Mattel Hot Wheels HW Screen Time Transformers Bumblebee Mattel, 2023
Day #2,742: August 14, 2024
HW Screen Time Transformers Bumblebee HW Screen Time 9/10 - #186 / 250
Hot Wheels 2024 HW Screen Time 9/10 Basic Cars
Item No.: Asst. C4982 No. HTB35 Manufacturer:Mattel Includes:n/a Action Feature:n/a Retail:$1.25 Availability: ca. June 2024 Other: First Basic Hasbro-Licensed Mattel Hot Wheels Car
When Hot Wheels gets a new pop culture license, it tends to ignite genre fans, non-collectors, and the typical toy collectors in a way you don't see that often. I remember when the first Batmobiles hit - good luck. I had a heck of a time finding the Simpsons Family Car (thanks Phil), I never saw the A-Team van, I don't think I saw KITT, and when it came to Transformers Bumblebee I just bought a case from work. I assume Mattel will crank these out for years to come, because we usually see that sort of thing. Either basic $1.25 versions, or more luxe collector versions with fancy rubber wheels that are worthless for racing but look nicer, are usually made eventually. In short, don't pay $20 or $40 for one unless you live in some future where Hasbro may revoke the license. (I would put more money on "Hasbro and Mattel merge," unless Hasbro finally develops a sub-$4 toy car and I doubt that's happening.)
What makes this car particularly neat is that it's a partial new toy - the top metal yellow part is pretty much the same Volkswagen Beetle they've been selling for years. It has been retooled, but the version I had previously was Herbie the Love Bug and it still had a metal base back then. Bumblebee has a plastic base... but at least it had something cool added to it.
Much like Hasbro's ill-fated Speed Stars (see Lockdown [FOTD #2,725] Mattel added a relief representing the character on the base. In this case, you can see Bumblebee's face rendered in vac-metal silver plastic. Mattel frequently puts details under the cars, but usually it's copyright information or some greeblies - not a face. You may rarely see it given how this figure can't stand on its rear bumper, but it's visible in-pack and you can smile knowing it's there.
The car itself boasts two licenses - Hasbro and Volkswagen - and does a fine job of applying the famous yellow paint job and one Autobot symbol to one of the most well-known characters from the popular robots in disguise franchise. (Who, for some reason, was completely ignored as a transforming toy character for just over ten years.) A toy like this will most likely sell to literally anyone who encounters it and is familiar with the character - I always wanted a plain yellow Bug and never saw one, but the reason I wanted it was because I wanted to pretend it was Bumblebee. And here is Bumblebee actual, at one or two per case, for a buck and a quarter. The sculpting may not be a perfect match for the cartoon, and it probably shouldn't be - it's a clever reuse of mostly existing parts, with nice rolling wheels and shiny paint. It doesn't do anything that a Hot Wheels or Matchbox car hasn't done for the past seven decades, but it will cause fans to run around hunting him for months (or years) to come just because it's the perfect mix of license, character, product, and price point.
It's my hope Mattel goes to town with the license. We know other toys are getting Transformers-flavored repaints on new packaging, and there are both non-transforming and transforming Optimus Prime toys. I hope they do the 2007 movie cars, and more 1980s cars using old tooling like Bumblebee here, and generally make a meal out of what is a really vital and vibrant license in the longest-running boy's toy line that appeals to both kids and collectors. Scale might be off a bit, but that's OK - for $1.25, I'm in for whatever I can get. (For $79.99 I'm less inclined to collect them all.)
If you don't want $25 (or higher) robot figures, this is a spectacular buy for $1.25. It's the character you want, in a collectible you can afford, and it's durable. And it's good for kids. And you probably wanted this exact thing since you were a little kid. The only shortcoming is one of modern manufacturing - Mattel no longer has a metal chassis with a metal base on the bulk of its basic cars anymore. I would have loved a polished heavy metal base, but substituting a relief of the yellow robot (in silver) is a perfectly good substitution. You don't need me to tell you this, but you should buy this on sight. I hope they keep him in circulation in every wave for a few months because there's a lot of demand to meet and I assume they're never going to make enough of them. Too many people are going to want this.
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