Transformers Animated: Transform & Roll Out chronicles the first few episodes of the current Transformers Animated series airing on Cartoon Network. Initial reactions to the series based on a lone piece of art featuring Optimus Prime was almost as negative as the initial reaction to the recent movie Optimus Prime's flame deco on his truck mode. However, like the movie, the animated series has proven itself to be more than meets the eye.

The show opens up with footage from the original Transformers series in a newsreel type setting, being watched by the current Optimus Prime who leads a small space bridge repair crew of Autobots. Through some mishap, the come across the Allspark, the device that gives all Cybertronians life. It was lost to the space bridge network years ago to keep it out of Decepticon hands. Unfortunately, the Decepticons find them and through deceit and treachery, the Transformers once again find themselves crash-landing on Earth, this time it's modern day Earth. The Autobots awaken 50 years later in a futuristic Detroit and find themselves cast in the role of heroes against human enemies and Decepticons alike.

The animation used for this series is nothing like anything seen in Transformers before. It is an anime-like style, reminiscent of the Teen Titan series. Speed lines and transformation shortcuts are used. As an example, Prowl does more of a morph than a transform in a couple scenes. This can take a little getting used to, but a speedier transform does get one into and out of battle quicker.

As usual, the voice work is top-notch. David Kaye voices Optimus Prime this time around where he usually gets cast in the role of Megatron and has been for most of the series between Beast Wars and Cybertron. Corey Burton, the voice of the original Grimlock is back, this time as Megatron and Ratchet. Tom Kenny, voice of Spongebob Squarepants, does a remarkable job as the voice of the ever-treacherous Starscream. There are more, but to name them all would make this a longer and probably a more boring review.

In conclusion, Transformers Animated: Transform & Roll Out is a good introduction to this great series. Fans of the original series will appreciate all the homages to that show and fans for the Beast-era series will appreciate the smaller cast with it's more defined characters. If you do decided to pick this up, do so at Target. They include a bonus disc with another episode you won't get on DVD anywhere else, yet.

It wasn't supposed to happen.  I was done buying Transformers.  Star Wars won and while I was still a fan of those robots in disguise, I wasn't going to be spending money on them anymore.  The designs for the current animated series didn't sit well with me.  They looked too goofy, yet somehow the toys mimicked the look of the show pretty closely.  Then, I started to watch the episodes on YouTube.  Considering I'm not in the target demographic, I found myself enjoying it, to the point of anticipating the next week's episode.  Since the toys weren't due out until late June, I figured I was safe.  But, Hasbro decided to release them early in Cincinnati, Ohio as a test market to coincide with BotCon (which is going on right now and through the weekend) and people in the area gobbled them up for themselves, to help other fans, or scalp on eBay.  I found the temptation too much to resist and so I was "helped."

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee arrived at the end of last week, thanks to a bloke by the nickname Blackout05.  Despite how many pictures there are of these things on the Internet, provided you look where I looked, they never do the toys justice in-person.  I was a little leary of Bumblebee especially since I had read a somewhat-negative review on him early last week.  Both have met my expectations and in some ways exceeded them.

If Optimus looks a little weird it's because this is his pre-Earth or Cybertronian mode.  It's almost like a design from the animated Transformers movie from 1986.  The wheels roll and there are smaller wheels under the back section to help move him along since the treads don't work.  Not that non-working treads are a bad thing.  Only one Transformer ever had working treads, Rampage from the Beast Wars series, and they had their problems if not aligned correctly.  His axe is hidden between the legs, gripped by both hands, a unique way to hide a weapon in my opinion.  All in all, Optimus is a neat tank/truck.

Bumblebee, on the other hand, is in his Earth mode, which he got from a scan of the Detroit police chief's car in the series, sans the rockets.  It rolls well, but the panels don't always align perfectly, leaving a slightly disjointed look to the car.  The rockets are removable, though them help in the transformation to grip the back panels they attach to.  They're from an episode of the cartoon, though I don't recall all the details.  He's more like Hot Shot from the more recent Transformers cartoon than the original Bumblebee, so he's obsessed with speed.  Anyway, Bumblebee is pretty nifty.

