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.