base.
http://www.dvandom.com/images/cogmanlunge.JPG
The hands hold 5mm pegs, but only short ones unless you unfold the door
panels that form the underside of his forearm. There's a 3mm peg hole in the
back of the pelvis for the aforementioned Tamashii bases. I suppose you
could connect some Titan Masters to the vehicle mode 2mm pegs on the back of
his belt, but it looks dumb and restricts leg range of motion.
The sword is a single piece of (I think) black plastic with the blade
airbrushed medium-light gray (there's airbrush-style spatter at the border
thanks to indifferent masking). 3.25" (8cm) long, with a simple crosspiece
and the Knights cross emblem at where the hilt meets the blade. The hilt is
5mm in diameter, and has some slots in it, one of which is for vehicle mode
storage. The hilt is long enough that to get it to go all the way through
Cogman's fist requires opening up the door panel under the fist a bit.

Transformation: A lot less hasslesome than Bumblebee's, but that's
damning with faint praise. I did get all the panels to line up properly and
the wheels all on the same plane, at least. In addition to the MAJOR WARNING
about the codpiece, there's one other thing that might cause breakage if
you're not careful. The hood piece has to be pulled away from the torso in
order to turn around, but it's a REALLY stiff connection on mine, and not a
terribly thick rod. I can see the hood snapping off on the rod pretty
easily. Getting the chest to fold up for vehicle mode is a bit tricky, but
it seems strong enough to survive some accidental excessive force.
I recommend not trying to put any Titan Masters inside with just the
windshield raised. Have the entire roof up on its strut, so you can get a
nice angle on getting the foot onto the peg.
Unlike Bumblebee, this does get a lot easier the second time around.

Vehicle Mode: A nice sleek luxury car, an Aston-Martin DB11 (the classic
Bond car was a DB5, although he has also driven a DBS and a DB10 according to
Wikipedia). Unlike most movie designs, there's an actual driver's
compartment with steering wheel (on the right side, of course). It's not as
detailed as an Alternator's interior, but at least they make an effort to put
some real car bits in there. There's room for two Titan Masters, Prime
Masters, or others along those lines.
5.5" (14cm) long, so about 1:32 scale. The main color is metalswirl
silvery grat with black and clear colorless. The roof and windows are
colorless clear plastic, and there's little bits of clear colorless plastic
embedded for the headlights. The rest of the body shell is slightly metallic
swirled light gray plastic. The wheels are black plastic.
The roof is painted matte black, as are the window borders and the side
mirrors (it's a bit thin on those, light can shine through). Matte black is
also along the bottom edge all the way around (unlike Bumblebee, who's
missing some of the edging), thicker in front and back. There's dull silver
paint on the A posts and C posts as well as the edges of the roof, it's a
so-so match to the plastic. A nearly chrome silver paint is on the details
of the wheel hubs, and the taillights are painted red. A black Autobot
symbol is printed on the left front fender, rearward of the wheel. No paint
on the Aston Martin imprints on the hood and the rear, but at this scale the
insignia is basically a shallow triangle with no wing details.
Ground clearance is nearly zero, less than that if you don't have
everything in the right place. Fortunately, it's not too hard to get things
aligned. No external attachments for weapons, other than the dedicated
non-standard tab for holding the sword to the underside. Inside, there's a
single 2mm peg on each side to hold driver and passenger *Masters.

Titan Master: Well, sort of. It's designed the same way as a Titan
Master, if not explicitly called one. Titan Master, Prime Master...Snark
Master perhaps? The design team actually called his car a Transtector.
Unlike Nitro, where the head is just a head, this one turns into a
human-sized bot. The molding resembles the movie character as best as it
can.
All of the paint on the arms does make it susceptible to paintlock, and
it also gives the same incomplete look as the main robot mode, since the
torso, head, and thighs are unpainted. The emphasis was on painting the
parts that (other than the thighs) are visible in head mode, so the fronts of
the boots are unpainted, while the fronts of the arms are painted but lack
the black wash. (On the arms, the paint is so thick it acts like mold
flash.)
Standard Titan Master size and articulation, all made of light silvery
gray plastic. The arms and faceplate are dipped in blotchy gunmetal wash,
which is also used on the backs of the boots. As already noted, other than
the unpainted thighs there's black wash on the parts visible in head mode.

Overall: Other than the one really bad design flaw, it's a pretty good
toy. It helps that the aesthetic for the character is deliberately not
"Bayformer" in nature aside from the face. Maybe if we're lucky they'll
tweak this mold for Studio Series (or even the Bumblebee movie...doesn't
matter if he isn't IN the movie, Strafe wasn't in Last Knight and got a
redeco for this wave). Worth going to some effort for, but maybe wait and
buy a pre-broken one used for cheaper. :)

Dave Van Domelen, will try to catch up on the backlog once the semester
is over.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

If you bought it from China, you should just assume it's a fake. This could also explains the cod piece problem, but unsure. The fakes coming out of China now are scary accurate. And given this was a low production run, it's just the type of toy the scammers target. Look up the siege of cybertron set, for example.

-Banzaitron