In robot mode, both are impressive even if the scale is off as Optimus is about twice as tall as Bumblebee in the cartoon.  Both have innovative parts to their transformations the details of which would likely bore most people.   Articulation is fantastic on both, though Bumblebee's can be somewhat limited due to his car parts hanging off in places.  Optimus' axe has a dual-blade mode, single-blade mode, and can combine with his shield which I don't know what that's supposed to do for anyone, but whatever.  Bumblebee has flip-out "stingers" in each arms that can combine together when both arms are stretched out in front of him.

So, there's (part of) my shame.  I can feel the desire to own the rest of this series building up inside me.  With so much cool Star Wars (and Indiana Jones) stuff coming out later in the year that I hope I can control my impulses better and make the best choices for all the things I'd like to collect.  I may not be able to collect them all, but I can make sure I collect what I will enjoy.

Tonight, we look at "Touchdown Bumblebee." I call him that because of the pose he's in; holding the Allspark in his right hand and his left posed to knock Decepticons out of his way while wearing his face mask. Maybe he's playing football with the Dinobots. That reminds me. I hope Hasbro makes more figures in this line of Robot Heroes like Hound and Trailbreaker from the PSP game. Thrown in Shockwave and Thundercracker and you've got half a wave right there. C'Mon, Hasbro, you know you want more of my money, right?

Back to Bumblebee. This is his second Robot Heroes toy. It also marks the second featuring him in his Concept Camaro body. What's up with that? Why no love for the 70's Camaro? Of the Bumblebee toys I can think of, only three are of his 70's model form (one deluxe, one Cyber-Slammer, and the 3" Titanium). I wonder why that is. Anyway, this Bumblebee sports three points of articulation; head and shoulders. The right shoulder is hindered in movement sue to the way it and his torso are molded. I'd say you can get a good centimeter of movement out of it. As with most Robot Heroes, he's lacking in paint applications. He has some, but there are some nice details in the mold that could stand out if a dollop of paint were added.

I'd say if you were going to get one Robot Heroes Bumblebee, get the one from the first wave. It doesn't have the face mask, but is better articulated. But, if you're just into them because they're cute, get them both.

Thanks to a link provided by the Evil King Macrocranios, I can provide my faithful four readers to a great web page where a Chinese boy who apparently couldn't afford to see Transformers in theaters has made his own Bumblebee model out of KFC buckets. Here's a quote from the page:

"Chinese boy who couldn’t afford Hasbro’s Transformers toy instead create his own masterpiece out of KFC lunch boxes using the motto by Chairman Mao ‘People can achieve anything he wants in case of his courage’ as his motivation. He loved absolutely the Transformers movie and after watching it decides to show his passion by creating this awesome model which had more than 60 movable joints and 36 cm tall. 23 more pics of the beautiful Transformers model after the jump."

I'm not sure I follow that since he couldn't afford to see the movie, but has seen it. Eh, whatever. Now, to make a Jazz out of McDonald's Happy Meal boxes.

Pictured are the Best Buy exclusive Robot Heroes Battle Damaged Optimus Prime and Cliffjumper. Some call them repaints. Others call them recolors. I don't like either term really. It's not like Hasbro took the Optimus Prime and Bumblebee toys and painted new applications over the existing ones. Recolored sounds even sillier, but doesn't seem as bad as repaint if that make sense. So, I guess mold-brothers would be a more correct or say that they share the mold with. But even then, copyright dates may change or a mold might be tweaked before used again. So, there's really not any term I can think of for two toys that look alike but are painted different. Hmmm... TTTLABAPD. Nah, that'll never catch on.

