Ever since Hot Rod metamorphosed into Rodimus Prime in the 1986 animated Transformers movie, fans have been envisioning what other prominent Autobots would look like wielding the Matrix of Leadership. Arise, Bumblebee Prime.
Despite what the upcoming Robots in Disguise animated series might say, humble Volkswagon (or Corvette some freaking Chevrolet for you movie fans) Bumblebee is a follower, not a leader. So were he forced to take up the ancient artifact that once transformed lowly Orion Pax into the mighty Optimus Prime, he’d likely be as big and pissed off as artist
Enjaysee Customs depicts him in this gorgeous work of customisation.
So, what would happen if Bumblebee had no choice but to take the Matrix and step up. Upgraded and seriously pissed off is my vision of exactly that!
Base used was a leader class DotM Sentinel Prime. The back pack was removed and hinges added to allow the figure to look much better from the side as well as stand more easily. It was next partly dismantled, primed with top quality plastic primer and prominent screw holes filled. The hands are by UFO and fully articulated at every joint. The head was designed by myself, 3D printed via shapeways and mounted using a Lego ball joint to allow more freedom of movement. The large guns are from a RotF Prime figure, the small guns and sword are by Dr Wu and the medium turrets are by the excellent FakeBuster on Shapeways.
The whole figure was painted by hand and decals designed by myself and printed on a professional Alps printer.
And suddenly I’m desperately searching for a Dark of the Moon Sentinel Prime of my own.
If you think the robot mode is impressive, wait until you get a load of Bumblebee Prime here in vehicle form.
Just soak in the details — the angry bee motif, the side mirrors that look like antennae, the Bee-Otch brand tires and that blue and silver sticker on the door panel, echoing the stripes on Optimus Prime’s trailer.
Bonus points if you get the licence plate reference.
I’m sitting here with the new Bumblebee figure from the upcoming animated series on my desk. I look at these pictures. I look down at his unblemished yellow plastic and despise him for not being more like Enjaysee’s creation.
That’s no leader. This. This is a leader.
While I gently weep into my hands, head over to Enjaycee’s Facebook page for more pictures — including some outstanding work in progress shots — of the Bumblebee Prime we’ll never have.
Comments
20 responses to “A Custom Transformer Worthy Of Wielding The Matrix Of Leadership”
My favourite fan-designed Prime was always Wheelimus Prime.
Wow that’s awesome, never seen it before, wheelie is always highly underrated
No, no I’m pretty sure that wheelie’s general rating is very accurate. 😛
Wheelie is amazing, him and Cyclonus are the only good characters introduced through the movie
You misspelt “Springer”. How odd.
Wheelie is the only useless character from the movie.
Let’s be fair; they were all pretty useless.
Amen – even Doomed Exposition Robot, from the opening, who gets fed to the Sharkticons was a better character than Wheelie.
Hey, his name was Kranix!
That’s the one – I just put the movie on, to check, before you reminded me… it’s up to the Lion song, so now I have to keep watching.
You’re insane, you’re all insane
Nah – insane would be saying Blurr wasn’t annoying after the first watch.
Also one of the most annoying.
I still have my old Wheelie and Cyclonus toys, though not in great state of repair.
Incidentally I’m still a bit bitter about my parents bringing back a bunch of transformers toys from overseas when I was a kid as gifts for various family friends and stuff, and them giving Starscream to some random kid I didn’t even know and giving me Cyclonus instead. 🙁
There’s a new 3P one made by X-Transbots which is pretty much perfect. Look up Ollie, if you haven’t already scene it.
I want one just to pose with MP Grimlock.
Even if I were interested in Wheelie (I’m not), I still need to finish out my 3P combaticons before I consider anything else.
I totally thought he was going to turn into a Kombi.
Also naming convention had me thinking Bumblebus Prime. Which would also fit the kombi thing, I guess 😛
A long time ago I remember seeing an amazing fan concept of an Arcee Prime. Sadly a search for it only turned up the blue cg motorbike arcee. That in turn lead to weird fanfiction between her and jack. I then lost the will to keep trying……….
…would that make Arceus Prime?
I feel like that would be something else entirely.
Arceus Prime & Bumimus Prime (Bumblebee) – distant relatives? 😛
Wow, thats some serious JDM camber going on with that truck!