That was my general assessment. Just happy not to get another repeat pull, you know? Then, during one of my Sunday night build sessions, I decided to put him together and was very pleasantly surprised. I have the Un-Cogged B-127 from Galaxy Version 05, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot more, but man, I was wrong. This is such a cooler little kit!
For the most part, I thought he'd have a different chest piece and maybe a new gun. Instead, we've got upgraded articulation with the double-jointed neck and ball-socket waist design that some Galaxy Versions after 06 have. In addition, B-127 has an alternate face featuring his battle mask, as well as his Stinger Blaster and one of the Energon Knives he uses in the movie. That new chest, BTW, looks fabulous. We all loved Badassatron in the movie, and this new kit matches the name!
Since this is mostly an upgraded version of the Un-Cogged kit from 05, I'm mainly going to talk about the changes, but feel free to check out that original post here.
B-127 comes with his battle mask in addition to his standard unmasked face. Of course, the original G1 Bumblebee toy had a facemask coming off its reuse of a Microman Microchange toy. At some point during development, he was given a more traditional face for the cartoon that found its way into the comics and other media. It's funny when you go back and look at those early appearances. Sometimes he did or didn't have the toy face.
I wonder if he would have had the faceplate if the original planned CBS Saturday morning Ruby-Spears cartoon had happened instead? Ever since learning about that phase of development, I've been full of what-ifs. Though I remember when the G1 season DVD box sets were first released in the early 2000s, noticing that Season 1 had a real Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera feel to it versus the other seasons. Go figure, all these decades later, we learn it almost was one of those types of cartoons.
Funnily enough, some of those documents show him looking more like Bug Bite from GoBots back when he was named Muffler. Did they get the toys mixed up?
Anyway, B-127 has his standard face and the battle mask, so it's up to you which one you want to use. The standard face looks to be the same one from the Un-Cogged kit, so I went with the battle mask, as I do find myself really liking it more as an adult. More recent reissues of the original toy since 2004 have featured a newly sculpted head that looks like his cartoon appearance, so whichever you like better is up to you. Kinda neat that they took the time to do that.
In the Dreamwave comics, they explained away the characters who had faceplates on their toys and traditional faces on the cartoon by having them snap on their battle masks before going into battle. Or at least that's where I first remember them appearing. In the 2007 movie, they'd just pop into place, and they've been a thing since then. I guess I could say the idea dates back to Beast Wars, but I've gone on far too long about it.
In addition to the battle mask that I had a lot to say about, B-127 gets his Stinger Blaster and Energon Knives after receiving a Transformation Cog in the movie. In the movie, he gets two knives, but unfortunately there's only one in the kit. Maybe if I get an extra, I can properly dual-wield them on him.
The knife is a simple blue blade with a hilt piece that pegs into his forearm. You pick which one. Go nuts.
The Stinger Blaster takes the place of one of his hands (and he comes with a set of open palms and closed fists like Galaxy Versions normally do). It's a simple Buster Gun similar to the ones Mega Man uses that we've seen Bumblebee pack since the 2007 movie in several appearances. Your opinion on built-in guns versus handheld weapons may vary. I normally prefer the handheld guns, but it's pretty great in this instance.
I'm a little surprised the Stinger isn't an individual piece, but instead requires assembly. Not a ton of assembly, but since the weapon is multiple colors, it's in multiple pieces, making for a nicer-looking finished product and an extra mile taken that's appreciated. It plugs into his wrist in place of a hand, and because of this, it has the same articulation his hand would have, if a bit obstructed.
I cannot stop laughing at this because I can't stop imagining scenarios where B-127 is trying to shoot around a corner.
Ultimately, this is a vast improvement on what was already a solid little kit. When I was first writing about the Transformers One Blokees, I felt that the merging of the TF One and Blokees styles made them feel like Mega Man X characters, and I really feel that's justified here. With some paint and customizing, you could probably make a pretty good X from this.
You know, I was talking about that Ruby-Spears CBS cartoon earlier. You think if that would have been the version of The Transformers that we all would have gotten back then... would we have Badassatron?