Both of these toys have a significant number of additional paint applications than they're TTTLABAPD. You can't see it too well because 1.) my camera isn't the best and 2.) I'm not the greatest photographer. I do wonder why Cliffjumper is now only a TTTLABAPD of Bumblebee and not a new mold unto itself. It didn't used to be this way. So, why start now? It would have almost made sense to have the Prime in this set be Ultra Magnus if they were going to go the different-color = different-character route. But, what can ya do?

I finally found the movie Robot Heroes Bumblebee and Barricade 2-pack after school this afternoon. While Bumblebee is okay (he could really use waist articulation), Barricade is probably the second-best movie-related Robot Heroes figure yet (Jazz being #1 of course).

So, in my mind, the above picture is how I would have preferred the outcome of the Bumblebee Vs Barricade battle in the movie. If I had to pick two things I didn't like about the new movie, the first would be the fate of Jazz. The second would have to be how much of a bad-ass Bumblebee was. I mean, he's been the smallest and weakest Autobot since 1984. How the heck did he beat Barricade? Rather convenient that the climax of their battle took place off screen while Frenzy molested Sam. I'd like to know how he did it. He probably cheated.

In the newest wave of the Transformers deluxe assortment, there is little to cheer for.

Payload, the Decepticon armored truck, feels cheap right out of the package. Quality control must have had the day off when this guy came down the pike. Parts fall off without provocation and only one of those is supposed to fall off. He doesn't hold together well in robot mode either. I blame the gimmick. Push the huge lever sticking out of the back forward and his adbomen extends with claws extending near the end of the push. If the designers could have just given him a missile launcher or nothing at all (which would be referable in my eyes), it would have made a better toy. I forsee a lot of Payloads at Value Village minus his head in the future. For shame, Hasbro. For shame, Takara. You're both capable of better.

Longarm, the Autobot tow truck, is loosely based on the tow truck Mikaela uses at the end of the movie during the big battle. The doors should say, "Mike's Towing," but instead read "Orson's Towing. Hasbro's Aaron Archer used the handle Orson at TFW2005 before he was asked by his bosses to halt his posting there (and that story could make for a long blog entry in itself, so I'll not go into those details). While better than Payload, Longarm has one sorta-problem. His rifle is screwed in place to his right hand. I don't know why this was done, but it's a little aggravating as I like to pose them without their weapons from time to time. Other than that, he's a good sold toy with great articulation and a couple neat homages thown in.

Dreadwing, the Decepticon jet, has a bio that reads like he's G1 Skywarp reincarnated. He can teleport, plays pranks, and isn't all that bright. His jet mode is prety nifty, with lots of nice details and a prety cool paint scheme. Where he lacks is in robot mode. Hi slegs are too short and his arms and torso too long. I do love the monocle look he has as it give him an inhuman, more menacing look. Dreadwing has no hands as they launch his flame-like projectiles. At least he's better than Payload. Heck, Throttlebots are better than Payload.

As an aside, the previous three toys mentioned are all supposed to be in the Transformers video game, but I'll be hard-pressed to say where any of them are. Now, I've only beat the Decepticon game for the DS and have gone a little ways into the Wii version, so maybe I'v enot come across them yet.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Arcee. There's a reason why we don't get too many motorcycle Transformers. They're hard to make look good. In Arcee's case, they almost did everything perfect. She looks great in motorcycle mode and he transform is derivitive of the Energon toy by the same name. Her robot mode is the most feminine-looking since Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia (minus the spider kibble). I like that when you put the missile into the crossbow, the sides expand and then collapse when fired. That's very cool. Where she fails to impress is her face sculpt. The shape of the head is alright, but her face looks more alien (yes, I know they're alien robots) than most of the other movie toys. I do still recommend picking her up if you can find her.

And now, the star of the show, Bumblebee in his Camaro Concept vehicle mode. I've never been much of a Bumblebee fan prior to the movie, but I've warmed up to him over the past few months and this toy helps that a lot. His vehicle mode is gorgeous, transformation intuitive, and robot mode spectacular. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this toy at all. Even his weapon is cool and works well as both a cannon and a blade. Maybe he could use a few more paint applications, but other than that, Concept Camaro Bumblebee is what other Transformers toys should aspire to be, especially you Payload.

