Just playing catch up, and I've gotten around to these three Fembots from various mainline series - Studio '86 Arcee, BB Movie Arcee, and Legacy Minerva.
All of these are Deluxe class Hasbro releases, so if you collect the current Transformer product, you know what to expect - not bad, living up to Hasbro's iffy QC standards, and then somehow something will always make you wonder how Hasbro can keep dropping the ball. Each of these figures has the exact same MSRP - it's always interesting to see what you get crammed into a price point.
Right off the bat, you'll noticed that BB Movie Arcee is smaller than the rest of them, which I'm going to attribute to manufacturing costs. Yes, I'm aware she's slightly crouching in the photo, but even standing up she's probably 1/4" shorter than the other two.
Accessory wise, technically Minerva has the most, having two guns along with a police light set that plugs into the roof of her Vehicle mode. BB Arcee comes with two guns, and '86 Arcee comes with her one pistol.
Of the three, the one that intrigued me the most was BB Arcee. Minerva is a straight up repaint/retool of Legacy Elita-1, whom I own, and '86 Arcee was more a store of redemption. BB Arcee is a new thing, and more importantly, is from a live action movie that I didn't hate script or character design wise.
Articulation wise, at its most basic level, each figure has exactly what you would expect from a Deluxe sized figure, which includes some ankle articulation, thigh twist, and a functioning waist joint. Due to the transformation, BB Arcee features double elbows and '86 Arcee features a sort of Ab Crunch. Minerva, being a fairly straight forward transformation, does not feature anything out of the ordinary. Even her head movement is basically a swivel motion only.
Transformation into vehicle mode is definitely most complicated for '86 Arcee, with the least complicated being Minerva. BB Arcee is both complicated, but at the same time, simpler than one would expect. Being the most unorthodox, BB Arcee unfortunately also features the most amount of robot kibble (her chest and arms are effectively what make up the rear of the vehiicle), but again for a mainline release, nothing that is unexpected.
Of course, this being a mainline release, it wouldn't be fitting if there wasn't something wrong. From a sculpting perspective, things are decent. Very simple on Minerva, but BB Arcee is a very different beast, featuring a more organic form and significant amounts of mechanical detailing all over the body. Engineering on '86 Arcee in particular is impressive - not quite MP level, but someone actually tried to get right transformation wise, most likely as an apology for the really bad Siege Arcee.
You'll notice from the pictures, however, that paint work ranges from "Decent" to "What Were You Thinking?!'". There's also some scuffs on Minerva's white plastic. Build wise, I mean plastics appear to be adequate for their purpose, but QC on tolerances is spotty - each figure has a unique QC issue. My '86 Arcee features forearms that don't quite hug the elbow joint properly and the torso likes to separate. BB Arcee's two wheel/heels won't clasp together tightly, and despite being 99% identical to Elita-1, my Minerva overall seems to feature weaker joints. Luckily, none of the above affect transformation in anyway, but it would be nice for once if I could not have any of these nagging issues.
That basically covers it - short and sweet. Unless something really weird happens, that about does it for the Fembots in 2022.
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