The 1987 blue release of the Mexican IGA Transformers Bumblebee has been known about for quite some time now, but it has taken a long time for more of them to surface. This figure was also exported and sold in European countries such as The Netherlands and the UK. It's still an extraordinarily difficult minicar to obtain, just as all the blue versions of this mould are (excluding the Glyph keychain). The Mexican Bumblebee was available in yellow, red, blue and white (with red face). There could be further Mexican variants of this mould, but I haven't seen them yet.

As with the other Mexican Bumblebees, this one has no rubsign, and does still say "Dunlop" on the tyres. The sticker on the back of the headplate is also heavily based on the Transformers Bumblebee sticker, but is not quite as high quality and also the colouring is not too accurate in places. I'll come back to the chest sticker a little later.

Just like the other blue versions of the VW mould, the Mexican version is very fetching and handsome in its appearance, with a nice mix of chrome, blue and black visually. The moulding on the toy isn't too bad either, and that's not something you expect from an IGA-manufactured Transformer. The joints were tight and there was no noticeable looseness in the toy. One thing I did notice was that it could sometimes be difficult to get him to have all 4 wheels touching the ground.

The copyright, having a rectangular block over where it should say "JAPAN", confirms the Mexican nature of this release. One of the nicest things about the Mexican variant minibots compared to the Antex Argentinian ones or the Estrela Brazilian releases is that they are actually Transformers releases, with Autobot insignias. That again provides these releases with their own personality and niche within the Transformers universe, different to other minicar variants.

This toy has a lovely robot mode, the blue being slightly darker than the Microchange Blue Volkswagen. It's an extremely simple colour scheme but it brings out the mould features of this figure brilliantly, easily one of the best-looking and popular Bumblebee variants. It will be difficult to obtain Mexican variant minibots in good condition so a specimen like this is to be enjoyed and valued highly. Despite being mostly mint, this particular Bumblebee seems to have some wear and tear on the tyres, not too different from what was found on the white Mexican Bumblebee.

It looks very good from all angles and displays successfully in both modes. While it may not be a missing-link style variation like many of the other Mexican variant minibots with a signifcant and traceable backstory, he is still among the most desireable of the minibot variants. Here is the blue Bumblebee alongside some of the other Mexican variant minibots:

As I mentioned before, there was already a blue Microchange pre-Bumblebee which you can read about here. Then there was the BotCon exclusive keychain "Glyph" as well, although that wasn't quite the same as this or the MC Blue Bumblebee. Here is the Mexican blue alongside the Glyph keychain:

Glyph has a much darker and glossier coat of blue, grey limbs and windows plus an orange face. The Mexican blue has much more in common with the MC Volkswagen. However, if you read the MC Blue pre-Bumblebee article you'll see that alongside Glyph, the MC toy appears lighter than this Mexican version. Then of course there's the difference in stickers. So in actual fact, none are entirely the same, and are different enough to give completists the headache they don't need!

Speaking of stickers, the Mexican blue Bumblebee has the same off-centre lower-quality print on his Autobot sticker as do most Mex TFs:

The headsculpt isn't too shabby either when compared with the Brazilian or Argentinian minibots, even if the paint application isn't perfect:

While this particular Mex variant doesn't have the obvious roots of some of the others (early moulds repainted as later-release characters instead of being remoulded) there could still be some link between the original blue Microchange colour scheme and the colour scheme selected for this Mexican release. The Cliffjumper was also available in blue, red and yellow in Mexico, as it was for Microchange.

These are rare and delicate items and really do have to be treated as such. For a character so widely adored as Bumblebee is, there can be huge competition for these harder-to-locate variants when one becomes available. Sadly, the price tag usually reflects that. Those who are lucky enough to get their hands on these kinds of variants treasure them immensely, so at least they are always appreciated. I can count myself among that number as well, as I find this blue Bumblebee equally as fascinating as I did the blue Takara Microchange release.

All the best
Maz