So, here's how I'd rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest):

• Payload: 3
• Longarm: 6
• Dreadwing: 6
• Arcee: 7
• Bumblebee: 9

In closing, Bumblebee rulz,Payload droolz.

Ultimate Bumblebee, from the Transformers movie toy line, has started to show up at stores across the US. I managed to find one thanks to a tip from a member of the TFW2005 Boards at a Target about 20 miles out of my usual area of searching. I stopped by a more convenient one first, but they had none and told me to check back later or the next day and while I could have done that, I decided to take a trip to where I was sure there'd be one. And one there was. I think it's odd that I can't find the $10 version of this toy, but had little trouble tracking down the $80 version.

As with most larger Transformers, Ultimate Bumblebee isn't transformed correctly in the box. After 20 or so minutes of cutting twisty-ties and clear rubber bands, you have to slide his "toes" out and attach the doors to the back, which is hard to do as the back of the hood isn't folded into it's rear configuration to allow the doors to clip into place. Once that's done, Ultimate Bumblebee is ready to talk your ears off if you let him.

Ultimate Bumblebee is huge. He's taller than G1 Overlord, 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, and Armada/Energon Unicron. Beast Machines Supreme Cheetor and the various Fortress Maximus toys are the only toys I can think of that are taller. He's pretty well articulated too. He has full hip movement, limited waist, knee, and ankle pivoting, his neck turns, shoulders rotate and swing out, full elbow movement, pivoting wrist action, pivoting fingers, and a ball-jointed thumb. The kicker is that the neck and shoulder movement is limited by the electonics.

When switched on, Ultimate Bumblebee comes to life with voice, sounds, and music. Pressing the Autobot emblem on his chest starts the chatter-fest. You can keep pressing it to cycle through him telling you that you're his first human friend, the Decepticons could be anywhere, we have to protect the Allspark, etc. Leave him be and he'll move his arms and wings while turning his head from side to side, eyes lit up in Autobot blue. He reacts to your voice and motion, though I've not been able to determine if any particular sound or motion triggers a particular motion. Holding the button down will get Bumblebee to play an updated and abridged version of the original cartoon theme song.

If you transform Bumblebee with the power on, you'll be treated to a modified G1 transformation sound throughout the process. I don't know what triggers the sound, but it seemed to be when I disconnected something major, like the arm from the shoulder or compacting the legs. The process is rather lengthy, so I turned the power off about 1/3 of the way through.

In his Camaro concept mode, Ultimate Bumblebee is just as amazingly huge as he was in robot mode. The detail is amazing and if you managed to get everything lined-up right, you can have a lot of fun with the sound and lights. Press the Autobot symbol and a horn sounds while the engine revs. Press again for more horn. Roll him around and the engine will rev appropriately depending on the direction you take him. If you back up long enough, a "radio voice" will mention backing up, backing up. Going forward fast gets the engine sound really going as well as a tune or two. Stopping suddenly in either direction will activate the brake sound effect. The sounds are activated by spinning the front driver's side tire, so you don't actually have to roll him around to try everything out.

In closing, Ultimate Bumblebee is really fun, though I forsee a few of these breaking if smaller children play with him. There's a lot of stuff that pops off and on easilly enough, but he can be challenging enough that some breakage could occur. I'd like to see another version of this toy without the electronics so that I can pose him without worrying if I'm going to break the gears and whatnot. It'd also be interesting to see what they could do with an interior with the electronics gutted. Maybe even give him some clear windows. As he is, I think he's worth the $80 retail considering the amount of electonic-funtime they've packed in there. I am tired of hearing snippets of Devo's "Whip It" already and I've only had him for half a day.

You can watch a clip of the new Transformers Animated show that was shown at the San Diego Comic-Con at a crappy, YouTube wanna-be site here. I think it looks pretty good and am looking forward to the show and the toys. Hopefully, I'll have Cartoon Network at that point.