Mya
United States
Michigan
Please let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
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NOTE: This review consists primarily of images, and thus make take some time to load on slower connections. My apologies.
Editor's Note: Many thanks to Jeremiah Lee, for loaning me his copy for reviewing purposes.
For more PLAYMOBIL® Legion Reviews, check out The PLAYMOBIL® Legion Geeklist.
paperfred's PLAYMOBIL® Legion microbadge: 
Legal Disclaimer: PLAYMOBIL® is the property of Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co. KG. Despite what the images in this review might suggest, absolutely no PLAYMOBIL® figures are included in Bobbin' Bumblebee. Apart from spending large amounts of money on their beautiful toys, I have no affiliation with PLAYMOBIL®.
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午餐先生
United States
San Mateo
California
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Quote: ...thanks to its euphoria-inducing stupidity.
I'd never heard of this game, but dang that is quite an endorsement!
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Ian McCarthy
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Great review, as always.
I've played both the original bigger and newer smaller version of Louie and I've played Bobbin' Bumblebee. I actually had my German in-laws send me the new version of Loopin' Louie, which is OOP for some reason here in the states.
They are all almost identical in game play, with subtle differences that don't really affect the overall enjoyment of the games.
The bee game actually is produced really well and looks fantastic. It doesn't need stickers because everything is sculpted so well. I love those honey tokens.
Louie feels cheaper with the abundance of stickers. And there's always the chance that whoever originally stuck the stickers on didn't do a very good job of it.
However, the bee game does have one problem that even casual observers/players began to notice in our multiple plays. The loop tends to stay down. Because of it's unbalancing effect, the bee pretty much always falls so that the loop is pointing down. It's much harder to make the arm swing completely over when the loop is on the down side and the bee tends to float or glide more when the loop is on the up side. This can actually lead to some different strategies depending upon the side the loop is on, but it's problematic because the loop is down most of the time.
My solution to this problem was to cut off the loop and reattach it perpendicularly on the other side with glue. You can use tape to get the balance right before gluing.
I wish I had a picture to illustrate what I mean. I gave away my copy after an amazingly successful week playing it nightly at the beach, but my solution worked fine, despite working against the overall aesthetic perfection that the bee game presents.
I kept my German copy of Louie because it was a gift and because I love the theme of this zany barnstorming biplane pilot scaring away chickens. Also, the bee pretty much can only be hit properly right on his feet, whereas Louie can be hit on his wheels, but a real expert hits him on his tail, seemingly risking losing one of his own flock but frequently sending him spinning end over end into an unblockable dive bomb on his neighbors' chicken.
Also, an excellent way to make the game last a little longer is to have the winner of each round play subsequent rounds with one less chicken/honey token. If someone wins a round after starting with only one token, they win the match. You can have the losers of each round get up and rotate around the winner in order to vary up the all important order in this game.
Not that I play this game competitively. 
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Tom P
United Kingdom
We could've been anything that we wanted to be
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Centurion Geekus Maximus wrote: [your] hive is under attack by a grotesque motorized bee...armed with a spoon
 Just this makes me want it 
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chris reichl
Appleton
Wisconsin
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 Glad to see the Legion back!
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Usta Playalot
United States
Nashville
Tennessee
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Not to pick nits, but the instrument of defense isn't a spoon - it's a honey dipper thingy.
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Jeremiah Lee
United States
Ypsilanti
Michigan
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EmeraldYam wrote: Editor's Note: Many thanks to Jeremiah Lee, for loaning me his copy for reviewing purposes. Glad I could help, and thanks to Kevin T Lee (no known relation) for offering the game in the Games for Geekgold Geeklist. Had he not put it there, I would likely have never owned this glorious game.
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Mya
United States
Michigan
Please let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
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Thanks for that comparison with Loopin' Louie, Ian! I'd love to try Louie sometime, mostly because it has chickens, and chickens are inherently amusing. Interesting point about the loop - I'll have to pay attention to how that impact play in the future.
aerhead wrote: Not to pick nits, but the instrument of defense isn't a spoon - it's a honey dipper thingy.
Aha! I refute your nitpick! I said the bee was armed with the spoon. The instruments of defense are plainly referred to as "honey dripper siege engines". 
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Ian McCarthy
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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EmeraldYam wrote: Thanks for that comparison with Loopin' Louie, Ian! I'd love to try Louie sometime, mostly because it has chickens, and chickens are inherently amusing. Interesting point about the loop - I'll have to pay attention to how that impact play in the future.
I modified my game mostly because I had it at a party and people started noticing. It didn't diminish their enjoyment of the game and of course none of them knew of the existence of Louie. But, it bothered me a little and then, once I played Louie, I decided to go ahead and do the mod.
Still, Bobbin' Bumblebee is an incredible value for a game that has crossover appeal between all types of fun-loving people and that can be enjoyed by all ages.
Thanks again for the review. The legion does in a few frames what it can take writers all day to describe, namely why a game is fun and what can hinder the enjoyment of it for some people.
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Bob Menzel
United States
Montpelier
Vermont
Missed it by that much ...
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bzzz . . . ow!
priceless
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Steven Wamboldt
Canada
St Margaret's Bay
Nova Scotia
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Re: The PLAYMOBIL® Legion reviews "Bobbin' Bumblebee"
Hey, what happened to the Advanced Squad Leader review??? I was sooooo looking forward to it.
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Eric
United States
Maumee
Ohio
God created Arrakis to train the faithful.
All persons are contained within a single individual, just as all time is in a moment, and the entire universe is in a grain of sand. -Fremen Saying
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Re: The PLAYMOBIL® Legion reviews "Bobbin' Bumblebee"
This is one of the funniest reviews I have read here on the geek.
Well done Mya!
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Posted Mon Aug 9, 2010 1:05 am
