Why LEGO designers thought 10338 Bumblebee was impossible

Watch the designer behind LEGO Icons 10338 Bumblebee transform the set in real time – while explaining why the ‘awful’ reference material presented an almost-impossible challenge.

Officially revealed today, 10338 Bumblebee is the LEGO Group and Hasbro’s first follow-up to 2022’s 10302 Optimus Prime, this time tackling the stockier yellow fellow Prime calls a partner. Coming in at a little over half the price of its predecessor, this is a more affordable and accessible entry point for LEGO Transformers fans. But getting to this point wasn’t easy.

While the LEGO Group had plenty of reference material to work with for 10302 Optimus Prime, designer Samuel Johnson wasn’t quite so lucky with Bumblebee. He unveiled the new LEGO Icons set to Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media last year, showing off its transformation in real time – and revealing why he had to take a few creative liberties during the design process.

Hit play on the video below or head over to our YouTube channel to see 10338 Bumblebee in action.